Tweants - Accent

Accent

Native speakers have a distinct accent when speaking Dutch, and are hence easily recognised. Particularly the distinct pronunciation of the 'O' and 'E' is renowned, and is similar to the Hiberno-English pronunciation of the 'O' and the 'A'. Another striking feature of Tweants Dutch (and therefore a sign of L1-interference) is the use of a syllabic consonant, which in popular Dutch language is often referred to as "swallowing final -en".

On a syntactical level, people from Twente may at times literally translate phrases into Dutch, thus forming Twentisms. Due to the fact that Tweants and Standard Dutch are varieties of the West-Germanic Dialect Continuum, they have many similarities, which may lead speakers of Tweants to believe that a "Dutchified" pronunciation of a Tweants expression is correct and valid:

In English: I have a flat tyre

In Tweants: Ik hebbe n baand lek

In Tweants-influenced Dutch (Twentism): *Ik heb de band lek (lit. I have the tyre flat)

In correct Standard Dutch: Ik heb een lekke band

On an idiomatic level, Tweants is known for its wealth of proverbs, of which the following are only a fraction:

• Loat mear kuuln, t löp wal lös – Literally: Let it roll/fall, it will walk free – Never mind, it will sort itself out.
• As de tied koomp, koomp de ploag – When the time comes, the trouble comes. Don't worry before the trouble starts.
• Iej könt nich bloazn en t mel in n moond hoaldn – Literally, you cannot blow and keep the flour in your mouth. 'Bloazn' also means 'to brag', so its real meaning is the same as "put your money where your mouth is"
• Hengeler weend – Wind from Hengelo, a haughty attitude.

Speakers of Tweants generally tend to be a little more indirect than speakers of Dutch. For instance, when speakers of Tweants say: "t Is hier redelik doo" (It's reasonably thaw in here), they usually mean that they find the temperature unpleasantly high in the room.