Gronings
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gronings Grunnegs-Oostfreesk |
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|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Netherlands: Groningen, parts in the north and east of Drenthe, the east of the Frisian municipality Kollumerland | |
| Region: | Groningen | |
| Total speakers: | 320,000 (est.) | |
| Language family: | Indo-European Germanic West Germanic West Low German Gronings |
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| Official status | ||
| Official language of: | the Netherlands (as part of Low Saxon) | |
| Regulated by: | no official regulation | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | gos | |
| ISO 639-3: | gos | |
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| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
Gronings (Grunnegs or Grönnegs) can equally be defined as a Low Saxon dialects spoken in the Netherlands province of Groningen and in some adjoining areas: one in Groningen city, four in the outlands (or Ommelanden), and Westerwolds. They are the result of an intermingling of 4 languages: Low Saxon (the result of 9th-century Saxon domination), Frisian (the province of Groningen was part of Friesland until the city of Groningen became the dominant factor in the region in the 15th century), Dutch, and (to a lesser extent) English and Danish (Anglo Saxon) .
Currently, the Groningen dialects are being gradually replaced by mainstream Dutch but still widely understood and spoken in the less-urban areas. Gronings aka Grunnegs is considered a variety of Low Saxon dialect of West Low Saxon by some observers.
Since the town of Winschoten had a very high amount of Jewish citizens before WWII, the dialect spoken there still shows a strong influence from Yiddish. An example is the word dreckstaupe, meaning landfill. This influence is not found in the dialects spoken in the surrounding communities.
[edit] Frisian substrate
Because of the Frisian substrate, Gronings is divergent from the other Low Saxon languages, in possessing some Frisian words and grammar. This Frisian Substrate makes Gronings strongly related to East Frisian Low Saxon. A lot of words and grammar are the same, but some differences are the Dutch and German loanwords and the writing system. For example:
| East-Frisian | Gronings | German | Dutch | English |
| Schöfel | Scheuvel | Schlittschuh | Schaats | Ice skate |
| Lüttje | Lutje | Klein | Klein | Little |
| Bispööl | Veurbeeld | Beispiel | Voorbeeld | Example |
Gronings is related to Frisian as well. An example is the use of diminutives, in both languages used as (s)ke.
[edit] Dialects
There are 8 dialects within Gronings:
- Stadsgronings (city of Groningen)
- Oldambtsters (North east Groningen)
- Hoogelandsters (North Groningen)
- Westerkwartiers (West Groningen)
- Kollumerpompsters (Village of Kollumerpomp)
- Veenkoloniaals (South east Groningen)
- Westerwolds (East Groningen)
- Noordenvelds/Noord-Drents (North Drenthe)
[edit] Variations between the dialects
- Hoogelands: t Ainege dat wie nait dudden is slik oetdijln
- Veenkoloniaals: t Ainege wat wie nait dudden is slikke uutduiln
- Westerkwartiers: t Eenege dat wie niet doun is slik uutdeeln
- Stadsgronings (city): t Oinege dat wie noit doun is baaltjes oetdailn
- Westerwolds: t Einege dat wie nich dun is slikkerij uutdeiln
- Northern Low Saxon of Germany: Dat eenzige, dat wi nich doot, (dat) is Snabbelkraam uutdeeln.
- Standard Dutch: Het enige dat we niet doen is snoep uitdelen.
- Standard German: Das einzige, dass wir nicht machen, ist Süßigkeiten austeilen.
- Scots: The anerly thing we dinnae dae is gie oot snashters.
- English: The only thing we do not do is hand out sweets.
