West Flemish (Dutch: West-Vlaams, French: flamand occidental) is a dialect group of Dutch spoken in parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
West Flemish is spoken by around 1.05 million people in West Flanders (in Belgium), 90,000 in the neighbouring Dutch coastal district of Zeelandic Flanders, and approximately 20,000 in the northern part of the French département of Nord where it is classified, as a recognized dialect of Dutch, as one of the languages of France. Some of the main cities where West Flemish is widely spoken include Bruges, Kortrijk, Ostend, Roeselare and Ypres.
The dialects of the rest of the Dutch province of Zeeland, Zeelandic, are sometimes also included in West Flemish although this classification is controversial. The dialects of Zeelandic Flanders however do count as West and East Flemish variants. In fact, both dialects are linked by a dialect continuum which proceeds further north into Hollandic.
West Flemish is listed as a "vulnerable" language in UNESCO's online Red Book of Endangered Languages.
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| Dutch dialects |
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| "Dutch Low Saxon" |
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| West Low Franconian |
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| East Low Franconian |
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| Low German |
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Famous quotes containing the words west and/or flemish:
“Wild Bill was indulging in his favorite pastime of a friendly game of cards in the old No. 10 saloon. For the second time in his career, he was sitting with his back to an open door. Jack McCall walked in, shot him through the back of the head, and rushed from the place, only to be captured shortly afterward. Wild Bill’s dead hand held aces and eights, and from that time on this has been known in the West as “the dead man’s hand.””
—State of South Dakota, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“These Flemish pictures of old days;
Sit with me by the homestead hearth,
And stretch the hands of memory forth
To warm them at the wood-fire’s blaze!”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)