CRITERIA TO DEFINE STANDARD DUTCH: A SURVEY

An investigation was performed in order to gain insight into popular opinions that ordinary Dutch people have about the standard language in the Netherlands. 115 informants participated, varying in age, regional origin, sex and level of education. When asked to give a general description of standard Dutch, regional neutrality was mentioned most often as the main prerequisite. It was also described as the language that functions as a type of lingua franca, a language that is fixed in grammar and that has a careful pronunciation. When given a number of possible regional origins, the west of the Netherlands was most often mentioned. This is indeed the historical origin of standard Dutch. The western city of Haarlem was also a very popular answer to this question. The idea that in Haarlem standard Dutch is most often spoken was first posed in the early literature and this has developed into a widespread assumption. Newsreaders are considered to be good speakers of standard Dutch along with people that have some professional interest in the Dutch language, such as teachers of Dutch and Dutch linguists. Men and women are considered equally likely to approximate standard Dutch. Radio presenters are considered better speakers of standard Dutch than television presenters, and this variety is more likely to be spoken on non-commercial than on commercial channels. The two most well-known speakers of standard Dutch are two news-broadcasters in the Netherlands, namely Harmen Siezen and Joop van Zijl. School and home were mentioned frequently as the places where attitudes towards standard Dutch were founded.