Flemish

Genealogical classification
Indo-European / Germanic / West Germanic / Low German / Western Low Frankish with Ingwæonic features

Area
There is no actual Flemish language. Much rather, there are Flemish languages, each one with its own regional variations. Inhabitants of these regions (see below) have no problems understanding each other. Flemish is spoken in Western and Eastern Flanders, Northern France and Zeelandic Flanders. Eastern Flemish and Brabantish belong to the south central group within the Dutch language area. Western Flemish, Zeelandic Flemish and French Flemish belong to the southwestern group of the Dutch language varieties. The latter group is thus used in three countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and France. Therefore, the name “Flemisch” does not appropriately denote Dutch in Belgium generally, as is widely assumed. Rather, it appropriately denotes the language spoken within the area of the former royal dominion of Flanders.

[Click here for a map]

Number of speakers
Western Flanders has approximately 1,110,000 inhabitants, of which nearly all still use Flemish daily or are at least proficient in it, apart from Standard Dutch.
Eastern Flanders has approximately 1,340,000 inhabitants, also nearly all of them using and/or knowing their dialects, besides Standard Dutch as the cultural medium.
As for Zeelandic Flanders, I refer to the separate introduction to Zeelandic (Zeêuws).
French Flanders has 50,000 speakers left, and their number is gradually decreasing. Besides their first language French, younger people increasingly choose Standard Dutch as means of communication.
In Canada and in the United States there are remnants of Flemish-speaking emigrant communities, in which the first and second generations still know and speak Flemish. This group is constant shrinking in size.

Status
In Belgium, Flemish does not have any official status anywhere and thus is not being taught officially.
In the Netherlands, it is considered part of Zeelandic (Zeêuws; see Zeelandic).
“Flamand” is recognized as a minority language in France. Private schooling in French Flemish is available. Standard Dutch may be taken as a second language choice after French.
Flemish plays an important part in the Flemings’ everyday life. Certainly, in Eastern and Western Flanders nearly everyone still speaks their language variety with fluency.
However, Flemish has ceased to be used and taught as a cultural medium or in public service, with the exception of limited teaching of French Flemish in France.
There are many songs and poems in Flemish. Currently, two of the well-known West Flemish writers are Willem Vermandere and Filip Kowlier.

History
Flemish consists of Germanic language varieties. It evolved from those of the Frankish tribes whose influence gradually grew after the demise of Roman rule. As a result, so-called “Western Low Frankish” came into being, spread from the mouths of Western Europe’s great rivers all the way deep into today’s France. This is the earliest ancestor of Flemish. The language branched off from the Continental Germanic group primarily due to non-participation in the High German sound shifts.
The Lex Salica, a Latin legal text named after the Salians, was written sometime between 509 and 511. Only copies from the 8th and 9th centuries are known nowadays. The text contains Frankish notations. It provides us with the oldest known Low Frankish (Flemish and/or Dutch) words.
The 7th century witnessed the beginning of a Romanization movement that pushed Frankish far back, to near today’s southern border of Belgian Flanders.
The oldest extant (West) Flemish text fragment, which is also considered Old Dutch, is found in the margin of a Latin manuscript in the Bodleyan Library in Oxford (11th century):

Hebban olla vogala
nestas bigunnan
hinaese hic enda thu
wat unbidan we nu

All the birds have
begun to build nests,
except I and you.
What are we waiting for now?

From the 13the century on, the Flemish cities began to play an important role. Flemish, which was then still strongly Ingvæonic, was the predominant language in the Dutch-speaking regions. Important in this regard are Flemish troubadour novels such as Floris ende Blancefloer, Karel ende Elegast, Van de vos Reynaerde.
Many of Jacob van Maerlant’s works again reinforced the dominant role of the Flemish language.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, power shifted to the Brabantish regions, with the result that Flemish gradually lost ground as a cultural medium until it finally came to be regarded as dialect. This was also about the time of the “Brabantization” of Eastern Flemish as a result of the so-called “Brabantish Expansion.” Eastern and Western Flemish had been much more closely related before that, and they were seen as one Flemish language. The economical, cultural and political predominance of Brabant thus caused a split between Friso-Frankish Western Flemish and eventually Frankish Eastern Flemish.
The best-known Flemish writer of the 17th century is Michiel de Swaen of Dunkerque, French Flanders.
In the 19th century, Guido Gezelle promoted Western Flemish as a cultural medium. Many Flemish (and Dutch) speakers consider him the greatest poet in the language.
In the 20th century, virtually no remarkable books were published in Flemish, although some writers, such as Hugo Claus, have been lacing their Standard Dutch works with “Flemish” (or perhaps better “General Southern Dutch”) words and expressions.

Media
Belgium: Local (independent) radion stations use some Flemish in their programs. Regional radio stations broadcast officially only in Standard Dutch. Flemish is limited to the odd curiosity and funny quiz questions. The large televison stations are not very interested in Flemish, which is considered a foreign language and whose use calls for subtitles for the benefits of other speakers of Dutch. There are many groups and local amateur theater associations (probably one in each community of medium size) that perform not only in Standard Dutch but regularly also in their own language varieties.
Netherlands: See Zeelandic.
Frankrijk: Apart from a single independent station (Radio Uilenspieghel) that broadcasts in French, Standard Dutch and French Flemish throughout Cassel in French Flanders, there is hardly any consideration to the Flemish language. It needs to be pointed out that most people in the region do have an affinity with Flanders and that they consider themselves both French and Flemish. This is reflected in rich Flemish culture and linguistically for instance also in signs and house names in the local West Flemish variety. The main television stations are not at all interested in either Flemish or Standard Dutch.
For years now, the Volkstoneel voor Frans-Vlaanderen (Folk Theater for French Flanders) has been touring with folksy plays performed in their Flemish variety along the schreve (West Flemish for ‘border’), in Western Flanders and France.

Samples
click here for language samples

Sources used

Author: Luc Vanbrabant, 2002
Translator: Reinhard F. Hahn

Further information: http://www.lowlands-l.net  (Click on “Resources” and on “Links” or “Offline Material”.)

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