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Flemish is more of a political construct than linguistic, it's a grouping of belgian-dutch the coastal, brabant and limburg language groups with each having the

Flemish is more of a political construct than linguistic, it's a grouping of belgian-dutch the coastal, brabant and limburg language groups with each having their own regional dialects.

OptionOfT 1y ago
It's more than political. In speaking Flemish is to Dutch as UK English is to US English. In writing however there is no difference in spelling, but there is a difference in word choice. Now, being from Belgium, even within that small part of the country where everybody is supposed to speak Dutch, I genuinely don't understand people from near the coast, which was about 150 miles from where I used to live.
- adastra22 1y ago
  Are you saying UK and US speak a different language? No one doubts it’s a different dialect, but we are talking about languages.
  - funac 1y ago
    that is a political distinction
    - adastra22 1y ago
      Mutual intelligibility is not a political distinction.
- yvdriess 1y ago
  Well yes, the dialects are very distinct linguistically, but what is often referred to as Flemish is the Dutch "tussentaal" aka "verkavelingsvlaams"[1]. That's not really a language per se, it's a regiolect of the official Dutch language, itself a Dutch variant of the Brabant dialects. The Flemish Dutch is usually used a lingua franca because the official Dutch otherwise sounds too formal (and native dialect speakers are foreign language speakers of Dutch). If I was to nominate a regional language for recognition it would more be the regional dialects like Brugs, Gents, Antwerps, Brussels Vloms, Hasselts, etc. What I find interesting is that the differences in Flemish dialects make them much more distinct than what would normally call dialects. There are significant grammatical difference beyond the usual vocabulary differences. For instance, coastal Flemish conjugates yes and no[1], Limburgisch is a tonal language. [1] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tussentaal https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tussentaal

Flemish is more of a political construct than linguistic, it's a grouping of belgian-dutch the coastal, brabant and limburg language groups with each having their own regional dialects.

OptionOfT 1y ago

It's more than political. In speaking Flemish is to Dutch as UK English is to US English. In writing however there is no difference in spelling, but there is a difference in word choice. Now, being from Belgium, even within that small part of the country where everybody is supposed to speak Dutch, I genuinely don't understand people from near the coast, which was about 150 miles from where I used to live.

adastra22 1y ago
Are you saying UK and US speak a different language? No one doubts it’s a different dialect, but we are talking about languages.
- funac 1y ago
  that is a political distinction
  - adastra22 1y ago
    Mutual intelligibility is not a political distinction.
yvdriess 1y ago
Well yes, the dialects are very distinct linguistically, but what is often referred to as Flemish is the Dutch "tussentaal" aka "verkavelingsvlaams"[1]. That's not really a language per se, it's a regiolect of the official Dutch language, itself a Dutch variant of the Brabant dialects. The Flemish Dutch is usually used a lingua franca because the official Dutch otherwise sounds too formal (and native dialect speakers are foreign language speakers of Dutch). If I was to nominate a regional language for recognition it would more be the regional dialects like Brugs, Gents, Antwerps, Brussels Vloms, Hasselts, etc. What I find interesting is that the differences in Flemish dialects make them much more distinct than what would normally call dialects. There are significant grammatical difference beyond the usual vocabulary differences. For instance, coastal Flemish conjugates yes and no[1], Limburgisch is a tonal language. [1] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tussentaal https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tussentaal