The Dutch language used in Belgium can also be referred to as Flemish Dutch or Belgian Dutch (Dutch: Vlaams Nederlands, Belgisch Nederlands). Dutch is the mother tongue of about 60% of the population in Belgium, spoken by approximately 6.5 million out of a population of 11 million people.[1][2][3] It is the only official language in Flanders, that is to say the provinces of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, Limburg, East Flanders and West Flanders. Alongside French, it is also an official language of Brussels. However, in the Brussels Capital Region and in the adjacent Flemish-Brabant municipalities, Dutch has been largely displaced by French as an everyday language.[4][5]
Belgian Dutch differs from Standard Dutch in terms of accent and vocabulary. The most spoken Dutch dialects in Belgium are West Flemish, East Flemish, Brabantian and Limburgish.[6][7] Although the Brabant dialect has historically been associated with working-class areas of Brussels, in particular the Marolles, the virtual disappearance of those populations means that linguistic variants in which an influence of the Brabant can be discerned exist in a diminishing degree.
- ^ "ATLAS - Dutch: Who speaks it?". UCL. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
- ^ "Belgium Bickering Over French and Dutch, Its Dual Languages". Los Angeles Times. 20 February 2005. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
- ^ "About Belgium - Language Matters". Beer Tourism. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
- ^ Harbert, The Germanic Languages, CUP, 2007
- ^ Jan Kooij, "Dutch", in Comrie, ed., The World's Major Languages, 2nd ed. 2009
- ^ "Belgium: A nation divided". The Independent. 18 December 2007. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
- ^ Leidraad van de Taaltelefoon. Dienst Taaladvies van de Vlaamse Overheid (Department for Language advice of the Flemish government).
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