North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to t ...

Bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on th ...

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Arendonk and Lommel in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

), North Meierijs (in an area south of

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of ...

into

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Peellands (in

Helmond Helmond (; called ''Héllemond'' in the local dialect) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of N ...

and surroundings),

Geldrop Geldrop is a town in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is in the municipality of Geldrop-Mierlo, around 5 km east of Eindhoven city centre. Geldrop was a separate municipality until 2004, when it merged with Mierlo. Geldrop is noted ...

s and Heeze-and-Leendes. The last two are small local dialects that are found as separate groups in few other classifications. Not included in East Brabantian are Maaslands (including Bosch which is placed in Central North Brabantian, although other classification systems also describe it as East Brabantian), Land-van-Cuijks (which has many similarities with neighboring South Guelderish and the Northern

Limburgish Limburgish ( li, Limburgs or ; nl, Limburgs ; german: Limburgisch ; french: Limbourgeois ), also called Limburgan, Limburgian, or Limburgic, is a West Germanic language spoken in the Dutch and Belgian provinces of Limburg and in the neig ...

dialects), Kleverlands (a South Guelderish dialect) and

Budel Budel is a town in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Cranendonck, 25 km outside Eindhoven. Kempen Airport is located near Budel. History It was first mentioned in 779 as in Budilio, and means "plac ...

s (linguistically a

Limburgish Limburgish ( li, Limburgs or ; nl, Limburgs ; german: Limburgisch ; french: Limbourgeois ), also called Limburgan, Limburgian, or Limburgic, is a West Germanic language spoken in the Dutch and Belgian provinces of Limburg and in the neig ...

dialect).

Characteristics

East Brabantian dialects are distinct from the more western variants, Central Brabantian and West Brabantian, and also from dialects of southern Brabant like Southern Brabantian, Kempens and Getelands. Some peculiarities are typical eastern and shared with the Limburgish dialects while others only occur locally. East Brabantian dialects have been somewhat influenced by the

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

language expansion and thus share some features with it which are absent from western varieties. Such differences include umlaut in

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A ( abbreviated ) is a word-form ...

s and the

conjugation Conjugation or conjugate may refer to: Linguistics *Grammatical conjugation, the modification of a verb from its basic form * Emotive conjugation or Russell's conjugation, the use of loaded language Mathematics *Complex conjugation, the change ...

of Germanic strong verbs (like in

Limburgish Limburgish ( li, Limburgs or ; nl, Limburgs ; german: Limburgisch ; french: Limbourgeois ), also called Limburgan, Limburgian, or Limburgic, is a West Germanic language spoken in the Dutch and Belgian provinces of Limburg and in the neig ...

). Typical of East Brabantian are forms such as vs Dutch "believe", ''bruur'' vs Dutch ''broer'' "brother" and ''zuke'' vs Dutch ''zoeken'' "search". Also diminutives such as (with

i-umlaut The Germanic umlaut (sometimes called i-umlaut or i-mutation) is a type of linguistic umlaut in which a back vowel changes to the associated front vowel ( fronting) or a front vowel becomes closer to ( raising) when the following syllable cont ...

of the stem vowel) vs Dutch "little man" and ''jeske'' vs Dutch ''jasje'' "little coat". Conjugations such as ''velt'' vs Dutch ''valt'' "falls" are typically East Brabantian. (Compare

Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (not to be confused with High German dialects, more precisely Upper German dialects) (german: Standardhochdeutsch, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the standardized variety ...

''fällt'', also showing the effects of the final *''i'' in the reconstructed Common West Germanic protoform *''fallidi''.) * East Brabantian dialects feature umlaut in diminutive formation (''póp'' - ) and some words which end in ''-i'' in their historical West Germanic forms (e.g.: ''kees'' vs Dutch ''kaas'' "cheese", both representing the reconstructed Proto-West-Germanic ''form *kāsī''). * The variants ''wè'' and ''dè'' are used in East Brabantian for ''what'' and ''that''. (Western Brabantian uses ''wa'' and ''da'', and

Limburgish Limburgish ( li, Limburgs or ; nl, Limburgs ; german: Limburgisch ; french: Limbourgeois ), also called Limburgan, Limburgian, or Limburgic, is a West Germanic language spoken in the Dutch and Belgian provinces of Limburg and in the neig ...

''de''). * East Brabantian exhibits a more eastern-tinged

vocabulary A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the ...

(e.g. ''rad'' vs. ''wiel'' "wheel"). * As in most other Brabantian dialects, long ''ô'' undergoes fronting (''gruun'' vs. Markiezaats uses only ''groen'' "green"). * Typical of the Meierij is the preservation of the ''sk'' where standard Dutch has shifted to the ''sch'' ( vs. ''schoen "shoes"'') and the shortening of many original long

vowels A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (len ...

(''torre'' vs. ''toren'' "tower"). * The

diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...

s and are here often

monophthong A monophthong ( ; , ) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, wh ...

ed into and (''èès'' and ''hèùs'' vs. West Brabantian ''ais'' and ''ois''). * Unlike in West Brabantian, ''h'' has been preserved in East Brabantian, the most common departing greet being (meaning "take care") (vs. the West Brabantian ). * The svarabhakti vocal is almost always pronounced (''mellek'' vs ''melk'' "milk"). * As all Brabantian dialects, East Brabantian uses a soft ''G''. Languages Benelux

References

{{Germanic languages Dutch dialects Languages of Belgium Languages of the Netherlands Brabant Culture of North Brabant