How do our language rules come about?
Many of the language rules we use today were formulated in the 17th and 18th centuries. PhD candidate Eline Lismont investigated in a dual track at the universities of Leiden and Brussels what made some become a success while others were quickly forgotten.
In the Middle Ages, Latin was the language of choice for written communication, but in the sixteenth century the vernacular made inroads. Movements such as the Renaissance and humanism aimed to make the Bible available to everyone, so more and more texts were also printed in Dutch. ‘If you want to distribute a Bible translation widely, you need a uniform language,’ says Lismont. 'So, for the first time, rules were being formulated that were distributed widely. I investigated to what extent these rules were actually applied.'
Process of centuries
To this end, Lismont compared grammars and textbooks, which prescribed what the new standardised Dutch should look like, with ‘natural’ language use in administrative texts, printed texts and diaries or travel accounts. 'In that early period of the sixteenth, seventeenth century, you hardly see any influence of those new language rules on the broader use of language. They are often taken into account in printed works because they are edited, but in travel accounts, for example, they hardly play a role. This in itself is not so surprising, as the new rules were mainly formulated for an upper social class. People who kept travel records for themselves were much less concerned with them.'
It was not until the 18th century that language rules penetrated wider sections of the population. ‘Due to the Enlightenment ideal and emerging nationalism, the idea of a single language for the nation arose,’ Lismont explains. 'Textbooks were written for a broader audience and distributed more extensively. From then on, you see that the rules formulated were actually widely applied, although you still see big differences in success.'
Difference in success
A simple spelling rule like ‘from now on use “aa” instead of “ae”’ was quickly adopted on a broad scale, while the difference between ‘them’ and ‘their’ remained tricky for many users. ‘That distinction did not originally exist in Dutch, but was introduced in the seventeenth century,’ says Lismont. 'That shows how complicated it is to introduce a new language rule. ‘Them’ and ‘their’ is one of the few where this has succeeded, but even now many people still struggle with it. What goes much better is accelerating or, on the contrary, stopping existing changes.' This involves spelling rules, but also, for example, usage norms such as the Dutch ‘greater as’ instead of ‘greater than’. Lismont: ‘There is so much criticism of that that it’s never really been adopted.’
Political influence
Another factor determining the success of regulation is the political situation. In the northern Netherlands, the need for standardisation followed the upheaval of the Revolt; in present-day Belgium, it only really took off in the 18th century. 'You see that people there stick with “ae” for much longer. It was even prescribed in school textbooks and, partly because of that, was considered typically southern for a very long time,' Lismont explains. 'It was only when the Kingdom of the Netherlands came into being between 1815 and 1830 that the influence of the north increased. People then started writing “aa” more often, but those who really want to preserve their own nation stick to “ae”.'