The dialect of Vriezenveen

The village of Vriezenveen (not far from Almelo in Twente, an eastern region of the Netherlands) has a dialect that differs from its neighboring dialects in a number a features. For instance, instead of lengthened vowels in open syllables it can have rising diphthongs whereas the other Twente dialects have centered diphthongs or short vowels more open than the original short ones: ljèvn ‘to live’ [jæ.] opposite to lèëvn [εǝ] of lèvvn [ε] (Standard Dutch leven [e.] < [ε]). The Vriezenveen dialect also has (or had) diphthongs in stein ‘stone’ [εi], geitn ‘to pour’, bouk ‘book’ [ɔu] instead of Twente dialect stèèn [ε.], geetn [e.], book [o.], Standard Dutch steen [e.], gieten [i], boek [u]. These conservative features can be explained by the fact that the inhabitants of Vriezenveen had extensive contacts with the Westphalian region through which they travelled on their commercial tours to Russia (Saint Petersburg). In this German region these features can still be found. On the other hand, a form like huus ‘house’, with [y.] instead of [u.], points in a western direction. Nowadays the young inhabitants of Vriezenveen are adapting their dialect to the more general Twente dialect. This regiolectization clearly manifested itself during interviews organized from 2012 through 2015.