Johan Taeldeman

Deverbal nouns and the agentive dimension across languages

Like many other languages, Dutch has a fair number of word formation rules that derive nouns from verbs (for example reger ing, ges chenk, bakk erij , vul sel , bezit, kom st , belijd enis , bijsluit er , huur ling, knoei erd). Not only do these deverbal nouns show a great formal (suffixal) diversity and different degrees of productivity, they also have a rather heterogeneous semantic output, that is they can fill a variety of ‘semantic slots’, such as nomen actionis (for example vernietiging ‘destruction’), affected object (for example geschenk ‘present’), effected object (for example tekening ‘drawing’), experiencer (for example beginneling ‘beginner’), patient (for example gijzelaar ‘hostage’), ergative object (for example overblijfsel ‘remains’), locative (for example bakkerij ‘bakery’), manner (for example gedrag ‘behaviour’), temporal (for example zitting ‘session’), instrumental (for example vulsel ‘filling’) and nomen agentis (for example regering ‘government’). In most cases, there is no one-to-one relationship between form and meaning. Deverbal -ing nominals, for instance, may be found in almost all semantic classes, and -er nominals can be nomen agentis (for example bezoeker ‘visitor’), affected object (for example bijsluiter ‘information leaflet’) or instrumental (for example (haar) droger ‘(hair) drier’).

Levelling phenomena in the Flemish dialects : Some observations on their teleology

When in todays industrialized Western language communities dialects change, this change usually amounts to loss of variation, because it results in levelling(s) under the influence of and in the direction of the standard language. This is also the general tendency in the dialects of the Flemish part of Belgium. Yet, in my own and other peoples research into recent developments in the Flemish-Belgian dialects, there is also prove for other tendencies: processes of change with divergence at its effect, but also cases of consolidation and even reinforcement of a dialect phenomenon. I will report on the following three situations, all of which have become more or less unconventional: (I) dialect levelling towards another variety than the standard language; (2) dialect changes through internal restructuring; (3) some peculiar examples of dialect consolidation