Winterswijk ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˌʋɪntərsˈʋɛik] ; also known as Winterswiek or Wenters ) is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands . It has a population of 29,022 and is situated in the Achterhoek , which lies in the easternmost part of the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands.
29-560: It was also known as Winethereswick , Winriswic or Wenterswic ; the Low Saxon wich or wic means the living place of a certain person. The person would likely have been called Wenether , Winitar or Winter . Winterswijk is located in east of the province of Gelderland in the east of the Netherlands . It is part of the region of Achterhoek . Founded around 1000 AD it remained an isolated farming community until 1830 when
58-520: A Dutch-based orthography. Several long vowel shifts happened in Veluws, Urkers, Sallaans, Stellingwarfs, Drèents and in some variants of Gronings; the change occurred as the Hollandic dialect rose in prestige during the 17th century. For example, the oe [uː] changed into uu [yː] . Tweants, Eastern Achterhooks and some variants of Gronings and Drents, by contrast, retained their old vowels. Compare
87-619: A Rest-Centre for British soldiers in the Sociëteit de Eendracht, where the British soldiers, could find some rest. Although the Jewish community of Winterswijk was greatly decimated during the war, a synagogue still exists. Yet no regular services are being held. The synagogue is open for visitors and guided tours. Low Saxon Low Saxon ( Dutch : Nedersaksisch ), also known as West Low German ( German : Westniederdeutsch ) are
116-521: A Tweants song received more than €10,000 in the annual fundraising campaign Het Glazen Huis (The Glass House). As the song received more than €17,000, Veenstra kept his promise. An increasing number of local political parties have used Low Saxon in their 2014 electoral campaigns. In 2014, a Facebook page called "Tukkers be like" gained more than 18,000 followers within a week. The page uses Twents cultural concepts and expressions in Twents. The idea of
145-614: A West Low German dialect spoken in adjacent Northern Germany . From a strictly synchronic point of view, however, some linguists classify Dutch Low Saxon as belonging to the Dutch language area. Also, as a practical matter, Dutch Low Saxon, since the 17th century, has been influenced by Standard Dutch, but the Low Saxon dialects in Germany are influenced by Standard German . Recent studies have, however, shown that mutual intelligibility
174-739: A group of Low German dialects spoken in parts of the Netherlands , northwestern Germany and southern Denmark (in North Schleswig by parts of the German-speaking minority). It is one of two dialect groups, the other being East Low German . The language area comprises the North German states of Lower Saxony , North Rhine-Westphalia (the Westphalian part), Bremen , Hamburg , Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony-Anhalt (the northwestern areas around Magdeburg ) as well as
203-745: A regional language under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . The classification of Dutch Low Saxon is not unanimous. From a diachronic point of view, the Dutch Low Saxon dialects are merely the West Low German ( Northern Low Saxon and Friso-Saxon in the case of Gronings ) dialects native to areas in the Netherlands, as opposed to areas beyond the national border with Germany. Some Dutch Low Saxon dialects like Tweants show features of Westphalian ,
232-467: A song about two bikers who died in an accident, took the charts by storm, and it is now regarded a true evergreen of Dutch music. It quickly garnered them a large fan base, even in non-Low Saxon areas, such as Friesland and Limburg . They inspired many other young rock 'n' roll artists to sing in Low Saxon, who now form a subgenre of their own in the Dutch music industry, which is gradually becoming aware of
261-530: A struggle just over five kilometers south of Winterswijk following reinforcements from the NSB . On 31 March the first allied troops finally reached the Slingestream near Winterswijk. 31 March is marked as the official day to remember the liberation of Winterswijk, despite the fact that in the late afternoon of 31 March parts of Miste and Woold were already liberated. After the liberation of Winterswijk they founded
290-563: Is a Low Franconian language , the Dutch Low Saxon varieties form a dialect continuum with Westphalian . They consist of: A 2005 study found that there were approximately 1.8 million "daily speakers" of Low Saxon in the Netherlands. 53% spoke Low Saxon or Low Saxon and Dutch at home and 71% could speak it. According to another study the percentage of speakers among parents dropped from 34% in 1995 to 15% in 2011. The percentage of speakers among their children dropped from 8% to 2% in
319-463: Is increasingly being used in popular culture, marketing, and local politics. The Tweants municipality of Rijssen-Holten , for example, has officially adopted a bilingual status for their town hall desks, and customers may opt for Dutch or Low Saxon help. In 2012, a radio presenter for national broadcasting station 3FM , Michiel Veenstra from Almelo , promised to present in Tweants for an hour if
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#1732772642295348-472: Is not necessarily impaired and that the basis remains the same. Shortly after Second World War , linguists claimed that speaking a dialect other than the standard language would impair children's (language) learning abilities. In combination with a generally condescending attitude by the upper classes of Dutch society and the media towards speakers of Low Saxon varieties (or in fact anything different from Standard Dutch), that goaded many parents to stop passing
377-479: Is often dismissed, but a 2012 study indicates it may be a useful addition in international trade communications. As of 2015, language enthusiasts attempt to start up courses for the language and culture, especially in the Tweante region. They are mostly studies aimed at the elderly but still prove to be very popular. There still is no professional attempt to promote the language into the school curriculum. Probably
406-400: The rock 'n' roll band Normaal boldly shook all perceptions of Low Saxon and its speakers. Until then, Low Saxon was mostly restricted to traditional folklore music. Normaal openly denounced all Dutch disdain, praised farmers and local farm life and boldly used Achterhooks Low Saxon, voicing the opinion and feelings of many Dutchmen of non-Dutch-speaking origin. Their hit song "Oerend Hard",
435-482: The Language). Many of them were mainly interested in preserving rather than promoting the language. The prevailing tone was one of melancholy and nostalgia. Their focus was often on preserving cultural traits considered typical to speakers of the language, such as rural life and traditional practices, crafts and costumes. That merely confirmed many of the existing stereotypes about speakers of the language. Another tone
464-537: The Tweants and Sallaans equivalents: hoes : huus ("house"). In many dialects, the oe sound was preserved in some words but changed to uu in others. As a result, in Sallaans house is huus , but mouse is moes (as in Tweants). Dutch has lost the word doe "thou" and replaced it with jij , equivalent to English " ye ", originally the second person plural. In many Low Saxon dialects in
493-404: The genre's commercial potential. In 1996, Dutch Low Saxon was added to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . Dutch provinces now receive minor funds for preserving and promoting the use of Low Saxon. A general rise in regional pride and appreciation for the Low Saxon identity made the earlier openly disdainful attitude towards Low Saxon seem to have subsided somewhat. Low Saxon
522-404: The job market. The result was a string of Dutch dialects with Low Saxon features, which were also looked down upon. As of 2014, Low Saxon is still not a part of the Dutch school curriculum. It is neither a subject nor a mode of communication. This causes a general lack of knowledge about, and appreciation for the language. Its possible role as a language of trade between the Netherlands and Germany
551-544: The language as vulnerable. The percentage of speakers among parents dropped from 34% in 1995 to 15% in 2011. The percentage of speakers among their children dropped from 8% to 2% in the same period. According to a 2005 study 53% indicated to speak Low Saxon or Low Saxon and Dutch at home and 71% they could speak Low Saxon in the researched area, accounting for a total of 1.6 million speakers at home and 2.15 million total, ranging from "reasonably" to "very well" in terms of proficiency. The Netherlands recognizes Dutch Low Saxon as
580-567: The language on to their children. It also brought about a general opinion among speakers of Low Saxon that having the slightest accent, in Dutch, would reduce job opportunities and social status. Throughout the 1960s, the language decline inspired many to form dialect preservation circles and groups, such as the Tweants Kreenk vuur de Twentse Sproake (Circle for the Twents language) or the Drèents Huus van de Taol (House of
609-409: The languages made Low Saxon be regarded a dialect of Dutch, and shifting from Low Saxon to Dutch would be relatively easy. Instead of adapting the school curriculum and guiding the children into learning Dutch as a second language and embracing the potential of the Low Saxon language, non-Dutch speaking parents were advised to speak Dutch with their children instead to increase their chances of success on
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#1732772642295638-626: The largest single body of work ever produced in Dutch Low Saxon is the Dutch Low Saxon Misplaced Pages , begun in 2006 as a separate project from the German Low Saxon Misplaced Pages, which preceded it by three years. A lot of the dialects have been affected by the Hollandic expansion of the 17th century. All of them are lexically dependent on Dutch rather than German for neologisms. When written down, they use
667-406: The long open or open-mid back rounded vowel (pronounced [ɒː] or [ɔː] , depending on the dialect) should be written as either ⟨oa⟩ or ⟨ao⟩ . That resulted in little co-operation and no nationwide coordination. Other attempts to unite the different dialect circles were met with cynicism. The conception prevailed that the dialects were too different to unite. In 1975,
696-663: The northeast of the Netherlands (i.e. Dutch Low Saxon , spoken in Groningen , Drenthe , Overijssel and northern Gelderland ) and the Schleswigsch dialect spoken by the North Schleswig Germans in the southernmost part of Denmark. In the south the Benrath line and Uerdingen line isoglosses form the border with the area, where West Central German variants of High German are spoken. While Dutch
725-615: The page was based on the Internet meme "Bitches be like", which gained enormous popularity in 2013, and inspired many to create their own versions. The meme presents an image of a certain situation, to which a certain group would respond in a typical way. Dutch Low Saxon has long been stigmatised and kept out of schools. People of older generations may relate numerous accounts of their childhood in which contemporaries were afraid to go to school for fear of being reprimanded, or purposely ignored, for not speaking Dutch. The similarities between
754-464: The road from Borken to Zutphen via Winterswijk and Groenlo was built. Around 1840 many emigrated to America — Michigan in particular. After 1870 the town became a centre for textiles, such as spinning and weaving and indeed the Tricot factory employed a large proportion of the local population in its heyday. In 1878 the railway line to Zutphen was built primarily for the textile industry, which
783-542: The same period. Dutch Low Saxon Dutch Low Saxon ( Nederlaands Leegsaksies [ˈneːdərlaːnts ˈleːxsɑksis] or Nederlaands Nedersaksies ; Dutch : Nederlands Nedersaksisch ) are Low Saxon dialects from the Low German language that are spoken in the northeastern Netherlands and are mostly, but not exclusively, written with local, unstandardised orthographies based on Standard Dutch orthography . The UNESCO Atlas of endangered languages lists
812-435: Was rather literary in nature. Though well-intended, it caused even more estrangement with younger generations. At the same time, knowledge of and appreciation for related varieties was poor, which stifled cooperation between most of the dialect preservation groups. Instead of forming an organisation to stand together and help one another to improve the status for all the different varieties, fiery discussions arose about whether
841-574: Was set up by Jan Willink. Some of the families such as the Willinks have lived there since 1284. Winterswijk was liberated on 31 March 1945. The day prior, on 30 March there was a tank battle in one of the townships called Woold , with sixty Sherman tanks . The 53rd Welsh Division and the 3rd British Infantry Division, were moving from Bocholt via Aalten to Winterswijk. The tank battle resulted in sixteen German and nine British soldiers losing their lives. On 31 March, around nine AM allied forces had
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