Everything about Gronings totally explained
Gronings (
Grunnegs or
Grönnegs) can equally be defined as a
Friso-Saxon dialects spoken in the
Netherlands province of
Groningen and in some adjoining areas: one in
Groningen city, four in the
Ommelanden ("surrounding lands") and
Westerwolds. They are the result of an intermingling of 4
languages: Low Saxon (the result of 9th-century Saxon domination in the city of Groningen),
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; as result of trade among the city of Groningen, England, Denmark and Norway in the Middle Ages).
Currently, the
Groningan 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. Others consider it as part of
Northern Low Saxon, to which
East Frisian Low Saxon belongs as well. Sometimes Gronings and East Frisian Low Saxon are even seen as another division,
North Western Low Saxon.
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
drekstoupe, meaning landfill. Another example is the word "mazel", a
Hebrew word for luck.
This influence isn't found in the dialects spoken in the surrounding communities.
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:
| Frisian |
East-Frisian |
Gronings |
German |
Dutch |
English |
| Reed |
Schöfel |
Scheuvel |
Schlittschuh |
Schaats |
Ice skate |
| Lyts |
Lüttje |
Lutje |
Klein |
Klein |
Little |
| Foarbyld |
Bispööl |
Veurbeeld |
Beispiel |
Voorbeeld |
Example |
Linguistic distance from Standard Dutch
After
Limbourgish, Gronings is the dialect with the farthest distance from Standard Dutch. Reasons for this are vocabulary and pronunciation. The Groningan vocabulary is quite different from Dutch, for example:
» Gronings:
Doe hest n hail ìnde luu dij scheuvellopen kinnen
Dutch:
Jij hebt heel veel werknemers die kunnen schaatsen » English:
You have a lot of employees who can ice skate
The pronunciation differs from the writing system. The combination -en is most of the times pronounced like -'n. The Groningan people speak quite fast compared to the Dutch people, with the result that a lot of words are pronounced together as one word. Thus the example sentence is pronounced in English like "
doo'estn hyil'eande lu dy-skowfle-low'm kinn". In the word
skowfle, the k can also be pronounced like the Dutch -g and the -ow is pronounced like in Australian English ([øw]).
The Dutch pronunciation of that sentence is like "
y'I habt hail vail warke'naymers dee cøhna sgahtse", in which the -g- is pronounced as in Dutch itself.
Another reason is the fact that Gronings is a language with a lot of own expressions. One third of the language consists of these expressions. In the example sentence
n hail ìnde is an example of those expressions. Many of these are given in the 'Nieuwe Groninger Woordenboek' by K. ter Laan published in 1977, (1280pp).
Because of this far distance from Standard Dutch and the official status of the neighbouring "dialect"
Frisian, Gronings is considered as a separate language by its native speakers, while linguist consider it as part of
Dutch Low Saxon.
Dialects
There are 8 dialects within Gronings:
Variations between the dialects
Though there are some differences between the dialects, they form a perfect whole. Most words are written the same way, but the pronunciation can differ. The examples show the pronunciation.
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
East Frisian Low Saxon: Dat eenzige, dat wi neet doon is Slickeree utdelen.
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 don't do is hand out sweets.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Gronings'.
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