Limburgish Language - Tone - Particular Local Features - Diphthongization

Diphthongization

Moreover, in some dialects such as that of Sittard and Maastricht, especially the mid and high vowels tend to diphthongize when they have a push tone. So in the dialect of Sittard keize means "to choose" while in the dialect of Maasbracht no diphthongization takes place, so keeze means the same here. This difference has been examined in particular by Ben Hermans and Marc van Oostendorp.

Other examples include plural

• stei~n "stone"
• stei\n "stones"

and lexical

• "grave"
• "hole next to a road"

Verbs distinguish mood with tone:

• "We conquer!"
• "May we conquer!"

The difference between push tone and dragging tone may also purely mark grammatical declension without there being any difference in meaning, as in the dialect of Borgloon: gieël ("yellow", with dragging tone) as opposed to en gieël peer ("a yellow pear", with push tone). This tonal shift also occurs when the adjective gets an inflectional ending, as in nen gieëlen appel ("a yellow apple").

In some parts of Limburg, the tonal plural is being replaced with the Dutch forms among the younger generation, so that the plural for daag becomes dage .