Amelands is a
dialect
A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...
of
Dutch, spoken on the
Wadden Sea
The Wadden Sea ( ; ; or ; ; ; ) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of low-lying Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tida ...
island of
Ameland
Ameland (; ) is a municipality and one of the West Frisian Islands off the north coast of the Netherlands. It consists mostly of sand dunes and is the third major island of the West Frisians. It neighbours islands Terschelling to the west a ...
. It is especially closely related to the
Midslands dialect, spoken in the middle segment of the neighboring island of
Terschelling
Terschelling (; ; Terschelling dialect: ''Schylge'') is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and an island in the northern Netherlands, one of the West Frisian Islands. It is situated between the islands of Vlieland and Ameland.
...
. Amelands, which has about 2,900 speakers, is the only dialect of the Dutch Wadden Sea islands that seems to be maintaining itself in its community, whereas all the other Dutch or
West Frisian island dialects are losing ground rapidly in favor of Standard Dutch.
Phonology
Along with Midslands
[''Meslânzer Woardeboek'', Leeuwarden/Ljouwert (Afûk), 2024, ISBN 978-9 49 33 18 250, p. 36.] it is the only dialect of Dutch which does not feature
final obstruent devoicing
Final-obstruent devoicing or terminal devoicing is a systematic phonological process occurring in languages such as Catalan, German, Dutch, Quebec French, Breton, Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Turkish, and Wolof. In such languages, voiced ...
.
References
Bibliography
*
Dutch language
{{Netherlands-stub