New-York tribune., 1910-09-03

3QOnteG
larCed. 12mc. pp. SS5. The Hague:
MartinuS Nyhon.
The movement for the simplification
and reform Of the language of the Meth
erlands was started some twenty years
ago. The first impetus was given, how
ever, by the leaders Of the modern
school of Dutch literature, which, IL the
face of bitter academic opposition, gave
new life and new blood to an art that
both in form and in content had fallen
hopeessly behind the spirit Of the age
abroad the avocation. chiefly, Of clergy
men. young lawyers and educators, dl-
daCtic in tone and timorously conserva-
tive. This revolution in Dutch bellies
lettres, for it was nothing less, rem
dered during the last quarter century
a lasting service to the language by
making it infinitely more supple and by
vastly enriching its resources.
The difference between the spoken and
the written language OF Holland had
long been one of the difficulties in the
path Of the foreigner seeking to acquire
it. a complex grammar was main
tained in the face of speech that
ignored some Of its most important
rules The grammarians continued to
/ teach inffeXions Of nouns and adjectives
which even cultured Hollanders never
! dreamed of using except in writing. The
/ spoken language knew but two genders,
the epicene and the neuter; the gram
! mar insisted on three, with the conse-
quence. as DR.. Hoogvliet points out, that
even now we'll educated Dutchman,
when going TO write no matter which
contribution to a ma gazine or paper, or
even an ordinary letter, nay nothing
more than simple pCetcard, will most
inevitably have to turn good many
dictionary leaves to ascertain whether
: in his own language this or that word
belongs TO the masculine or the feminine
/ gender This statement suggests the
conclusion. which is true. that the move
ment for simplified Dutch has not yet
won its battle. No official sanction has
/ yet been given to it, and the press and
the majority of the literary men of the
country continue TO follow the old. COM
pleX grammar. though some of the
younger writer's have deliberately dis
carded it The tendency Of the reform
may be roughly but accurately de-
/ scribed as a divergence from German
and a closer approach to English gram
mar; in other words. as genuine sim
plification. The spoken speech began te
do this long ago.
Sn flr {. hH jc
cerned. the student of Dutch. according
To- Professors De Vries and Ten Win
J kcl VIII never encounter an obscurity
but. as in English. he will often bt
startled by the bare, truncated look ot
a word Single yowels where double
ones were the rule the missing ms al
the end OF adicctives in the dative ana
! acCusative cases. all this is easily under
stood, but when it comes to changing
our good friend in need. the 'chiTurgijn.
into Il ''siirurziiin.' we rub our eyes
Need VIC explain that this word is tlIr
Dutch cousin of the English ''clirur-
gcon' We should like to ask DR.. Hoos
vlict in passing why the rcformcrs dt
not abolish the ii which has such ar
archaic look, and is such source al
wonder To the foreigner. and replace i
( with the y? The late w. ]. Hofdyk. o
! whose reputation as a poet the modern.
have left but little. advocated this sen
si5le reform long ago.
The authors brief history of the Dutcl
language will be found worth readins
by ali English speaking people on ac
count of its clear statement Of the rigiI
Of the tongue and Of the relation i
holds toward German on the one sid
and English on the other, the latter be
ing by far The closer one. The book con
tains an anthology which impartial,
represents the older and the new Dutcl
literature. Beets and Van Lcnnep q
we'll as Nultatul Couperus and Fred
cTick van Ecden. and even those eiSh
teenth century forerunncrs of Dickens
the ladies Wolff and Deken. and il ha
n most scrviceabIc vocabulary. As
grammar ii will prove of real practice
value To the English student, ever
though Dr van HooEvlict occasional.
slips up in his translations from Dutcl
into English We DO not, for instance
paint after" model. but from it.
EGRI Y hitTIiMN N0VEI &