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Dutch: Biography of a Language
More than 22 million people speak Dutch-primarily in the Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname, and the Antilles. Roland Willemyns here offers a well-researched and highly readable survey of the Dutch language in all its historical, geographic, and social aspects.
Willemyns tells a story of language contact and conflict. From its earliest days, Dutch has been in intense contact with other languages both within and outside the borders of the Low Countries, particularly with French, Frisian, and German.
The first part of Dutch concentrates on the historical development of standard Dutch and its dialects. The second part focuses on contemporary Dutch, including its many dialects in Flanders and Holland (some of them on the verge of extinction). Willemyns pays special attention to important questions in the history of Dutch, particularly the contentious matter of the global spread of Dutch through colonization-which led to "exotic" variations such as Afrikaans, pidgins, and creoles-and whether Dutchmen and Flemings are "separated by the same language." His final chapter tries to shed some light on the future of Dutch, and the impact of such "new" varieties as Poldernederlands (in Holland) and Verkavelingsvlaams (in Flanders).
Placing the Dutch story in the context of other West-Germanic languages like German and English, Biography of a Language is the only English language history of Dutch and will be sure to interest a global audience of students of Dutch, those of Dutch descent, and linguists and other scholars wishing to learn more about Dutch.
Willemyns tells a story of language contact and conflict. From its earliest days, Dutch has been in intense contact with other languages both within and outside the borders of the Low Countries, particularly with French, Frisian, and German.
The first part of Dutch concentrates on the historical development of standard Dutch and its dialects. The second part focuses on contemporary Dutch, including its many dialects in Flanders and Holland (some of them on the verge of extinction). Willemyns pays special attention to important questions in the history of Dutch, particularly the contentious matter of the global spread of Dutch through colonization-which led to "exotic" variations such as Afrikaans, pidgins, and creoles-and whether Dutchmen and Flemings are "separated by the same language." His final chapter tries to shed some light on the future of Dutch, and the impact of such "new" varieties as Poldernederlands (in Holland) and Verkavelingsvlaams (in Flanders).
Placing the Dutch story in the context of other West-Germanic languages like German and English, Biography of a Language is the only English language history of Dutch and will be sure to interest a global audience of students of Dutch, those of Dutch descent, and linguists and other scholars wishing to learn more about Dutch.
- GenresLinguisticsHistory
312 pages, Hardcover
First published February 28, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 25, 2021
I do not really know nearly enough solid background information regarding the specific language history of Dutch (well, at least from the time it split from Proto-Germanic) to make any claims as to the potential veracity of Roland Willemyns’ text for his 2013 Dutch: Biography of a Language. For indeed, my own linguistic background is specifically in the German language (as I have a PhD in German) and my knowledge of Dutch is therefore pretty much restricted to it mostly and basically being a Western Germanic Indo-European language and that as such Dutch is very closely related to German, English and Friesian but more distantly but still strongly enough akin and alike to Northern Germanic tongues (like Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish) and Eastern Germanic (Gothic), but I am certainly not familiar with much more than that, not any actual specifics regarding the particular development of Dutch and how it has changed over the millennia.
And thus, I was also simply reading Dutch: Biography of a Language for personal enlightenment (and which purpose has most definitely been very much a major success for me), and furthermore and happily, I also do very much consider Roland Willemyns’ words regarding the linguistic history of Dutch as being both very much delightfully easy to follow (with Willemyns’ text not even once assuming prior knowledge and expertise with regard to linguistics but penned in a writing style that also is sufficiently challenging for my academic tastes and thankfully not simplistic), and of course and very much positively, feeling absolutely factually believable. In other words, I do think that what Roland Willemyns has in Dutch: Biography of a Language penned regarding Dutch language history to be generally accurate, meticulously researched and as such also more than likely free from most research based and informational errors.
Therefore, regarding both text and general set-up, my rating for Dutch: Biography of a Language is a solid four stars (and with me in particular appreciating the inclusion of both endnotes and a separate bibliography, for that is actually not always the case, and I have recently read a number of linguistic based tomes which have tried to combine footnotes/endnotes with a more general bibliography, something that I do tend find potentially rather confusing for research purposes, and something that Roland Willemyns’ thankfully does not do in Dutch: Biography of a Language). And really, the only reason that for me, Dutch: Biography of a Language is not yet five stars, is that I personally do not really want to consider Yiddish as being Western Germanic, since for me Yiddish is an example of a Creole tongue (a language combining Middle High German, Hebrew and a bit of Slavic).
And thus, I was also simply reading Dutch: Biography of a Language for personal enlightenment (and which purpose has most definitely been very much a major success for me), and furthermore and happily, I also do very much consider Roland Willemyns’ words regarding the linguistic history of Dutch as being both very much delightfully easy to follow (with Willemyns’ text not even once assuming prior knowledge and expertise with regard to linguistics but penned in a writing style that also is sufficiently challenging for my academic tastes and thankfully not simplistic), and of course and very much positively, feeling absolutely factually believable. In other words, I do think that what Roland Willemyns has in Dutch: Biography of a Language penned regarding Dutch language history to be generally accurate, meticulously researched and as such also more than likely free from most research based and informational errors.
Therefore, regarding both text and general set-up, my rating for Dutch: Biography of a Language is a solid four stars (and with me in particular appreciating the inclusion of both endnotes and a separate bibliography, for that is actually not always the case, and I have recently read a number of linguistic based tomes which have tried to combine footnotes/endnotes with a more general bibliography, something that I do tend find potentially rather confusing for research purposes, and something that Roland Willemyns’ thankfully does not do in Dutch: Biography of a Language). And really, the only reason that for me, Dutch: Biography of a Language is not yet five stars, is that I personally do not really want to consider Yiddish as being Western Germanic, since for me Yiddish is an example of a Creole tongue (a language combining Middle High German, Hebrew and a bit of Slavic).
May 21, 2016
About six years ago, when I was studying Dutch in Belgium, I remember my surprise when I learned that the Dutch word for 'floor' is 'verdieping', and then saw the word 'étage' (the French word for 'floor') in a shopping mall in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, a country whose official language is also Dutch. Upon returning to Antwerp, I remember asking a colleague of mine for an explanation, and her saying "it's probably about the differences in history and politics; how Dutch people perceive French versus how Flemish people see French language, based on a long and complicated history."
Another interesting point for me, as a student of Dutch, was the word 'wiskunde', Dutch word for 'mathematics'. I was curious about it, because in many European languages, such as German, which is the closest language to Dutch, the Greek root 'μάθημα' (máthēma) is used. How on earth did we end up with a very different word for mathematics in Dutch?
This beautiful book not only gave definitive answers to my two questions above, but it also took me on a very exciting journey spanning more than 10 centuries. The title and cover of the book might give the impression that it's a dry, academic text, intended only for the specialists working in the obscure details of history and sociology of Dutch, but let me assure you that the first few pages would erease that impression. Even though the author is an expert professor in the history of Dutch, his sense of humour, combined with sharp observations will make you giggle, if not laugh out loud while reading some of the pages. But make no mistake, you'll see that every claim in the book is painstakingly sourced, and ample further reading and bibliographic notes provided for more curious students of Dutch. Having such a definitive and extensive source for the history of Dutch written in English is an intellectual gift for people like me whose Dutch is not still very fluent.
In about 250 pages that almost read like a page-turner, the author was able to teach me not only the very interesting history of Dutch, but also a lot about the history of the region where Germanic languages started to flourish, as well as how Dutch spread in other parts of the world, such as Suriname, South Africa, USA, and other places. Thanks to that, I can now interpret some of the current debates in Belgium and the Netherlands better, and also know how to learn more about the past to understand the present.
In a nutshell, I definitely recommend this book to all the students of Dutch, as well as people who are curious about the history of Germanic languages. The high quality of the book motivated me to read the other related book in the series: "German - Biography of a Language".
Wat kan ik nog meer zeggen? Heel hartelijk bedankt Prof. Willemyns!
Another interesting point for me, as a student of Dutch, was the word 'wiskunde', Dutch word for 'mathematics'. I was curious about it, because in many European languages, such as German, which is the closest language to Dutch, the Greek root 'μάθημα' (máthēma) is used. How on earth did we end up with a very different word for mathematics in Dutch?
This beautiful book not only gave definitive answers to my two questions above, but it also took me on a very exciting journey spanning more than 10 centuries. The title and cover of the book might give the impression that it's a dry, academic text, intended only for the specialists working in the obscure details of history and sociology of Dutch, but let me assure you that the first few pages would erease that impression. Even though the author is an expert professor in the history of Dutch, his sense of humour, combined with sharp observations will make you giggle, if not laugh out loud while reading some of the pages. But make no mistake, you'll see that every claim in the book is painstakingly sourced, and ample further reading and bibliographic notes provided for more curious students of Dutch. Having such a definitive and extensive source for the history of Dutch written in English is an intellectual gift for people like me whose Dutch is not still very fluent.
In about 250 pages that almost read like a page-turner, the author was able to teach me not only the very interesting history of Dutch, but also a lot about the history of the region where Germanic languages started to flourish, as well as how Dutch spread in other parts of the world, such as Suriname, South Africa, USA, and other places. Thanks to that, I can now interpret some of the current debates in Belgium and the Netherlands better, and also know how to learn more about the past to understand the present.
In a nutshell, I definitely recommend this book to all the students of Dutch, as well as people who are curious about the history of Germanic languages. The high quality of the book motivated me to read the other related book in the series: "German - Biography of a Language".
Wat kan ik nog meer zeggen? Heel hartelijk bedankt Prof. Willemyns!
June 19, 2017
Overall a solid survey of the history of the Dutch language. A little breezy on morphology/syntax changes, but that's understandable from a book that is clearly sociolinguistics-focused. My only significant complaint is that many of the maps require you to understand Dutch to read their keys. Four stars.
June 10, 2014
Excellent book on the Dutch language, one of the very few written in English. Anyone interested in the Dutch language should read this, native speakers, linguists, students.
August 29, 2018
In-depth look at the history of the Dutch language, written especially for non-Dutch folks (like me). Lots of detail, including historical information. I also learned a lot about Dutch in Belgium (Flemish). Overall, pretty helpful in my quest to learn Dutch!
August 10, 2019
This book is dry. I moved to Belgium, and I'm learning Dutch. If I didn't have such an interest in the language this would have been a DNF. The information is insightful and you learn alot. It isn't presented in a very engaging way.
Full review: https://wp.me/p92q9w-d2
Full review: https://wp.me/p92q9w-d2
February 24, 2025
🧡🌷 This exquisite biography of the Dutch language offers readers a fascinating journey through the history and heritage of the Netherlands. With its compelling introduction and in-depth exploration of the origins of the Dutch language, this book comes highly recommended for anyone eager to delve into the rich tapestry of Dutch culture. The Pennsylvania Dutch Community, with its incredible cuisine and remarkable architecture, has always captivated me, further fueling my interest in discovering the nuances of the Dutch people. This literary work is an essential read for those wishing to immerse themselves in the vibrant legacy and cultural contributions of the Dutch 🧡🌷
September 15, 2016
Good overview of the language, filled with interesting facts, but badly in need of proofreading.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews