Hamont-Achel dialect

• /m, p, b, β/ are bilabial, whereas /f, v/ are labiodental.[1]
• The word-initial /sx/ cluster can be realized as [ɕx].[4]
• /ʃ, ʒ/ do not occur as frequently as in many other dialects, and can be said to be marginal phonemes.[4]
• /ŋ, k, x, ɣ/ are velar, whereas /j/ is palatal.[1]
• /ʀ/ is a uvular trill. Word-finally it is devoiced to either a fricative [χ] or a fricative trill [ʀ̝̊].[5]
• Other allophones include [ɱ, ɲ, c, ɡ]. They appear in contexts similar to Belgian Standard Dutch.[4]
• Voiceless consonants are regressively assimilated. An example of this is the past tense of regular verbs, where voiceless stops and fricatives are voiced before the past tense morpheme [də].[4]
• Word-final voiceless consonants are voiced in intervocalic position.[4]

The Hamont-Achel dialect contains 22 monophthong and 13 diphthong phonemes.[6] The amount of monophthongs is higher than that of consonants.[6]

Short monophthongs of the Hamont-Achel dialect on a vowel chart, based on the formant chart in Verhoeven (2007:223)

Long monophthongs of the Hamont-Achel dialect on a vowel chart, based on the formant chart in Verhoeven (2007:223)

On average, long vowels are 95 ms longer than short vowels. This is very similar to Belgian Standard Dutch, in which the difference is 105 ms.[4][8]

The quality of the monophthongs is as follows:

• /i, iː, u, uː, eː, oː, ɛ, ɛː, ɔ, ɔː, ɑː/ are similar to the corresponding cardinal vowels [i, u, e, o, ɛ, ɔ, ɑ], but none of them are quite as peripheral.[6]
• Among the central vowels, /y/, /ø/, /øː/, /ə/ and /aː/ are phonetically central ([ʉ̞, ɵ, ɵː, ə, äː]), whereas /yː, œ/ and /œː/ are front [yː, œ, œː], similar to the corresponding cardinal vowels. /y/ is near-close (and slightly advanced from the central position) rather than close and /ø/ is close-mid. /ø/ is phonetically similar to the unstressable /ə/ and the two differ mainly in rounding.[9]
• /ɪ/ is similar to /eː/, but it is lower and slightly more central ([ɪ̞]).[10]
• The contrast between the long open vowels is a genuine front–central–back contrast. The Hamont-Achel dialect thus has four, not five phonemic vowel heights, and /æː/ is open front [æ̞ː].[11]
• The short /æ/ and /ɑ/ are somewhat higher and more front ([æ, ɑ̝̈]) than their long counterparts.[6]

Unlike in the neighboring dialect of Weert, all monophthong-glide combinations are restricted to the syllable coda. Those are mostly /j/ preceded by a vowel, and they are /uj, uːj, eːj, oːj, ɔj, ɔːj, æːj/ and the marginal /ɑj/. There also are two combinations of a vowel followed by /β/, which are /iβ/ and /œβ/.[12]

Dialect of Hamont-Achel contrasts long and short closing diphthongs. The long ones are on average 70 ms longer than their short equivalents. Centering diphthongs are all long.[6]

Closing diphthongs of the Hamont-Achel dialect, from Verhoeven (2007:221)

Centering diphthongs of the Hamont-Achel dialect, from Verhoeven (2007:221)

• The starting points of /ɛi(ː), œy(ː)/ are close to the corresponding cardinal vowels [ɛ, œ].[6]
• The starting point of /ɑu(ː)/ is near-open central [ɐ].[6]
• The ending points of /ɛi(ː), œy(ː), ɔu(ː)/ are rather close, more like [i, y, u] than [e, ø, o].[6]
• The ending point of /ɑu(ː)/ is slightly more open ([ʊ]) than those of the other closing diphthongs.[6]
• The starting points of /ɔu(ː)/ and /oːə/ are more central than the corresponding cardinal vowels: [ɔ̟, o̟].[6]
• The target of the centering diphthongs is a rather close schwa [ɘ].[6]
• The starting points of /iːə, yːə/ are somewhat lower ([i̞, y˕]) than the corresponding cardinal vowels.[6]
• The starting point of /uːə/ is somewhat lower and somewhat more central ([ü̞]) than the corresponding cardinal vowel.[6]
• The starting point of /ɔːə/ is somewhat higher and somewhat more central ([ɔ̝̈]) than the corresponding cardinal vowel.[6]

Like most other Limburgish dialects, but unlike some other dialects in this area,[13][14] the prosody of the Hamont-Achel dialect has a lexical tone distinction, which is traditionally referred to as stoottoon ('push tone') or Accent 1, which generally has a shortening effect on the syllable and sleeptoon ('dragging tone') or Accent 2. In this article, they are transcribed as a distinction between falling and rising tone. The difference between Accent 1 and Accent 2 can signal either lexical differences or grammatical distinctions, such as those between the singular and the plural forms of some nouns. It is phonemic only in stressed syllables, an example of a minimal pair is /ˈɦûs/ ('(record) sleeve') vs. /ˈɦǔs/ ('house').[15]

In final position, Accent 1 is realised as a steady fall [V˥˩] through the rhyme, the Accent 2 is falling-rising [V˥˩˩˥]; the first half of the rhyme is falling, whereas the rest is rising. In non-final position, Accent 1's F0 stays high in the first 45% of the rhyme and then falls rapidly towards the end of the rhyme (in IPA, that can be transcribed [V˦˥]). When the focus of the sentence is on a word with Accent 2, it is realized as a very shallow fall-rise combination [V˥˩˩˥].[16]

The sample text is a reading of the first sentence of The North Wind and the Sun, read by a 75-year-old male middle-class speaker.[1]

[də noːʀdəʀβɪːnd ɛn də zɔn | di βɑʀə ʀyzi n̩t maːkə ʔoːvəʀ βi t stɛʀkstə βɑs | tun əʀ ənə vɛːnt fəʀbɛiː kβɑːm mɛ nə βɛʀmə jɑz ɔːn][17]

De noorderwind en de zon, die warre ruzie aan 't make over wie 't sterkste was toen er ene vèènt verbij kwààm met ne werme jas aon.