Jan Smulders writes to BtP (May 2009) regarding the Limburgs
/ Maastrichian entries
on this page
Peter Kuppers is right: there are very many variations in the Limburg
dialect, some caused by geography (isolated location, natural borders) some
by social causes (the higher the social class, the “cleaner” the dialect; de
township Sint Pieter with its grand mansions in Maastricht sounds very
different from the (former) working class areas of Daalhof and Caberg).
Another example: I was raised in the small town of Valkenburg; there were
different words and pronunciation used by those who lived inside the former
city walls and those outside (binne en boete de poart – within or outside of
the castle gates).
Nowadays I live in a small village that originally had two parts, formerly
divided by a moor but now grown to a unity; you can still point out
differences in words and pronunciation.
.
Since about the late seventies Dutch as language to make pop-lyrics became
more and more accepted (De Dijk, Het Goede Doel, Doe Maar). It is due to pop
groups who sang in dialect, that for the last twenty years there is serious
attention and interest paid to the musical and literary credits of music
outside the borders of the standard language in Holland. Some names: Normaal
(Gelderland), De Kast (Friesland), Rowwen Heze (Limburgse tex-mex en polka
oriented music, with poetic lyrics).
Dialect is again something people can
be proud of; and some things can be said better and more beautiful in the
native language than in the standard language; and perhaps that is because
in the dialect the landscape, nature and the local history are conserved and
expressed.
It is the language of Home Loving.