Editing Middle Dutch (section)

===Flemish===

Flemish, consisting today of [[West Flemish|West]] and [[East Flemish]] and [[Zeelandic]], was spoken in the [[County of Flanders]], northern parts of the [[County of Artois]] and areas around the towns of [[Calais]] and [[Boulogne-sur-Mer]]. Though due to their intermediary position between West Flemish and [[Brabantian dialect|Brabantian]], the East Flemish dialects have also been grouped with the latter.<ref>{{cite book|last1=ed|first1=Keith Brown|title=Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics|date=2007|publisher=Elsevier|location=Amsterdam|isbn=978-0-08-044299-0|edition=2.}}</ref> Flemish had been influential during the earlier Middle Ages (the "Flemish expansion") but lost prestige to the neighbouring Brabantian in the 13th century. Its characteristics are:

* Fronted realisation {{IPA|/æː/}} for â.
* Unrounding of rounded front vowels.
* Loss of {{IPA|/h/}}, with the occasional [[hypercorrection]] found in texts.
* Opening diphthong articulation of ê and ô, often spelled {{angbr|ee}} and {{angbr|oe}}.
* Old Dutch {{IPA|/iu/}} developed into {{IPA|/iə/}} instead of {{IPA|/yː/}}, thus giving forms such as ''vier'' ("fire") where other dialects have ''vuur''.
* Lowering of {{IPA|/e/}} to {{IPA|/a/}} before {{IPA|/r/}} + consonant, often also with lengthening. The change is generally limited to West Flemish before dentals, while before labials and velars it is more widespread.
* Lack of umlaut {{IPA|/a/}} > {{IPA|/e/}} before {{IPA|/xt/}}.
* {{IPA|/i/}} > {{IPA|/e/}} in some words.
* {{IPA|/o/}} > {{IPA|/e/}} sometimes before {{IPA|/r/}} + consonant in West Flemish.