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25-502: Hesdin ( French pronunciation: [edɛ̃] ; West Flemish : Heusdin ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France . The N39, from Arras to Montreuil , used to be the main thoroughfare of the town. In the 1950s, a circular route was created to help traffic flow. A second bypass was built in the 1980s, taking all through traffic well away from the town centre. The Canche river flows through

50-647: A long ie ( [i] ). Like for the ui , the long o ( [o] ) can be replaced by an [ø] ( eu ) for some words but a [uo] for others. That often causes similarities to ranchers English. Here are some examples showing the sound shifts that are part of the vocabulary: Plural forms in Standard Dutch most often add -en , but West Flemish usually uses -s , like the Low Saxon dialects and even more prominently in English in which -en has become very rare. Under

75-522: A short u ( [ɐ] ), a phenomenon also occurring in Russian and some other Slavic languages , called akanye . That happens spontaneously to some words, but other words keep their original short o sounds. Similarly, the short a ( [ɑ] ) can turn into a short o ( [ɔ] ) in some words spontaneously. The diphthong ui ( /œy/ ) does not exist in West Flemish and is replaced by a long u ( [y] ) or

100-472: A variety of events including a Sunday Brocante (flea market) which is the biggest in the region. West Flemish language West Flemish is spoken by about a million people in the Belgian province of West Flanders , and a further 50,000 in the neighbouring Dutch coastal district of Zeelandic Flanders (200,000 if including the closely related dialects of Zeelandic ) and 10-20,000 in the northern part of

125-404: Is pronounced only if the next word begins with a vowel sound. Another feature of West Flemish is the conjugation of ja and nee ("yes" and "no") to the subject of the sentence. That is somewhat related to the double subject, but even when the rest of the sentence is not pronounced, ja and nee are generally used with the first part of the double subject. This conjugation can be negated with

150-842: Is the westernmost province of the Flemish Region , in Belgium . It is the only coastal Belgian province, facing the North Sea to the northwest. It has land borders with the Dutch province of Zeeland to the northeast, the Flemish province of East Flanders to the east, the Walloon province of Hainaut in the south and the French department of Nord to the west. Its capital is Bruges ( Brugge ). Other important cities are Kortrijk in

175-535: The /h/ sounds to a /x/ or /ɣ/ . Standard Dutch also has many words with an -en ( /ən/ ) suffix (mostly plural forms of verbs and nouns). While Standard Dutch and most dialects do not pronounce the final n , West Flemish typically drops the e and pronounces the n inside the base word. For base words already ending with n , the final n sound is often lengthened to clarify the suffix. That makes many words become similar to those of English: beaten , listen etc. The short o ( [ɔ] ) can also be pronounced as

200-632: The Belgian coast, the historic center of Bruges, the Yser Tower in Diksmuide and Flanders Fields , the World War I battlefields around Ypres . A Dutch dialect called West Flemish is spoken here. The city of Bruges has two clubs playing at the highest level of football in Belgium ( Belgian First Division A ), namely Club Brugge and Cercle Brugge . Other cities with teams playing at

225-646: The French department of Nord . Some of the main cities where West Flemish is widely spoken are Bruges , Dunkirk , Kortrijk , Ostend , Roeselare and Ypres . West Flemish is listed as a "vulnerable" language in UNESCO 's online Red Book of Endangered Languages . West Flemish has a phonology that differs significantly from that of Standard Dutch, being similar to Afrikaans in the case of long E, O and A. Also where Standard Dutch has sch , in some parts of West Flanders, West-Flemish, like Afrikaans, has sk . However,

250-609: The French press as a reference to the previous French President Nicolas Sarkozy who is from the same political party. Hesdin is dominated by the central square, the Place d'Armes overlooked by the 16th-17th-century town hall. The town hall, with its large belfry, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005 as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France site, because of its historical importance as

275-574: The Germans dissolved the subcamp and deported its prisoners to subcamps of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp . In 1975, a memorial plaque and a small museum was established at the site of the subcamp. In 2014 Hesdin elected a 22-year-old law student, Stéphane Sieczkowski-Samier, as Mayor. Sieczkowski-Samier became the youngest mayor in France and is nicknamed "Petit Sarko" (little Sarkozy) in

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300-583: The best known traits are the replacement of Standard Dutch (pre-)velar fricatives g and ch in Dutch ( /x, ɣ/ ) with glottal h [h, ɦ] ,. The following differences are listed by their Dutch spelling, as some different letters have merged their sounds in Standard Dutch but remained separate sounds in West Flemish. Pronunciations can also differ slightly from region to region. The absence of /x/ and /ɣ/ in West Flemish makes pronouncing them very difficult for native speakers. That often causes hypercorrection of

325-520: The center of municipal power within the region. The contemporary Church of Notre Dame was begun in 1565 and completed in 1685. Thursday is market day in Hesdin, when a large range of local produce and more typical inexpensive market items can be purchased from the stalls in the surrounding streets. In the first two weeks of August the town has the fete of the Cochon Rose (Pink Piglet) which includes

350-495: The centre of Hesdin. Hesdin was a fief of the counts of Artois , vassals of the Counts of Flanders until 1180. When Philip, count of Flanders gave Artois as dowry to his niece Isabella of Hainault when she married Philip Augustus of France in 1180, Hesdin and the other seigneuries passed to France. At the end of the 11th century, Hesdin gained renown for the park and chateau of Robert II, Count of Artois , which featured

375-484: The cities of Bruges and Ostend . Both cities also have important seaports: the port of Bruges-Zeebrugge and the port of Ostend . The south is known for its textile industry, with companies such as Beaulieu and Libeco-Lagae . The region around Kortrijk is called the " Dallas of Belgium" for its entrepreneurship. Tourism is also an important industry in West Flanders. Major touristic attractions include

400-491: The delights, the inventions, the engines, the contrivances, the water courses, the strange things that were enclosed there." By the 1380s, the automata had fallen into disrepair, until Philip the Good renovated them again in the 1430s. A 1433 bill of account recounts numerous mechanical amusements, including machines that played pranks on the guests as well as angels and figures that spoke and directed visitors. Though subsequently

425-508: The earliest examples of early medieval automata in Europe. These included mechanical monkeys covered in badger fur, mechanized fountains, a large sundial surrounded by lions and leopards, and a bellows-operated organ. Over the years additional automata were added, including creations such as a mechanical king and an indoor fountain with mechanical birds. Guillaume de Machaut , in his poem Le Remede de Fortune , characterized them as "the marvels,

450-406: The extra word, toet ( [tut] ), or strenght strengthened by adding mo- or ba- (or both). West Flanders West Flanders ( Dutch : West-Vlaanderen [ˌʋɛst ˈflaːndərə(n)] ; West Flemish : West-Vloandern [βæst ˈflɒːndərn̩] ; French : Flandre-Occidentale [flɑ̃dʁ ɔksidɑ̃tal] ; German : Westflandern [ˈvɛstˌflandɐn] )

475-577: The highest level are Kortrijk ( KV Kortrijk ), Ostend ( KV Oostende ) and Waregem ( Zulte Waregem ). The teams Knack Randstad Roeselare and Prefaxis Menen play in the highest volleyball league. Knack Randstad Roeselare also plays in the CEV Champions League , the European Championsleague. BC Oostende is a basketball team which plays in the major basketball league of Belgium. The Province of West Flanders

500-417: The influence of Standard Dutch, -s is being used by fewer people, and younger speakers tend to use -en . The verbs zijn ("to be") and hebben ("to have") are also conjugated differently. West Flemish often has a double subject. Standard Dutch has an indefinite article that does not depend on gender, unlike in West Flemish. However, a gender-independent article is increasingly used. Like in English, n

525-544: The length of the coast, from De Panne on the French border to Knokke-Heist on the Dutch border. West Flanders has two seaports , the Port of Zeebrugge and the Port of Ostend . West Flanders consists of the North Sea coast , followed by a very flat polder landscape. Only in the south are some small hills, with the Kemmelberg (159 m (522 ft)) being the highest point in the province. The Leie and IJzer are

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550-460: The main rivers. West Flanders is the only Belgian province that borders both France and The Netherlands; it is the only province not landlocked . The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was 46.9 billion € in 2018. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 34,700 € or 115% of the EU27 average in the same year. In the north of the province, most industry is concentrated in and around

575-475: The original site. In 1639 the French laid siege to Hesdin and under Louis XIII , it was recaptured for France. Thus, though Hesdin has an ancient name and 16th century structures, there is nothing left of the medieval town. During World War II , the town was occupied by Germany . The SS operated a subcamp of the V SS construction brigade , in which mostly Soviet and Polish prisoners were subjected to slave labour . In August 1944, due to Allied advance,

600-443: The south and Ostend ( Oostende ) on the coast, Roeselare and Ypres ( Ieper ). The province has an area of 3,197 km (1,234 sq mi) which is divided into eight administrative districts ( arrondissementen ) containing 64 municipalities. As of January 2024, West Flanders has a population of over 1.22 million. The North Sea coast of Belgium, an important tourism destination, lies in West Flanders. A tram line runs

625-510: The territory passed to the Dukes of Burgundy , Hesdin remained one of a handful of French strongholds, until in 1553 Emperor Charles V ordered the utter destruction of the old fortified town on a rise of ground and built the present town the following year, some 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the original site, on the banks of the Canche. The unfortified village of Vieil-Hesdin was later built on

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