Bontje speaks the Westhoek variety of the West-Flemish language of the West Flanders province in Belgium. It is related to Zeelandic and more distantly to standardized Dutch.
This video was recorded by Elliot in Veurne, Belgium. West-Flemish, known natively as West-Vlams and West-Vlaams, is spoken by as many as 1.4 million people, primarily in the West Flanders region of Belgium, as well as adjoining parts of the Netherlands and France. A Low Franconian Germanic language, West-Flemish is part of the broader Flemish dialect continuum, which encompasses the Dutch language varieties spoken in Belgium and the westernmost province of Zeeland in the Netherlands. Consequently, it is most closely related to the Zeelandic language and more distantly to standardized Dutch, Frisian, English, and Scots. Elliot's grandmother Bontje speaks a variety or "dialect" of West-Flemish from the coastal Westhoek region, which is sometimes also called Maritime Flanders. According to Elliot, it is one of the most distinct varieties of West-Flemish and often the most challenging for speakers of standardized Dutch to understand. Though Flemish is the most widely spoken mother tongue in Dutch Belgium, it is not politically recognized as such; instead, standardized Dutch is co-official alongside German and French.
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25 сен 2020
