Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or ,Klaas van Berkel, Albert van Helden, Lodewijk Palm (eds.): A History of Science in the Netherlands: Survey, Themes and Reference, 1999, p. xvi: "Linguists usually distinguish between Old Dutch (c. 700–c. 1150), Middle Dutch (c. 1150–c. 1550), and Modern Dutch (after 1550)." there was no overarching standard language, but all dialects were mutually intelligible. During that period, a rich Medieval Dutch literature developed, which had not yet existed during Old Dutch. The various literary works of the time are often very readable for speakers of Modern Dutch since Dutch is a rather conservative language.
Phonology
Differences with Old Dutch Several phonological changes occurred leading up to the Middle Dutch period.
Earlier Old Dutch , , merge into already in Old Dutch. Voiceless fricatives become voiced syllable-initially: > , > (merging with from Proto-Germanic ), > . (10th or 11th century) The allophonic voicing of to (also found in modern Dutch) is also likely in that period, by analogy with the rest of the fricatives. > > or . The outcome is dialect-specific, with found in more western dialects and further east. This results in later pairs such as dietsc versus duitsc . Various dialects also show > , while others retain . Compare southeastern Middle Dutch hiwen with modern Dutch huwen . In word-initial position, some northern dialects also show a change from a falling to a rising diphthong ( > ) like Old Frisian. Cf. the accusative second-person plural pronoun iu > northern jou versus southern u . Phonemisation of umlaut for back vowels, resulting in a new phoneme (from earlier Old Dutch before or ). In western dialects (including Hollandic, Zeelandic, Flemish), only short vowels were affected. In eastern dialects (Kleverlandish, Limburgish, most of Brabantian), long vowels and diphthongs were affected as well, as they were in other Germanic languages. Insertion of between and a vowel. Syllable-final > in some areas. This created pairs such as duwen versus douwen , or nu versus nou . Lowering of > when not umlauted. This change did not (fully) occur in the southwestern (Flemish) dialects. Hence, these dialects retain sunne "sun" where others have sonne. Fronting of , > , . In some dialects, remained syllable-finally or before . This change did not occur in Limburgish. In Flemish, this change also affected cases that escaped the lowering in the previous change, hence sunne . Vowel reduction: Vowels in unstressed syllables are weakened and merge into , spelled . (11th or 12th century) Long vowels seem to have remained as such, at least is known to have remained in certain suffixes (such as -kijn ). Diphthongisation of the long mid vowels: , > , , . Non-phonemic lowering of short , > , . Open syllable lengthening: Short vowels in stressed open syllables become long. As a result, all stressed syllables in polysyllabic words become heavy. Old Dutch (original) long vowels are called "sharp-long" and indicated with a circumflex (â, ê, î, ô). Lengthened vowels are "soft-long" and are indicated with a macron (ā, ē, ī, ō). Lengthened vowels initially have the same vowel quality as the short variants, so this produces , , , , . and are then lowered to and respectively. Lengthened , , remain distinct from the previously diphthongised long mid vowels. In most dialects, lengthened merges with original , but in some, a distinction in backness develops. This introduces many length alternations in grammatical paradigms, e.g. singular dag , plural . Dental fricatives become stops: > , > , merging with existing and . (around 12th century) The geminate (originating from Germanic *-þj-) develops into : > , > . L-vocalisation: and > before dentals. This change does not occur in Limburgish, which retains the distinction but undergoes its own round of vocalisation in modern times, producing and respectively. Lengthening of vowels before + dental consonant. This did not occur in all dialects, and in some, was lengthened to . E.g. farth > vāert , ertha > āerde , wort > wōort . Syncope of schwa in certain environments, particularly inflectional endings. This phonemicises the soft-long vowels produced by open syllable lengthening, which can now also occur in closed syllables. E.g. hēvet > hēeft.
Consonants The consonants of Middle Dutch differed little from those of Old Dutch. The most prominent change is the loss of dental fricatives. In addition the sound was phonemicised during this period, judging from loanwords that retain to this day.
For descriptions of the sounds and definitions of the terms, follow the links on the headings.
+ Middle Dutch consonant phonemes Labial Dental/Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Nasal Plosive Fricative Approximant Trill
Notes:
All obstruents underwent final-obstruent devoicing as in Old and Modern Dutch. During the first part of the Middle Dutch period, geminated varieties of most consonants still occurred. Geminated was a plosive , retained in modern Limburgish as . were bilabial, whereas were labiodental. could have been either dental or alveolar . Laminal pronunciation is likely even in the latter case as it is universally found in modern Dutch, at least for the first three. had a velar allophone when it occurred before the velars . In that position, was realized as a plosive , rather than a fricative found in other positions. were most likely retracted . could have been a bilabial approximant , without the velar element. This is commonly found in modern Southern dialects. was alveolar, either a trill or a tap . Uvular pronunciations and were not widespread (as they are in modern Dutch) and were probably considered idiolectal or even a speech impediment.
Vowels Most notable in the Middle Dutch vowel system, when compared to Old Dutch, is the appearance of phonemic rounded front vowels, and the merger of all unstressed short vowels.
Short vowels
+ Middle Dutch short vowels Frontunrounded Frontrounded Central Back Close Mid Open
The exact height of is not certain, and may have varied between actual and a lower or even . and could have also been and , as in modern Dutch. Especially the former is likely as could not have been higher than without seriously threatening the contrast with . was a back in most varieties, but front probably occurred in some western dialects. One likely candidate is Utrechts, in which the short is famously very front in contemporary Dutch.
Long vowels and diphthongs Long vowels and diphthongs cannot be clearly distinguished in Middle Dutch, as many long vowels had or developed a diphthongal quality, while existing diphthongs could also develop into monophthongs. Sometimes, this occurred only in restricted dialects, other developments were widespread.
+ Middle Dutch long vowels Frontunr. Frontrnd. Back Close () Close-opening () Mid-opening () Mid Open Closing ()
The rounded front vowels in brackets only occurred in the eastern dialects, where umlaut of long vowels and diphthongs occurred. The rounded back vowel only occurred in the Limburgish dialects.
Many details of the exact phonetics are uncertain, and seemed to have differed by dialect. The overall system is clear, however, as almost all the vowels remain distinct in modern Limburgish: , , , and appear in modern Limburgish as , , , and respectively.
The vowels , and developed from Old Dutch opening diphthongs, but their exact character in Middle Dutch is unclear. The following can be said: In eastern Brabant, and all of Limburg, the pronunciation remained diphthongal. is frequently found written with just , which may indicate a monophthongal pronunciation. never merged with the long vowel , however, as no rhyme pairs between these vowels are found. In the coastal areas (Flanders, Holland), seems to have been a monophthong or . Before velar and labial consonants, the pronunciation was a close . This is revealed by the distinction in spelling between and . In western Brabant, the pronunciation of was more close, probably monophthongal .
The vowels , and , termed "sharp-long" and denoted with a circumflex ê ô, developed from Old Dutch long vowels. The opening diphthong pronunciation was probably widespread, and perhaps once universal, as it is nowadays still found in both West Flemish and in Limburgish, at opposite ends of the Middle Dutch language area. In the general area in between, including standard Dutch, the vowels merged with the "soft-long" vowels during the early modern Dutch period.
In southern Flanders, southern Brabant and Holland, appears spelled with (e.g. stien for steen), while appears with (e.g. speghel for spieghel), suggesting a merger between these phonemes. is sometimes found to rhyme with . It is possible that the two vowels merged under some conditions, while remaining distinct in other cases. In Brabant, occasionally rhymes with . In western Brabant, this implies a close monophthongal pronunciation .
The vowels , and , termed "soft-long" and denoted with a macron ē ō, developed through the lengthening of Old Dutch short vowels in open syllables, but also frequently before . They were simple monophthongs in all Middle Dutch dialects, with the exception of western Flanders where later developed into . They might have been close-mid but also perhaps open-mid , and , as in modern Limburgish.
Bruce Donaldson argues that it is possible that, contrary to the widespread IPA transcription , the outcome of the merger between the "sharp-long" and "soft-long" mid vowels has never been monophthongal in Hollandic dialects; instead, the two series have merged into narrow closing diphthongs . This would mean that the original diphthongs from which the sharp-long vowels come have never been monophthongized in that area and words like steen 'stone' and boom 'tree' have always contained diphthongs in Hollandic, as the Standard German and Limburgish cognates Stein , stein , Baum and boum do, with the difference lying in quality. Furthermore, speakers with the Polder Dutch shift nowadays pronounce steen and boom almost indistinguishably from the Limburgish cognates, as and .
There were two open vowels, with "sharp-long" â developed from the Old Dutch long ā, and "soft-long" ā being the result of lengthening. These two vowels were distinguished only in Limburgish and Low Rhenish at the eastern end, and in western Flemish and coastal Hollandic on the western end. The relative backness of the two vowels was opposite in the two areas that distinguished them. On the coast, â was front or , while ā was central or back . In the eastern varieties, â was back , while ā was front or central . merged into during Middle Dutch, first in Low Rhenish, then later also in Limburgish further south. In all dialects between, the two vowels were not distinguished. The phonetic realisation ranged from back (in Brabant) to front (Holland further inland).
The closing diphthong remained from the corresponding Old Dutch diphthong. It occurred primarily in umlauting environments, with appearing otherwise. Some dialects, particularly further west, had in all environments (thus cleene next to cleine). Limburgish preserved the diphthong wherever it was preserved in High German.
The closing diphthong has two different origins. In the vast majority of the Middle Dutch area, it developed through l-vocalization from older and followed by a dental consonant. In the eastern area, Limburg in particular, it was a remnant of the older diphthong as in High German, which had developed into elsewhere. L-vocalization occurred only in the modern period in Limburgish, and the distinction between and was preserved, being reflected as ów and aa respectively.
Prosody