Kerkrade dialect

Kerkrade dialect (natively Kirchröadsj Plat or Kirchröadsj, Standard Dutch: Kerkraads, Standard German: Kerkrader Platt) is a Ripuarian dialect spoken in Kerkrade (Netherlands) and Herzogenrath (Germany). It is spoken in all social classes, but the variety spoken by younger people is somewhat closer to Standard Dutch.

Vocabulary

The Kerkrade dialect has many loanwords from Standard German, a language that used to be used in school and church. However, not all German loanwords are used by every speaker.

An example sentence in the Kerkrade dialect is Jód èse en drinke hilt lief en zieël tsezame, which means "eating and drinking well keeps one healthy". The Standard Dutch equivalent of that sentence is Goed eten en drinken houdt de mens gezond.

Phonology

Vowels

Kerkrade

Kerkrade ([ˈkɛrkraːdə], Kerkrade dialect: Kirchroa [ˈkeʁçʁoə̯]) is a town and a municipality in the southeast of Limburg, the southernmost province of the Netherlands.

Kerkrade is the western half of a divided city; before the independence of the Netherlands, it was part of the German town of Herzogenrath. The two towns, including outlying suburban settlements, have a population approaching 100,000, of which nearly 47,000 in Kerkrade.

History

The history of Kerkrade is closely linked with that of the adjacent town of Herzogenrath, just across the German border. Herzogenrath began as a settlement, called Rode, near the river Worm (or Wurm in German) in the 11th century. In 1104 Augustinian monks founded an abbey, called Kloosterrade, to the west of this settlement.

It was called 's-Hertogenrode or 's-Hertogenrade (Dutch: the Duke's Rode) after the duchy of Brabant took control over the region; in French it was called Rolduc (Rode-le-duc). As is the case for many parts of the Southern Netherlands, the place changed hands several times in the last few centuries. It was under Spanish control from 1661, Austrian between 1713 and 1785 and French between 1795 and 1813. In 1815, when the kingdom of the Netherlands was formed (see Vienna Congress), the border was drawn through Herzogenrath, the western part being Kerkrade.