Tweants - Written Form

Written Form

There is no generally accepted spelling for writing Tweants, although discussions about spellings are held on a regular basis. Rather, there are two commonly accepted spellings, although few strictly adhere to them. The previously mentioned diversity in speech varieties makes designing an all-encompassing spelling a cumbersome project, as spelling rules that fit one variety, may not be useful for others.

The (educated) debate always evolves around two points of view.

• The spelling should be easily accessible and recognisable for speakers of other varieties of Low Saxon as well as speakers of Dutch. This means a spelling based on writing traditions from different speech varieties, which does have a recognisable layout (most notably Standard Dutch), but sounds odd or unnatural when pronounced literally, and therefore might work disturbingly.
• The spelling should be close to the pronunciation of the people using it. This means a spelling that is not easily accessible, if not confusing to speakers and readers of other varieties, due to many written consonant clusters, although to native speakers leaves no doubt about the pronunciation.