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The Hague dialect (Standard Dutch: Haags, het Haagse dialect; The Hague dialect: Haags, et Haagse dialek) is a dialect of Dutch mostly spoken in The Hague. It differs from Standard Dutch almost exclusively in pronunciation.
Rijswijk and Voorburg are for the most part Haags-speaking.
Scheveningen has its own dialect (Schevenings), which is different than the traditional The Hague dialect. However, some people also speak The Hague dialect there, or a mixture between the Scheveningen dialect and The Hague dialect (Nieuw-Schevenings).
The dialect of Loosduinen (Loosduins) is very similar to The Hague dialect, and Ton Goeman classifies it as a separate dialect. It differs from other varieties of Haags by having a diphthongal pronunciation of /ɛi/ and /ʌu/.
Some people also speak The Hague dialect in Zoetermeer. That is because an influx of people from The Hague to Zoetermeer took place in the 1960s, multiplying the population of the latter twelve times.
Spelling
Apart from Tilburg, The Hague is the only Dutch city with an official dialectal spelling, used e.g. in the Haagse Harry comic series written by Marnix Rueb.
Apart from that, The Hague dialect is rather rarely written. The Haagse Harry spelling works as follows:
^1 The second spelling is used before a syllable that starts with one consonant followed by a vowel.
^2 The second spelling is used before a syllable that starts with a vowel.
^3 The spellings ⟨âh⟩ and ⟨ah⟩ are in free variation, as the Haagse Harry spelling is inconsistent in this case. The same applies to ⟨ûh⟩, ⟨uh⟩ and ⟨e⟩. For consistency, this article will use only ⟨âh⟩ and ⟨e⟩.
^4/ən/ is written ⟨en⟩ only when the word in the standard language has a single stem that ends in -en. Thus, standard ik teken "I draw" is written ik teiken, but standard de teken "the ticks" is written de teike.
Phonology
The sound inventory of The Hague dialect is very similar to that of Standard Dutch.
These diphthongs correspond to long vowels /eː,øː,oː/ in Belgian Standard Dutch. In Netherlandic Standard Dutch, they are diphthongized just as in The Hague dialect.
Some speakers may realize them as wider diphthongs [ɛe̯,œø̯,ɔu̯], which sound almost like Standard Dutch /ɛi̯,œy̯,ʌu̯/.
An alternative realization of /oʊ/ is a central diphthong [əʊ̯̈]. It is common, albeit stigmatized.
Before /r/, /ɔ/ contrasts with /oʊ/ primarily by length for some speakers.
As in Standard Dutch, the speakers of The Hague dialect are inconsistent in maintaining the /f–v/ contrast, and tend to merge these two phonemes into /f/. [v] also occurs as an allophone of /f/ before voiced consonants, or even between vowels.
As in Standard Dutch, /n,t,d,s,z,l/ are laminal[n̻,t̻,d̻,s̻,z̻,l̻].
Preconsontantal sequence of a vowel and /n/ is realized simply as a nasalized vowel, e.g. as in kans[kɑ̃s].
/ŋ,k,ɡ/ are velar, whereas /χ,ʁ/ are post-velar [x̠,ɣ̄] or pre-uvular [χ˖,ʁ̟]. Both the place and the manner of articulation of /ʀ/ varies; see below.
As in Standard Dutch, the speakers of The Hague dialect are inconsistent in maintaining the /χ–ʁ/ contrast, and tend to merge these two phonemes into /χ/.
As in Standard Dutch, /ɲ,tɕ,ɕ,ʑ/ can be regarded simply as sequences /nj,tj,sj,zj/.
Some consonant clusters are simplified, e.g. nach/nɑχ/ "night" (Standard Dutch nacht/nɑχt/).
Realization of /ʀ/
According to Goeman & van de Velde (2001), the uvular articulation of /ʀ/ in The Hague dialect is often considered to be a French influence.
According to Collins & Mees (2003), /ʀ/ in The Hague dialect is often uvular, with the fricative realizations [χ] and [ʁ] being more or less the norm. They also state that "elision of the final /ʀ/ is common".
Alveolar realizations are practically non-existent. The only instances of alveolar /ʀ/ include an alveolar approximant [ɹ], a voiced alveolar trill [r] and a voiceless alveolar tap [ɾ̥], all of which occurred only once.
The sequences /χʀ/ (as in schrift) and /ʁʀ/ (as in gras) tend to coalesce to [χ] (schift[sχɪft], gas[χɑs]).
A retroflex/bunched approximant [ɻ] is the most common realization of /ʀ/, occurring about 30% more often than the second common realizations (a uvular trill [ʀ] and a uvular approximant [ʁ̞]), but it appears almost exclusively in the syllable coda.
Preconsonantal /ʀ/ in the syllable coda (as in warm) can be followed by a schwa [ə] (warrem[ˈʋɑʀəm]). This is more common in older than younger speakers and more common in men than women.
The stereotypical [ɐ] realization of the coda /ʀ/ occurs only in about 2% cases. This may signify either that it is dying out, or that it is simply found in varieties broader than the one investigated in Sebregts (2014).
Other realizations include: a uvular fricative [ʁ], elision of /ʀ/, a uvular fricative trill [ʀ̝], a palatal approximant [j], a mid front vowel [ɛ], as well as elision of /ʀ/ accompanied by a retraction of the following consonant.
Gooskens, Charlotte; van Bezooijen, Renée (2002), "The role of prosodic and verbal aspects of speech in the perceived divergence of Dutch and English language varieties", in Berns, Jan; van Marle, Jaap (eds.), Present-day Dialectology: Problems and Findings, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp.173–192, ISBN3-11-016781-6
Sebregts, Koen (2014), "3.4.9 The Hague"(PDF), The Sociophonetics and Phonology of Dutch r, Utrecht: LOT, pp.115–120, ISBN978-94-6093-161-1, archived from the original(PDF) on 2016-03-04, retrieved 2016-01-11
van Bezooijen, Renée (2002), "Aesthetic evaluation of Dutch: Comparisons across Dialects, Accents, and Languages", in Long, Daniel; Preston, Dennis R. (eds.), Handbook of Perceptual Dialectology, vol.2, John Benjamins B.V., pp.13–31, ISBN90-272-2185-5
Further reading
Kloeke, G. G., Haagse volkstaal uit de achttiende eeuw
