Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde

Pieter van Reenen

Kloekes Hollandsche Expansie: Palatalisering, diftongering en opening van de Westgermaanse û tussen 1300 en 1700

Abstract -- In his well-known study De Hollandsche Expansie (‘The Expansion from the West of the Netherlands’, see also Bloomfield, Language) Kloeke views the phonetic change of Westgermanic û ([u:] > [y:] > [ø.j]) as abruptly having spread from that area. However, the change is better analysed as gradual. Arguments are based upon testimonies by Erasmus (among them one unknown until now), and by 16th- and 17th-century grammarians. The four maps are based upon the Corpus of Modern Dutch Dialects (GTRP) and the Corpus of 14th-century Middle Dutch (Van Reenen-Mulder). Results show that in Holland, paradoxically, [y:] first changes into [y.j] and then into [y:] again. The paradox can be solved on the assumption that around 1600 Hollanders obtain new linguistic self-esteem.

TNTL 121-3 (september 2005), 262-276