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‘Lower class language’ in 19th century Flanders
Published/Copyright:
August 16, 2007
Abstract
This article discusses the written Dutch of lower class writers in 19th century Bruges (Flanders, Belgium). None of the scribes conformed to any of the prestige norms for Dutch spelling at the time. They all used an idiosyncratic orthography instead, full of variability but not chaotic. On the level of style and syntax, these texts are characterised by ‘stylistic breakdown’. The combination of these orthographical and stylistic features was not typical for lower class writing as such. In Bruges, middle and upper class writers displayed similar writing patterns, but they abandoned this ‘style’ for the standard earlier than the lower class writers did.
Published Online: 2007-08-16
Published in Print: 2007-08-21
© Walter de Gruyter
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Articles in the same Issue
- Obituary for Professor Alan S. Kaye
- Introduction: Lower class language use in the 19th century
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Articles in the same Issue
- Obituary for Professor Alan S. Kaye
- Introduction: Lower class language use in the 19th century
- ‘Everyday language’ in emigrant letters and its implications for language historiography – the German case
- Writing and ‘the Standard’: England, 1795–1834
- Variation in Canadian French usage from the 18th to the 19th century
- Double diglossia – lower class writing in 19th-century Finland
- Writing ability and the written language of Danish private soldiers in the Three Year's War (1848–50)
- ‘Lower class language’ in 19th century Flanders
- Book reviews
