# Bruges dialect

The Bruges dialect (Standard Dutch and West Flemish: Brugs) is a West Flemish dialect used in Bruges. It is rapidly declining, being replaced with what scholars call general (rural) West Flemish.

## Phonology
### Consonants

* After /u/, the sequence /nd/ is realized as a velar nasal [ŋ].
* The sequence /ən/ is realized as a sequence [ən], rather than a syllabic [n̩].

#### Realization of /r/

According to Hinskens & Taeldeman (2013), /r/ is realized as a voiced uvular trill with little friction [ʀ̝]. In the neighbouring rural area, an alveolar [r] is used.
However, according to Sebregts (2014), the vast majority of the speakers in Bruges realize /r/ as alveolar, not uvular.
Definitely, the most common realization of /r/ is a voiced alveolar tap [ɾ], which is used about four times more often than the second most common realization, which is a voiced alveolar trill [r]. The other alveolar realizations include: a voiceless alveolar trill [r̥], a partially devoiced alveolar trill [r̥], a voiceless alveolar fricative tap/trill [ɾ̞̊ ~ r̝̊], a voiceless alveolar/postalveolar fricative [ɹ̝̊, ɹ̠̊˔] (the least common realization), a voiced alveolar/postalveolar fricative [ɹ̝ ~ ɹ̠˔] and a voiced alveolar approximant [ɹ].
Among the uvular realizations, he lists a voiced uvular trill [ʀ], a voiced uvular fricative trill [ʀ̝], a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] and a voiced uvular approximant [ʁ̞], among which the uvular fricative trill is the most common realization. He also lists a central vowel (which probably means [ə], [ɐ] or both of these) and elision of /r/, both of which are very rare.

### Vowels

Monophthongs of the Bruges dialect :
| | Front | Front | Front | Front | Central | Back | Back |
| | unrounded | unrounded | rounded | rounded | unrounded | Back | Back |
| | short | long | short | long | short | short | long |
| Close | ɪ | | ʏ | | | ʊ | |
| Mid | ɛ | ɛː ɛ̃ː | œ | œː | ə | ɔ | ɔː |
| Open | æ | æː | | | | ɑ | ɑː |
* In comparison with Standard Dutch, the short front vowels underwent a chain shift, so that the standard /i, y, ɪ, ʏ, ɛ/ became /ɪ, ʏ, ɛ, œ, æ/. The standard /u/ was also lowered to /ʊ/, yet the standard /ɔ/ was left untouched.
* Among the back vowels, /ʊ, ɔ, ɔː/ are rounded, whereas /ɑ, ɑː/ are unrounded.
* /ɪ, ʏ, ʊ/ are near-close [ɪ̟, ʏ, ʊ̠]; /ɪ/ is fully front, whereas /ʊ/ is fully back.
* /ʏ, ʊ, œː/ (but not /œ, ɔ, ɔː/) are rather weakly rounded [ʏ̜, ʊ̜, œ̜ː].
* Phonetically, /ɛ, ə/ are mid [ɛ̝, ə], whereas /ɛː, ɛ̃ː, œ, œː, ɔ, ɔː/ are open-mid [ɛː, ɛ̃ː, œ, œː, ɔ, ɔː].
* Before /l/, /æ/ is lowered and retracted to [ɑ]. This feature is typical of working class speech and is nearly extinct.
Diphthongs of the Bruges dialect :
| | Ending point | Ending point | Ending point |
| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | | iːə uːə | |
| Close-mid | eɪ øʏ | eːə | oʊ |
| Open-mid | | ɔːə | ɔu |
* All of the diphthongs are falling.
* /eɪ, øʏ, oʊ/ used to be pronounced as monophthongs [eː, øː, oː], a realization which is rapidly regaining popularity among younger speakers.
* Traditionally, /ɔu/ used to have such a close first element that there was practically no distinction between /ɔu/ and /oʊ/.
* Phonetically, /ɔːə/ can be either [ɔːə] or [ɔːɑ].