'Flemish for Dummies'

..........................................'Sideways Dutch'.............................

Full Tilt Flemish                                                   (...with training wheels)                                               To help English speakers learn the pronunciation, grammar, and rhythm of Flemish-Dutch, Calidocious Inc. proposes a simplified way to use Flemish pronouns (words that stand for things, like the words 'it', 'he', or 'she'). and simplified gender assignment. This modified style of Standard-Dutch is called 'California Dutch', and is also nicknamed 'Sideways Dutch' or 'Dot Dutch'.            The new lingo makes use of several 'old-fashioned' pronouns from 'Medieval', or 'Middle, Dutch', which was spoken from about 1100 until about 1491, ie. the year just before Columbus returned from the 'New' World.  In particular, the Middle Dutch pronouns for 'you', both singular and plural, (the equivalents of 'thou', 'ye' , and 'thy' in Middle English), are added back into Modern Dutch. Several of the pronoun changes also mimic pronouns used in various modern-day Flemish dialects of Dutch, or in the Limburgish language which is spoken in the Limburg regions of Flanders and Holland. .          'California Dutch' may alternantely be described as 'Standard Dutch', spoken with a Flemish accent, and suplemented with several colloquial Flemish and Limburgish pronouns.  Traits of the Flemish variant of Dutch that are important in California Dutch include: 1.Use of (mostly) three genders, 2. Rolling of 'r's' (with one trill) in the French manner, 3. Softening of 'g's so they are less gutteral, 4. Softening of terminal '-tie's so they are pronounced 'sie' instead of 'tsie', and terminal '-isch' (spelled '-isċh) so it is pronounced '-ies', 5. Extensive substitution of 'u' and 'uw' for 'jou' and 'jouw' ('you' and 'yours'- singular-informal), 6. Use of 'du̇'-('you-singular-informal' and pronounced 'duh') in place of 'je' after simple verbs, and 7. Use of variants of the Middle Dutchl/Limburgish pronouns 'gij/ge' for 'you-plural-informal' pronouns. .         Although the changes to 'Standard Dutch' may initially seem to add, rather than decrease the complexity of Standard Dutch, they allow students to make all pronoun choices based on rules, rather than on arbitrary speaker preferences (which vary from community to community in Flanders). They also make writtien Dutch nearly 100% phonectic, ie. "what you see, is what you say"-(except for proper names beginning with capital letters.) .         The nine grammatical and/or stylistic differences between 'California Dutch' and both  'Standard ABN Dutch'- (General Proper Dutch) and 'Flemish Dutch' are: 1. Reduction of almost all subject, object, possessive, and reflexive pronouns to one syllable,  2. Increased use of contraction of post-verb subject and object pronouns, (which is a reason for the nickname 'Sideways Dutch'),  3. Increased use of declension (use of a terminal -e to refer to a word belonging to the common gender) of posseive pronouns in the course of a sentence, including pre-verb, post-verb, and penultimate-word (2nd to last word) use, 4.Contraction of the first word in triple-or-more word adjective-noun constructions and the penultimate word in triple or more word verb constructions 5. Reduction of the use of pronoun homonyms (by increasing the overall number of pronouns), 6. Redefinintion of the often ambiguous {male/female) genders of Modern Dutch mono-syllable Common-Gender pronouns which refer to inanimate objects, 7. More extensive and consistent use of commas to set off subordinate clauses, as is done in English, and 8. Spelling modifications to help clairify pronunciations and to help indicate the tempo of speech- (which is the reason for the nickname 'Dot Dutch'} .       The nine most noticable vocabulary deviations from Standard Dutch are:  1. Elimination of the  two-syllable subject, object, and posessive pronoun 'jullie' (y'all/y'all's).  2. Restriction of the use of the object pronoun 'jou' (you-singular-informal) and the 3. possessive pronoun 'jouw' (yours-singular-informal) to just emphatic, reflexive, abstract.(such as in instructions), or end-of-sentence use. 4. Repurposing of the colloquial Dutch pronoun 'd'r'-(her) to become the post-verb subject pronoun 'you-plural-informal-subject', 5. Reintroduction of the 'Middle Dutch' pronouns 'Dù' (You-singular-object-emphatic where the grave accent indicates slight emphasis), 6. Reintroduction of 'Old Fashioned' Dutch pronouns 'Gîj/gij' (pre-verb) or ' ge/ 'ge ' (post-verb)- ('You-plural subject'- where the circomflex-accent indicates a gutteral 'g+juh' sound,  and where the apostophe indicates the word is slurred onto the terminal consonant of a preceding verb). 7. Use of the Flemish 'you-singular-informal-subject' pronoun 'du̇- which sounds like 'duh'- after simple verbs,  Use of the colloquial Flemish 'aai' (your-singular-informal) possessive pronoun as: 8. 'aei'- (your-singular-informal  as a penultimate-word following a consonant-ended-preposition before a neuter one-or-two-syllable noun). It is pronounced as a single-syllable dipthong, 'aye', 9. Use of 'æie' in the same penultimate way before common-gender nous.  It sounds similar to 'aei', exceptthe 'aye' is pronounced more rapidly and there is a hint of an 'uh' sound at the end, 10, Use of  'de/'t aeie'-('yours'-singular-informal and pronounced 'aye-uh'), 11. Elimination of all uses of 'hem' (he/it) to refer to nouns that used to be feminine in Standard Dutch and are still feminine in Standard Flemish. Use of 'u-based', 2nd person, singular and plural, object or possessive, pronouns following prepositions*   They include: 12. 'u̇'-(you-singular-informal-object- with a pure 'uu' sound  that is not quite as pronounced as the German umlaut 'ü'), 13.  'u̇w'-(your-singular-informal-possessive), 14. 'u' (you-plural-informal), and 15 'uw'-(your-plural-informal), Additional use of the subject-pronouns 'u̇' and 'u' at the end of sentences following words ending in consonants. 16. Use of  'ons' '-(pronouncd as a fast version of 'onze') and 'uẇe'-(pronounced as a fast version of uwe') as the post-verb forms of 'our' and 'your-plural-informal',. 15. Use of the Limburgish-derived 'œu̇r'-(pronounced as a dipthong 'eu-uh-r') as the pre-verb and emphatic possessive form of 'your-plural-informal', and 16. Use of de/het œùre as the emphatic nominative form of 'yours-plural-informal' and 'de/het uwe as the non-emphatic form. .          *Note: In order to simplify discussion about the unique ways California Dutch pronouns work, the term 'preposition(s)*',with an asterisk, will be used from here on to mean 'preposition(s) ending in a consonant'- which is almost all prepositions. Following the exceptional vowel-ended preposition 'behalve'-(except), pronouns usually behave like they do in Standard Dutch.       .          All the changes are meant to be so slight that during speech a Dutch speaker from Holland might not recognize them as being "non-Flemish", and a Fleming would just think you were from some obscure community in south-eastern Holland near the Flemish border.  In writing, however, the changes are noticable. The written and spoken changes can be considered to be a hypothetical dialect of Dutch that might have evolved in the Dutch colony of 'New Netherland' (which now is roughly New York State), similarly to how American English evolved from British English.. .         In addition to the 'jullie/jou/jouw' eliminations/abbreviations that are based on 'Middle Dutch' and modern 'Flemish Dutch', several of the other grammatical/spelling changes can be found in "old fashioned" Standard Dutch books written before the mid 1900s..  A 1920 translation of the book 'Smoke Bellew' by Jack London is used as a reference at the end of this web page. .           The most "foreign" sounding of the California Dutch changes to Standard Dutch is the repurposing of the colloquial Dutch (and not Flemish)  pronoun 'd'r' (her) to become 'you-plural-informal-subject and object'.  There are four variants of the pronoun: 1. Post-verb subject form following simple verbs: 'd'r'- pronounced like 'dir' except faster, 2. 'Emphatic, initial-word, and terminal-word object form 'dìer'- (with a grave accent over the 'ì' and which is pronounced as a dipthong 'dih-ur'), 3. Post-verb object orm 'dȋr', which has a rounded accent mark instead of pointed circomflex, which is pronounced slightly faster than 'dìer', but not as fast ad 'dir' would be, and 4. the reflexive form 'd'rself'-(yourselves where 'd'r' represents a very fast pronunciation of 'dir').  Note: The use of the rounded accent over the 'ȋ' causes the spacing of the d and r to be slightly expanded. .          There is a second moderately-foreign-sounding change based on the repurposing of eight pronouns to refer to unisex common-gender things that prior to 1950 were considered to be either male or female, and which are now treated as male in Standard Dutch.  The new unisex pronouns are further used to refer to human beings of indeterminate gender, such as a generic 'doctor'.  Note: It is always o.k. to use the correct Flemish/Old Fashioned Dutch gender pronouns for inanimate things, as long as a student is sure the gender is correct, .          The seven unisex pronouns are: 1. Preverb and emphatic-subject-:'dæ̇r'-with aan overdot over the the 'æ̇' which indicates a fast 'ay-uh' dipthoung that is pronounced as quickly as the English word 'dare' would be, 2. post-verb, and post 'dat', subject- 'die',  3. initial-word object and emphatic object- 'diėn'-(with an overdot over the 'ė' and pronounced like a dipthong- 'dee-uhn', except so fast it becomes a single syllable, 4. pre-verb object and terminal-word object- ' den' (with no accent),  5. post-verb object- ' d'n '-(pronounced like 'din', except faster, 6. possessive (including emphatic) ' diėns '-(where the final 's' has a 'z' sound and the dipthong is pronounced so fast the word is a monosyllable), and 7. nominative form 'de/het diën'-(its).  Note: To facilite making these changes, the now rarely used Dutch article 'den' ('the'-male gender) is changed to dėn', as in 'op dėn duur'-(in the long run). The spellings of proper names like 'Den Haag' aren't changed. .           There is one change that doesn't have a background in colloquial or historical Dutch, (except for some Flemish dialects that have similiar words).  It is derived from a word in a song in the Rogers and Hammerstein musical 'The Sound of Music'.  In the "So Long, Farewell" song Oscar Hammerstein coined the 2nd-person-singular-object pronoun 'yieu'-(you) to rhyme with the final dipthong (dual-vowel-sound) of the Austrian pronunciation of the word 'Adieu'.  There are eight variants of 'yieu' in 'Califoria Dutch'.           The object pronoun has two new 'yieu' variants:  'jìeu' (with a backwards  (grave) accent) is the pre-verb form and 'jèu'-(with a grave accent ) is the post-verb form. 'Jìeu' is pronounced as a dipthong 'yih-eu' where the final sound is the same as a German 'ö' or French 'eu'. 'Jèu' is pronouced like 'yeu', but as fast as 'je' would be.          The possessive pronoun (yours-singular-informal) has one new 'yieu' variant: jœ̀u'-(with a grave accent and pronounced like the long form of jèu, is the pre-and-post-verb non-emphatic form.           An additional,very condensed, use of the word occurs in the words 'jùself- (yourself) and  'alsjùblief'-(please)- where 'jù' (with a backwards accent), represents an accelerated variant of 'jèu'. .           In addition to the above "new" words, there are seven essential stylistic features of 'California Dutch' that are fairly common in Flemish dialects of Dutch: 1. the strenghening/shortening of several pronouns when they are the first word in a clause, 2 a. the expansion of several subject and object pronouns at the end of a clause- or 2 b. in the case of possessive pronouns, as the second-to-last word in a clause, 3. the reduction of the first word of  triple-word noun or verb consturction into a monosyllable,  5. the contraction of the penultimate verb in triple-or-more-word verb-constructions where the final two verbs are multi-syllables, and  6. contraction of the two common-gender, emphatic and penultimate-word, possessive pronouns, 'onze' and 'uwe' ('ours' and 'yours) to 'ons' ' and 'uẇe'-(where the new spellings indicate the words are pronounced the same way, except almost as fast as monosyllables). .        Finally, are two pronoun changes from colloquial Flemish Dutch.  They are the use of 'du'-(you-singular-informal) reflexively and de/het hulle-(theirs). .         The balance of "new" pronouns consist of new accented spellings designed to indicate colloquial Flemish pronounciations.  These include: 1. accented variants of  'die, dat, and deze'-to distinguish between (díe, dát, déze) preverb-subjects and (dìe, dàt, dèze) preverb-objects, 2. similar use of the reverse-accent to indicate the grammatical role, and slightly emphasized pronunciation, of the emphatic object-pronouns 'you-singular-informal'- 'dù'-(initial word) and 'jòu'-(emphatice form), 3. use of the coloquial Flemish 'dæ̀s' ('it'-inital-word neuter-gender object and pronounced as a monosyallable dipthong 'day-us'),  4. compression of two post-multisyllable-verb plural subjects ' 've '-(we), ' 'se' '-(they), and 5. compression of the possessive pronoun 'onze' to 'on's'-(pronounced 'onz') before the verb, , as a modifier of a neuter noun, or when preceding an adjective.          To indicate the cadence of speach, and/or to reduce the number of homynms (words that sound alike but have different meanings), California Dutch adds several clarifying diacritical marks.  An example is the word 'dat', (that), which, when used as a conjunction, is written 'dȧt' (with an overdot).  'dȧt' is pronounced slightly more quickly, and with less emphasis, than 'dat'. .           To recap, the central change of  'California Dutch' is that several pronouns change, according to where they appear in a sentence and whether they are stressed or not.  These distinctions include use of the pronouns as: 1. the first word in a clause, 2. use in an emphatic way, 3, use before a verb, 4. use after a verb,  5. use after a preposition*, and 6. use at the end of a clause, or, in the case of possessive pronouns, as the penultimate word in a clause.  (As a result of these changes, the effort a speaker needs to pronounce pronouns decreases as the sentence progresses.) .            The complete list of the "new" three-dozen modified 'California Dutch' pronouns is: gîj, d’r, dìer, dȋr, œu̇r,  uẇe, de/het œùre, d'rzelf, dæ̇r, diėn, den, dėn, d’n, diėns, de/’t diën, Dæ̇s, (U-Uw,)  jîj, du̇, dù, jòu, jìeu, jèu, u̇, jœ̀u,  u̇w, aei, æie, de/’t aeie, jùzelf, (du), (de hulle), on's, ons', 'se,  've, díe-dát-déze, dìe-dàt-dèze, mẏne/zẏne, hære, and dėze.  The four special characters that currently aren't included in most font sets are: œ̇, œ̀, u̇, and æ̇. Other sometimes omitted letterss are ȋ, ȧ, ė, ẏ, ẇ, ṅ, ċ, and v̇.  (Note: due to limitations of the type of font used on this web page, prescribed compression/expansion of apostrophes and the letters beside them hasn't been implemented here.) .           Note: This web page is meant to be used together with the web page www.zoot.co, which explains how English speakers can master Dutch genders ASAP. .           In Standard Dutch, subject pronouns continuously morph depending on whether they are stressed or unstressed, and depending on how much time they are required to fill. For example, the word for "we" is sometimes pronounced and written "wij" ( pronounced 'why'), and sometimes "we" (pronounced 'wuh').  It is difficult for English speakers to know when to use which option. .           In 'California Dutch', however, the long, stressed, variants of subject pronouns only preceed verbs- (except in exceptional cases where a pre-verb pronoun is used after the verb emphatically, or at the end of a sentence to indicate maximum informality).  .           Conversely, the non-stressed variants of subject pronouns almost never precede verbs in writing, and seldom do in speech- (with two exceptions: 1. when 'wij'-(we) or 'zij'-(they) immediately preceed  multisyllable helping verbs, including passive, past-tense, and modal verbs, they are condensed to 'we' and 'ze' in order to maintain the cadence, or rhythm, of a sentence, and 2. when 'wij' or 'zij' follow the conjunction 'dat' (that), they are condensed to ' 've' or ' 'se ' -(pronounced 'we' and 'ze', except they are slurred onto the '-t' of 'dat'), even though they preceed the verb of the clause. 'Easy Button'- Staples office products Flemish Lingust (and mathematician) Stevin (Pronouns really can be abbreviated after verbs!)         To help clarify the pronunciation of some of the "new" modified pronouns, plus to clarify the pronunciation of some letters which represent multiple sounds, and finally, to help indicate the timing of Flemish-Dutch , 'California Dutch' introduces nine types of enhanced spelling hints to Standard Dutch.          .        1.  The ligated letter 'ij':  Ligiated, (or "thin"), 'ij' is used to indicate a 'short i' sound in the suffix '-lijk', as in 'mogelijk' ('possible'- pronounced 'mow-ge-lick'). When the 'ij' spelling represents an 'eye' pronunciation, as in 'hij'-(he), it is written without ligation. .         Some computer fonts, such as the one used in this web page, sporadically, and arbitrarily, ligate, 'ij's.  It is o.k. if some 'ij' spellings representing 'aye' sounds are inadvertantly ligated.  However it is important that all spellings representing 'ih' sounds are ligated.         2. Backwards accent marks over vowels. The old fashioned Standard Dutch backwards-accent 'è', which used to be used in the final syllables of French loan words like 'trompèt' is repurposed, and is used over vowels to indicate slight emphasis or slightly altered pronunciations. The backwards accent is nicknamed the 'Fugezi' accent mark. .           The use of the mark to indicate slight emphasis occurs in: 1. the French loan word 'à'-(to),  2. the interjection 'hè'-(pronounced 'heh'), 3. the pre-verb object pronouns 'dèze'/'dìe/dàt/dæ̀s'-('this one/that one' and pronounced as a mono-syllable 'day-us')-, 4. the initial-word object pronoun 'Dù'-(you-informa-singular), and 5. the emphatic object-pronoun 'jòu'-(you-informal-singular). .           In the English loan word 'bàby' the reverse accent indicates that the pronunciation is shifted from an 'aah' to an 'aay' sound. .          In the words 'wèreld'-(world), 'kèrel'-(guy),  and the interjection 'hè', the 'è' indicates the pronunciation shifts from an 'ay' to an 'eh' sound- where the 'eh' sound is long. .          In the new word 'bèu'-('fed up with') the reverse accent means the word is pronounced as it would in French (or Flemixh Dutch)- 'jöh'.  This differentiates the pronounciation from that of the four other common words in (old-fashioned spelling) Dutch that end in '-eu', 'keu'-(pool que), 'reu'-(male dog), 'sneu'-(unfortunate), and 'bleu'-(timid) and which are pronounced with an 'uh-uu' sound. Old Fashioned Spelling on 'Thank You' gift to President Hoover in WWI. From the Hoover Tower Museum at Stanford. Dutch Inscription in the 'Dutch Art' wing of Stanford Hospital           The letter 'ì' is used together with 'ù'- 'uì' in words like 'duìvel; (devil) to indicate and 'uh-ih' sound, as opposed to an 'ow-ih' sound is in 'huid'-(skin). .          The new pronoun 'jìeu'-('you'-informal-object), is pronouncd as a single syllable dipthong 'yih-euh', but where the dipthong is quite fast and barely perceptible (instead of as a more pronounced 'ee-uu' dipthong, such as in 'nieuw'-(new). .          The new pronouns 'dìėr' and 'dìer' are pronounced with a long 'ih' sound.  'dìėr' is pronounced with a slight 'dih-ur' dipthong, and 'dìer' is pronounced with just a long 'ih' sound. .           The reverse accent is also used in the colloquial words 'goeìe'- ('good'-common gender and pronounced 'goo-ee') and 'mooìe' (pretty-common gender and pronounced 'moo-ee') the rever differntiate them from the Standard Dutch variants 'goeie'-(pronounced 'goo-ee-uh') and 'mooie'-(pronounced mo-oy-uh). .           The words 'òf'-(if) and 'òp'-(up) are written with an 'ò' which indicates an 'uh' sound similar to the English 'up'- except that it is a pure vowel sound. The 'òf/òp' spellings are retained if the words are part of multisyllable words.. (Notes: The words 'of' (or) and  'op'-(upon) remain 'of/op' and are pronounced like 'oof/oop'-except the 'o' is a short sound.  Unlike 'u', the pronunciation of 'o' doesn't shift if it is followed by a doubled consonant.            A stand-alone 'ù' in the middle of a word indicates the 'ù' has sound as in  'pudding' (as opposed to the normal 'u' sound of 'pool').  An example is 'uitgepùt' (exhausted).  Doubling the consonant after an 'u' indicates the same 'ù' sound. .            The mid-word letter combination '-où-', which usually occurs in French loan words like 'goùverneur'-(governor) has a long, and slightly emphasized, 'uu' sound.  .             An 'ùe', which occurs in the middle of a word, indicates a similiar, but slightly more "pointed" 'uu' sound, where the speaker's lips are slightly more puckered.  'ùe' occurs in French loan words like 'parachùet' or 'manùever'.  At the beginning or end of a word, such as in the German loan word 'ueberhaupt'-(above all), or 'revue'-(theatrical review) the same sound is written without an accent. .             Finally, a double-reverse-accent is used in the article 'èèn'- ('a'-after a prepostion and before an adjective) to indicate the pronunciation of the vowel is a. shortened so that it is pronounced almost as quickely as a short 'e' would be, and is b. slurred together with the final consonant of a preceding preposition*.  Normally, such an effect would be indicated with an overdot, however in this case both 'èè's need accents for the word to "look right", and double-overdots are used to indicate slight emphasis.         3. Forward accent marks over vowels are used like they are in Standard Dutch to decrease ambiguity between homonymns (words that are spelled or sound alike but mean different things), and/or to indicate emphasis.  However, the use of forward accents is expanded to include: 'díe' ('that one(s)'-female or plural common-gender article plus initial-word female or common-gender subject pronoun}, 'dát' and 'déze' ('that'-neuter' and 'these'-common gender, initial-word-subjects, are similarly accented.). .           Note: 'déze' is one of the rare exceptions to the rule that all subject and object pronouns are monosyllables.  This exception is o.k. because déze is used slightly emphatically, and as a result, can take a bit longer to be pronounced without impeding sentence flow. .           Forward accent marks are also used over terminal 'é's in English loan words to indicate strong 'ay' pronunciations, such as in 'hé'-(hey) or 'oké'. (Note: In French loan words the same sound is indicated with a double '-ee'., as in 'dictee'-(dictation). The Vingboom seriers of world maps from the mid 1600's includes the first detailed map of Manhattan. This sample of a key from one of the maps includes several of the "new" features of California Dutch. The famous Vingboom map of t' Eyland (the island) Manhattan in 1630.         4. Apostrophes indicating speedy contractions, or 'phantom vowels', and which may indicate a shift of the sound of an adjacent consonant.  A simple straight, slightly wedge-shaped apostrophe is used in California Dutch, as opposed to the fancy "Number 9' style of apostrophe usually used in English. The spacing before/after the apostrophes is critical and is explained at the end of this section.   .            The new article 'd'n'-('the') which replaces the old-fashioned 'den' of Dutch, is pronounced like 'din', except faster. .           In the new pronoun 'd'rzelf'-(yourselves), ' d'r ' is pronounced like 'dir' except very fast.        Two new post-verb pronouns ' 've ' (we- and pronunced like an accelerated 'wuh') and  ' 'se '  (they- and pronounced like an accelerated 'zuh') are used following a multisyllable-verbs that are either part of a multi-verb construction or are parts of a seperable verbs.  For example: 'Dat wilden.'se niet doen' (They didn't want to do that.) They are also used after the conjunction 'dat'-(that)- more on that later. .         The initial-word, neuter, and pre-adjective/adverb-common gender, form of 'ours' is 'on's' (pronounced 'onz').   (Possesive forms made from names like ' Hans ', where the final 's' of the name has an 'ss' sound, are written ' Hans' ' and pronounced 'Hans-zuh'- where the 'zuh' is barely perceptible.) .         Apostrophes are used before other terminal 's'es to indicate the 's'-es have uncharateristic 'z' sounds.  (The apostrophy doesn't indicate possessiveness, but frequently ends up being used in possessive nous to indicate terminal 'z' pronunciations.)  The ' 's ' spelling isn't needed in many multisyllable words ending is s'es pronounced like z's because the final syllables have distinct letter combinations that indicate a '-ze' pronounciation; for example '-ens', '-ons', '-ers', etc. .         Note: In expressions like ' 's nachts '-(at night), the ' 's ' retains an  's' sound. .         To indicate accelerated/deemphasized pronuncations in multi-verb constructions with multi-syllable verbs, overdots are usually used, except when the first syllable contains an 'i'.  In the case of a stand-alone 'i', as in 'willen', the accleration/deemphasis is indicated by replacing '-en' with ' 'n', as in ' will'n '.           An essential detail about the spacing of  'd'n', 've ', ' on's ', initial 's', etc. is that the space between the apostrophy and following letter should be decreased by about 50%, or 1½ points.  The  spacing before the apostrophy is normal.  Due to limitations of the font on this web site, the compressed spacing hasn't been implemented here. .           The compressed spacing helps improve visual sentence flow and it helps indicate the relative speeds at which words need to be pronounced. The borough of Harlem in Manhattan was named after Haerlem in Holland (now Haarlem).         5. Use of the trema, or double-overdot, is expanded from Standard Dutch where it is used to indicate diaeresis, or the beginning of a new syllable, as in 'knieën'-(knees) to use in the post-prepostion* pronoun 'ü' (you-plural-informal-object) to indicate the 'ü' is a long 'uu' and is slurred together with the terminal consonant of the preceeding preposition. (Note: Use of 'ü' in 'überhaupt' is replaced by 'ue-'.)           6. A circomflex ' ^ ' placed above a vowel is used to indicate that a abnormal 'j-type' sound is assigned to either the vowel or to a letter adjacent to the vowel.  It is nicknamed the 'jaunty j' diacritical mark.  (Note: the word 'jaunty' is derived from the French word 'gent'.) .            The circomflex most frequently occurs in vowels adjacent to the  'g's' of French loan words and indicates the 'g's' acutally are 'dzj' sounds, such as 'gênant' (bothersome- pronounced 'dzjénant'). The circomflex normally is placed on the vowel following a 'g', however, if the 'g' is the second to last letter in a word, the accent is placed over the preceding vowel, as in 'horlôge'-(watch).  In the case of words like 'sergeant', use of the circomflex enables a simpler spelling- 'sergânt'.  In the case of 'Dîeu' it incates both a 'j' sound and that the vowel combination is pronounced as an 'ih-eu' dipthong. .            In the new words 'bîzonder/e/s'-(special/especially), which replaces the Standard Dutch words 'bijzonder/e/s') the circomflex indicates the 'î' is pronounced with a slightly drawn out 'ih' sound, (as in the '-ij' sound of words like 'mogelijk'-(possible), except longer, because it occurs at the end, as opposed to in the middle, of a syllable). .            The 'enhanced 'j'' circomflex is also used in four new pronouns; 1, 'gîj' (you-plural-informal-preverb-subject), pronounced like 'gh+yiy', except as a monosyllable, 2. 'jîj' (you-singular-informal-emphatic)- pronoucned like 'hu-yiy', but as a mono-syllable, and 3. 'dîr' (you-plural-informal reflexive)- pronounced like a single syllable 'dih-jur' which is compressed so much there is no trace of a 'j' sound- but the ' ih' sound is slightly elongated, and 4. 'æ̂i'-('your-singular-informal' used penultimately before a common-gender 1 or 2 syllable noun and pronounced as a monosyllable dipthong 'a-yuh' where there is just a touch of a 'yuh' sound. .             Finally, a circomflex over a vowel adjacent to a 'j'  is used in (usually) English loan words to indicate an abnormal/complex 'dj' sound, such as in: 'jâm', jûry, jôb, etc. .             7.  The letter combinatons 'ae' and 'æ' are used instead of the Standard Dutch, 'aa' in the case of past participles (ae) and simple past-tense verbs (æ).           The 'ae' spelling is used only with words that are coupled with the verbs hebben, zijn, or worden.  It is not used in the case of present tense verbs, or in nouns, adjectives, or adverbs made from verbs.  Note: Even with the 'æ' spelling, past-simple-tense verbs that are written with a double 'tt' in Standard Dutch still have doubled 'tt's). .           The primary reason for the 'aa'-to-'ae/æ' change is that very few English-speaking students can hear the difference between the Dutch short  'a' and long 'aa' sounds.  The strong visual reinforcement acheived by substituting 'ae' or 'æ' for 'aa' helps English speakers overcome their handicap. A secondary reason for the change is that the 'ae/æ' spellings indicate a slight increase in the speed of the long 'aa' vowel. .           Note: The long 'aa' sound is still spelled 'ae' in the Vlaemsch-Dutch speaking area of northwest France near Dunkirk and in the Zeelandic-Dutch speaking area of southwest Holland and northwest Flanders.  It is also used in Limburg, but represents a different sound. .            8.  The contracted letters 'œ' are used to idicate a long 'eu' sound that is part of a dipthng . It is used in the new word.'œu̇r'- (your-plural-informal-preverb and pronounced as a quick dipthong 'eu-uur'- similar to the English 'your', but without the initial 'j' sound).  It is also used in the interjection. Jœu!-('Yes-O.K.- I got it'- and pronounced as 'juh-uu' dipthong)            9.  The final pronunciation tip is use of a dot over a letter, or 'overdot', to indicate five types of pronunciation changes.  These include: 1. accelerated and deemphasized pronunciations, 2. speedy dipthongs (multi-sound vowels),  3. elisions, ie. blending-together, of words with an preceding words, 4. "schwa-ing" of the pronunciations of the letters 'a', 'e', and 'u' so they are pronounced like the 'u' of the English word 'truck', and 5. slightly increased emphasis via use of two overdots over adjoining letters.  The overdot is nicknamed the 'stiching' mark because it allows sounds, syllables, or words to be 'stiched together' in new ways. .            (Note: In the case of the letter 'i' in verbs ending in '-en', this deimphasizing/accelerating change in behaviour is indicated by replacing the final '-en's ' of the verbs with '- 'n's '.  In the case of the accelerated verb 'blîven'-(to remain-'blijven'-Standard Dutch), the overdot-effect is indicated by replacing the 'j' with a circomflex. In the case of the article 'èèn', (after a prepostion and berfore and adjective), the overdot-effect is indicated by reverse accents. There is one word, 'ü' ( you-plural-informal after a preposition*) where the overdot is doubled in order to indicate the vowel has un uncharictaristically long sound, as well as being "stiched" together with a preceding word.) .             One use of the overdot is in French loan words like 'kolȯnel', 'hȯtel, 'mȧcaber', 'rȧket', etc, to indicate a syncopated, slightly accelerated, pronounciation of the syllable containing the dot, which in turn results in a shift of emphasis to the following syllable. .                    Similar accelerating/deemphasizing uses are in the unisex post-verb object pronoun 'dèn', and in the article 'dėze' ('this one' common gender) when it precedes a multisyllable adjective followed by another multisyllable word.  The overdots indicate that 'dėn' is pronounced as fast as 'd'n' would be, but with an 'eh' sound instead of an 'ih' sound, and that 'dėze' is pronouncd as fast as 'dizze' would be. .          An additional deimphasizing/accelerating use of  the overdot is in the first syllable of the penultimate-verb in a normal-order, triple or quadruple, verb construction where the final two verbs are multisyllables. For example:  'Alle huizen moeten wȯrden verkocht'- (All houses have to be sold.). The verb 'wȯrden' is pronounced so fast it is reduced almost to a long monosyllabe and has a slightly lower tone than 'moeten'.            A similar change occurs with multiple, multiple-syllable verbs after the word 'te'-('to'-as used to introduce an infinitive verb construction).  For example: 'Om hem te ku̇nnen volgen moeten 've een snelle auto hebben'-(We'll need a fast car in order to be able to follow him.)           In rare, quadruple, verb constructions involving multisyllable verbs, the pre-penultimate verb is also condensed.  For example:  'Zullen de plannen moėten wȯrden veranderd...' Should, in the future, the plans have to be changed...).. In reverse-order triple-or-more verb constructions where the first verbs are multisyllables,  the overdot rule also applies (although the overdot is actually being applied to the verb following the first verb in the construction, as opposed to the verb preceeding the last verb.)           (Note: Due to the difficulty of quickly pronouncing triple-multisyllable-verb construnctions beginning with the helping verb 'zouden ', 'zouden ' is condensed to 'zouw' as the initial verb in such cases.) .            The second use of the overdot is to indicate 'ee-uh, 'ìh-uh', 'uh-eu', 'eu-uu', 'ay-uh', and 'uh-ee' dipthongs:           The  'iė' dipthong is used in the new object pronouns 'diėn- (it-common-gender initial-word-verb & emphatic and pronounced 'die-uhn'), and possessive pronoun 'diėn's' (its, and pronounced 'die-uhnz'). The pronouns are pronounced so fast they become barely-elongated monosyllables.            The 'ih-uh' dipthong is used in the new word 'dìėr'-(you-plural-informal emphatic & preverb and pronounced as a quick, single syllable, 'dih-jur', minus the 'j' sound),  and in 'dìjr'-(pronounced like 'dièr', but with a falling tone.)            The 'uh-eu' (both short and long) dipthongs are used in a. the "new" post-verb object pronoun 'jėu'-(with a short 'uh-eu' sound, and the "new" possessive pronoun 'jœ̇u'-(your-plural-informal), with a long 'uh-eu' sound,           The 'eu-uu ' dipthong is used in the new word 'œu̇r'- (yours-plural-informal emphatic, initial word, and post 'dat') .  It is pronounced so it sound similar to the '-our' of English 'your'.           The 'ay-uh' dipthong is used in the new words 'dæ̇r' (It- subject-unisex gender- preverb and emphatic).  (Note: 'dæ̀s'-('it'-object-neuter-gender initial word and emphatic) also is pronounced with the 'ay-uh' dipthong.) The 'æ̇/æ̀' spelling indicates a very fast dipthong 'ay-uh', so that 'dæ̇r' and 'dæ̇s' are pronounced as fast as the words 'deer' and 'dees' would be.            'æ̇' is also used in English loan words that are spelled with an '-ase' and which have an 'ay-uh' vowel sound, such as 'bæ̇sbal'-(baseball), sæ̇f-(not risky), stæ̇tment-(statement), etc.. It is further used in the German loan word 'æ̇vig/æ̇vigheid' (eternallly, eternity), and in the Afrikaans loan word 'sambræ̇l'-(umbrella common gender).  Note: One of the perks of California Dutch is that all German and Afrikaans words are considered to be "fair game" for being incorporated into the lingo.            The 'uh-ee' dipthong is used in "new" loan words lie 'qu̇iesch'-(quiche) and 'qu̇iet'-(even up/settled). .            A third use of the overdot is to indicate elision with a preceeding word.  This occurs in the "new" pronouns 'u̇'-(you-singular-informal-object), 'u̇w'- (yours-singular-informal-possessive), and. 'ü'-(you-plural-informal-object), all of which follow prepositions*.  The overdots indicate the 'u's' blend together with the terminal consonants of the preceeding prepositions. Similiarly the overdot of the possessive pronoun 'æ̇i'-('yours' singular-informal penultimate-word before a 1-2 syllable common-gender noun and pronounced 'aye') indicates elision with the preceeding consonant. Note: In the case of 'u̇' and 'u̇w', the 'u̇'s have short sounds, whereas 'ü' has a long sound.            Elision also occurs with the new post-verb subject pronouns 'ġe'- (you-plural-informal following simple (ie. non-split or non-compound) verbs ending in '-t') to indicate the 'guh' sound is slurred together with the terminal '-t''s of the verb preceeding it. .             A fourth use is of the overdot is to indicate a shift in pronunciation to a 'schwa' sound of the letters 'u̇', 'ȧ', and 'ė' so they represent a sound like the 'u' of the English word 'fun',  This occurs in English loan words like 'tru̇ck' and in the new subject pronoun 'du̇'-(you-singular-informal post-simple-verb.) It is also used with place names like 'Californiȧ' and 'Belgiȧ'. A superficially contradictory use of the overdot is with the adverb 'tė'-('too') which is actually more emphatic than the article 'te'-(to)  The reason this works is that the overdot indicates the schwa sound is uncharacteristically long. .             The final use is to indicate increased emphasis by juxtaposing two overdots.  This occurs in the word new word 'jȯu̇w'-(yours-informal-singular emphatic).  (Note: This principle explains why 'èèn' is used in 'place of 'ėėn' after a preposition and before an adjective- ėėn would be emphatic.)         Note: Enhanced spellings for other non-standard pronunciations in long-established loan words, (which are most likely from French, Greek, or Latin), aren't employed bccause they occur in 'vowel+consonant' letter-combinations that rarely or never occur in 'Standard Dutch'. .           Other, more recent, loan words from English are more problematic. Except for the 'æ̀' words descirbed above, such as 'bæ̀sbal', and words with distinctive 'ea' letter combinations (as in 'team') or 'ai' combinations,as in 'fair', other English loan words with 'non-phonetic' spellings are considered to be temporary "trial words", and their English spellings are left as-is.. .            Occasionally, Flemish Dutch resolves the problem of a non-phonetic pronunciation, such is in the Standard-Dutch loan word 'truck', (California Dutch 'tru̇ck'), by simply using a synonym, in this case 'camion', from French. (In California Dutch a 'tru̇ck' is a pick-up, and a 'camion' is a bigger, utility-type, vihicle.) .            The potentially ambiguous spelling of 'v' in French loan words to indicate a 'non-standard' 'vuh', as opposed to 'fuh', pronunciation isn't addressed because the distinction between 'vuh' vs. 'fuh' sounds is easy for English speakers to master.  Modern English, like Dutch, adopted the French spelling for these words, such as 'visa', 'vest', etc. so it it relatively easy for English speakers to remember the pronuncition of these loan words .            The spellings of proper names, which are capitalized, aren't modified.          The most conspicuous new use of the "sideways" technique of condensing and accelerating pronouns after verbs is the use of the "new" subject pronouns 'du̇' for 'you'-singular-informal', in place of 'je', after simple, present-tense, verbs ending in '-t'  and pronounced like 'duh'. .           Note: When using 'du̇', the final '-t's of the preceding verbs are not deleted -(unlike what happens before 'je').  'du̇ is never used with reflexive verbs and it is replaced by 'je'-(without the preceding '-t' deleted), after present tense verbs beginning with ge-, be-, ont-, or ver- (because these prefixes cause a shift of emphasis to the final syllable.) The pronouns for 'you plural' that were used 100 years ago to render conversations in the Wild West, such as in the 1920 translation of 'Smoke Bellew', are similar to those of "California Dutch". Other "throwbacks" include use of capital 'U' for 'you formal', and capitalization of months.          'Together with the implementation of ' dė/dù' the most significant difference between "California Dutch" and "Standard Dutch" personal pronouns is use of the colloquial Flemish pronouns 'Gîj/ge/ġe' plus 'dìėr/dîr/dìjr', instead of 'jullie', for "you-plural-informal subject and object".  (Note:  'gîj' softens to 'gij', with no 'juh' sound, if the final letter of the preceding word is one of the 'SoFT KetCHuP'' letters.) .          These changes, with the exception of the 'diėr' trio, are actually nothing new.  'Gij' (without the circomflex accent mark over the 'ì') was a standard form of 'You Plural-informal-subject' throughout Holland and Flanders until the early 1900s. (The object form was usually written/spoken as 'u'), The 1920 translation of "Smoke Bellew" (Chechaquo en Old Timers) by Jack London is an example of this- see bottom of page below. It was also the standard 2nd-person-plural form of Middle Dutch.         In "Chechaquo en Old Timers", the modern Dutch word 'jullie' (you plural) never occurs, but is written instead as 'gij', 'ge', 'u', 'je', or 'jelui' instead. .        Also, in the modern Flemish variant of Dutch, 'jullie' is significantly less common than it is in modern Standard Dutch.  There are numerous spoken-Flemish variants for 'jullie' including: 'je', 'julle', 'u', 'gij', 'gîj', 'ge', 'geer', 'gulle', 'ginder', 'gulder', 'gidder', etc. .        California Dutch morphs all these variants into four "new" subject pronouns: 'gîj'- is the primary preverb form and is used as the first word in a clause, plus after any word that doesn't end in one of the 'SoFT KeTCHuP' letters, except before multisyllabic past-tense verbs when 'ge' is used instead, 'gij'-is the third pre-verb form and is used following 'SoFT KeTCHuP' words,  'ġe' is the post-verb form after non-terminal, simple verbs, ending in '-t', and ' ge ' is the post-verb form used after other verbs.   'gîj' can is substituted in place of 'gij', ' ġe ', or 'ge' to indicate emphatic use. .        The object form is divided into four "new" pronouns: 1.'dìėr' (with a reverse accent) is the pre-verb and emphatic form, including initial word use, 2.'dîr' is the post-verb form. including serving as the mid-sentence reflexive form, and the form after mid-sentence prepositions ending in vowels, 3..'ü' is the post-consonant-ended-preposition form, and 4. dìjr (with a reverse accent) is the terminal form-except where 'ü' is used. (Note: an exception to the rules is the expression 'jèu bijden'-(you both), .        The preverb possessive form, including use as the initial word and emphatic form, plus use after the conjunction 'dat', is 'œu̇r'  'Œu̇r' is pronounced as a quick single-syllable dipthong 'eu-uur'- quite similar to to how the English word 'your' is pronounced  The possessive default neuter form, as well as the common-gender form, if followed by an adjective, is ' uw '.   The default common-gender form is 'uẇe '- (pronounced 'uw-uh', with a barely audible '-uh'). The penultimate word, common-gender, form before monosyllable nouns is 'uwe'. The nominative form is 'de/het eu̇re', pronounced 'eu-uu-ruh'. .        The verbs for 'Gîj' follow the same pattern as 'jij' (you singular): "Gîj drinkt, drank, hebt gedronken", except final '-t's are retained in reverse-word-order constructions, and the verb 'to be' is 'zijt'/present tense, and 'wart'/past-tense. The past-perfect-tense forms end in '-e', and not '-en'. .         The verbs for the Flemish, and not California Dutch, colloquial 2nd person singular-very-informal pronoun 'Gij' (without an accent) are identical those of 'Jìj'. An inspiration for 'Calidocious Inc.' is the teacher- L.L. Zamenhof, who created the language Esperanto. In Esperanto's heyday, it was spoken by more than 6 million people. The picture is an Esperanto sign in the movie 'The Great Dictator'. The sign says "Old Clothes".         The complete list of 'Gîj' pronouns is: 1. 'gîj' (with a circomflex accent) as the emphatic subject, initial-word subject, and "pre-verb subject following a non- 'SoFT KeTCHuP' letter, and 2.  gij (with no accent) as the pre-verb subject after a 'SoFT KeTCHuP' letter, except for 3. 'ge' (before past-tense multi-part verbs),  4. 'ġe' as the post-verb form after non-terminal, simple verbs. and 5. ' ge ' as the post-verb subject elsewhere, except for 6.'gîj'/gij as an alternate terminal-subject to give a colloquial touch. 7. 'dìer' as the preverb object, including use as the initial-word and emphatic form,  8.' dîr ' as the post-verb object, the default reflexive form, object after the mid-sentence vowel-ended prepositions 'behalve' and 'na',  9. 'ü' as the post-consonant-ended-preposition object form, 10. 'dìjr' as the terminal-word object form, 11. 'œu̇r' as the preverb possessive form, including emphatic and initial-word, plus post-'dat', use, 12. ' uw ' as the neuter possessive elsewhere, plus the common-gender possessive when followed by a adjective, 13. 'uẇe' as the default common-gender possessive, 14. ' uwe ' as the penultimate-word common-gender possessive before monosyllable nouns, and 15,. de/het 'eu̇re' as the nominative-possessive. .        Note: Unlike the case of 'je', the preceding '-t' isn't dropped in reverse constructions. For example: "Hebt ge mij dat al gezegd?" (Did you already tell me that?).        Another essential personal-pronoun modification is the replacement of 'jou'  (you- informal-singular-object) with 'dú', 'jìeu', 'jèu', 'jėu',' u̇ ', 'u', or 'jœu', except if 'jou' is used emphatically, reflexively, in commands, or terminally following words ending in vowels. .          The subject form is 'jij'-preverb.  The post-verb subject forms include: 1. 'je' after compound or seperable verbs (which usually are simultaneiously stripped of their final 't's), in past-tense verbs that end in '-e', and after verbs beginning in be-, ge-, ver- or ont-, (which also drop their final '-t's i), abd  2. 'du̇ ', following simple, present-tense verbs (that end in '-t'), .        The emphatic form is either 'jíj', or 'jîj'- which is used to indicate particularly strong emphasis.  'Jîj' is pronouned like 'hu-jiy', but as a single syllable. . .        'Dú'- (with a forward accent) is used emphatically as the object pronoun, in place of 'jou', at the beginning of a clause and 'jou' is used emphatically elsewhere, . 'jìeu'- (with a backwards accent) is the pre-verb object form, and 'jèu'-(with a reverse accent), is the post-verb form, except after prepositions ending in consonants, in which case ' u̇ ' is used.  The terminal object forms after non-prepositions* are: 'u' following consonants, plus the preposition 'mee', and 'jou' elsewhere. .          The post-reflexive forms are 'jou'-midsentence and 'u' terminally. .         (Note: If a pronoun isn't the sole focus of a preposition preceding it, it assumes the preverb form 'jìeu'-(with an accent) and doesn't shift to 'u̇' or 'jou'. For example:  'Ik heb dat beslist, zonder jìeu te bellen'-(I decided that without calling you. .        The possessive 'jouw'- (yours-singular-informal) is only used emphatically, in abstract speech- such as in do-it-yourself instructions, or as a penultimate-word if a. not preceeded by a preposition, and b. if preceding a single-syllable noun. The inital-word form is 'jêu', which is also used after 'en' and 'dat'. The default pre- and post-verb form is 'jœ̀u'-(with a backwards accent). The post-preposition form following prepositions ending in consonants is ' ùw ', except when it is a penultimate word preceding a noun with only one syllable, in which case it is  'æ̇i'..  The nominative form is 'de/het jouwe'.  Note: in the case of abstract speech, or if a person in authority is speaking to a subordinate, 'ù',  'ùw', and 'æ̇i' may optionally be replaced by 'jou', 'jœ̀u', and 'jouw'. .         In the case of the prepositions 'behalve' and 'na', the synonym 'buiten' can be substituted for 'behalve', and 'na' can be replaced by 'achter' or 'naast'.  in which case they are followed by ' u̇, u̇w-(mid-sentence), and æ̇i (penultimately)'   If 'behalve' or 'na' are nonetheless used, they are followed by jou,  jœ̀u, or  jouw. .         The default reflexive form is 'jou', however, 'du' is used with seperable verbs in commands ('Hou du vast'-(Get a grip.), and 'u' is used terminally. .          The complete list of 'Jij', 2nd-person-singular, pronouns is: 1. 'jíj' or 'jîj' (with either a forward or circomflex acccent), as the emphatic subjects, 2. 'jìj', as the preverb subject, 3. 'je', as the post-verb subject after helping verbs, past tense verbs, and ont-ver-ge-be- verbs,  4. ' 'du̇ ', as the post-verb subject after simple verbs, 5 'dú', (with a forward accent) as the emphatic object at the beginning of a clause, and 6. 'jou' as the emphatic object elsewhere, 7. 'jìeu' as the preverb object, 8 'jėu' as the post-verb object, 9. 'u̇', as the post-preposition object, except if it is preceded by a preposition ending in a vowel, in which case it is 'jou', 10. 'u' as the terminal-object following all non-preposition words ending in consonants,  11. 'jou' as the terminal object following vowels, 12. 'jouw' as the emphatic, abstract, and penultimate post-vowel-ended-word pre-monosyllable-noun possessive, 13. 'jêu' as the initial-word possessive 14. 'jœ̀u' as the default pre- and post-verb possessive, including penultimate word use following non-prepositions and preceeding nouns longer than one syllables, 15. 'ùw' as the post-preposition-possessive following prepositions ending in consonants , except as a penultimate word before a single-syllable noun, in which case it is 16. 'æ̇i',  17. de/het 'jouwe' as the nominative form, and 18. 'jou' as the reflexive form, except with seperable verbs, when it is 19. ' du  ', or terminally, when it is 20.. 'u'. Note: 'jou' is also used as the object following an expletive. Note: 'ù', 'ùw', and 'æ̂i' can optionally be replaced by their less informal counterparts in abstract/semi-formal speech. .         The verb 'to be' for 'jij' may be either 'bent/ben' or 'zijdt'.  'zijdt' is always used with 'du̇'.  'bent/ben' is preferred as a helping verb, and 'zijdt' is preferred for ongoing actions or states of being. .             Next, a small, yet important, stylistic change is the use of the contracted subject-pronouns, ' 've  ' (we), ' 'se ' (they), following 'dat' (that) when 'dat' is used as a conjunction.  This usage is nicknamed the ' dat we/ dat ze ' rule and the word-clusters are pronounced 'dah-twuh and dah-tzuh'. .             In a similar way, following the conjunction 'dat', the subject pronoun 'zij' (they) is condensed to ' 'sie ' when it is precedes a reflexive verb, the new common-gender unisex subject-pronoun 'dæ̀r' is replaced by 'die', and the posessive pronouns 'ours' and 'yours-plural' are reduced to the monosyllables ' on's ' and 'œu̇r'. .           Note: The 'dat 'we/ dat 'ze' ; rules don't apply after any of the other '---dat' words, such as 'voordat'- (before), or 'omdat'-(because).         Some final Personal Pronoun Notes:         The 1st and 3rd person plural subject pronouns 'we' and 'ze' are used before multi-verb constructions where the first verb is multisyllable.  They are also used before seperable verbs where the first part is multisyllable.         After non-compound or non-split multisyllable verbs, the 1st and 3rd person are also 'we' and 'ze', as opposed to 've ' and 'se '.         Following monosyllable verbs, the 3rd perso- plural subject is 'ze'.         The 2nd person-singular post-verb subject pronoun 'zie' ('she') is used after both mono- and multi-syllable verbs.)         The colloquial (used only in speech) plural object ' ze '  ('them') reverts to 'hen'' 1. after prepositions, 2. when emphasized, 3.at the end of a sentence, or 4. if a possibility of ambiquity exists.           The possessive 'onze' (ours) has the forms: ' On's '- for first word in a clause, for neuter nouns, and before adjectives/adverbs preceding common gender nouns .  ' oṅze  '- as the default common-gender form (and pronounced like 'onz-uh', where the 'uh' is quite fast).  As the penultimate word in a clause 'oṅze' expands to 'onze'- if the final word isn't longer than two syllables. .        Almost all dialects of Flemish-Dutch still have three genders.  Unfortunately, the masculine vs. feminine genders are extremely difficult for adult English speakers to master because modern Flemish grammar has dropped almost all the old telltale phonetic and grammatical clues that used to indicate genders.  Standard Dutch has dropped the clues entirely. (The Dutch speakers of Holland largely stopped differentiating between the genders about seventy-five years ago, and Afrikaans dropped genders altogether about one hundred and fifty years ago.) . .        To solve this problem,  'California Dutch' mimics the gender-simplification trick of Holland, whereby the two common genders are reduced to one gender.  However, unlike the 'Standard Dutch' of Holland, the reduction to one gender occurs only with nouns that refer to inanimate objects and that are either mono-syllable words or a compund word that ends in a monosyllable noun.  The new lumped-together monosyllable "unisex" common-gender is nicknamed the 'Calidocious' gender, vs. the 'Zoot' neuter gender. .          Multisyllable nouns with female suffixes have similar pronouns to the 'Calidocious unisex' pronouns, except that the 1st word in a clause-subject (she/it) is either 'díe' or 'déze (with a forward accents), the 1st word in a clause-object (her/it) is 'deze '-(with no accent), and the possessive is 'haar'.  'díe' and 'déze' ' (with forward accents) are also used after the conjunctions 'en or maar' ('and or but' ). .         Multisyllable nouns with male-suffixes have the same pronouns as the Calidocious unisex pronouns,                      Please see the www.zoot.co web site for details on how to determine genders of multisyllable nouns based on their suffixes.  It is always okay to use the correct Flemish male/female genders for nouns, however students should never just guess. If in doubt, use the new unisex gender until you learn the correct gender.  Also, if you know the gender of person or other animate thing, such as a male person, don't use the unisex pronoun dæ̀r.- use 'hij/díe/die/hem/zijn' instead. The biggest difference between Afrikaans and Flemish is that Afrikaans evolved to have just one gender, instead of three. The picture is of the Afrikaans Language monument.          The new common-gender 'unisex' pronouns are recycled variants of the old-fashioned masculine Dutch (and modern Scandinavian) article/pronoun 'den', the Afrikaans universal pronoun 'die', and the colloquial Flemish article 'diën'.  The handful of common-gender, monosyllable, inanimate pronouns that have a very strong female or male gender (almost all such exceptional nouns are female) are featured on the Zootricity web page.  The correct female or male pronouns for these should always be used, particularly if the object in question has a proper name.  For example: in 'Golden Gate Brug'- (Bridge), 'brug' is feminine. .           To make the changes work, the old-fashioned article 'den' is repurposed and used as the pre-verb, and final-word, unisex-object-pronoun. (Meanwhile, the article 'den' is reduced to 'd'n', as in 'op d'n' duur', except in proper names.) .          The emphatic and pre-verb subject form, is 'dæ̇r'. The post-verb, and post 'dat', subject form is 'die'. .           The initial-word and emphatic object form is 'diėn', with a single dot over the 'ė', and which is pronounced as a single-syllable dipthong- 'dee-en'. The pre-verb object form is 'den' and the post-verb object form, including between compound verbs, is 'dėn'- which is pronounced like 'den'. exce[t as fast as 'd'n' would be pronounced. .            Usually, the object form is coupled with a preposition, as in 'daarover'.  For emphasis, however, 'diėn' or 'dėn' may be used with prepositions. .          The  possesssive is ' diėn's '. The nominitivve form is 'de/het diën'. .          The words 'déze' ('this one'-subject), 'dèze' ('this one'-object), 'deze' (this-article), and ' dėze ' ('this'-article after a preposition and before an adjective) can alternately be used to refer to 'unisex' common-gender nouns. .            Note: In addition to use 'op d'n duur', the new article 'd'n' is also used with a handful of exceptional nouns that have retained their masculine genderm such as, 'dog', 'day', and 'prison', .          Except for such rare nouns with exceptionally strong gender-retention, in Flemish, the use of all three genders of "Old Fashioned" Dutch is discrectionary, ie. not essential.  Interestingly, the more formal the speech of a Fleming, the less likely all three genders will be used.  Often, when Flemings do single out a male noun as being specifically male, it is primarily to give a quaint flavor to speech.  Occasionally, in colloquial speech, neuter, and even femine nous are given male articles for colloquial emphasis! (In American English this would be described as "giving a 'down home' flavor to speech".) In addition to genders, Afrikaans simplifed several other aspects of Dutch grammar. The entire grammar of Afrikaans can be taught in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee!         The complete set of pronouns for monosyllable common-gender nouns is: 1. 'Dæ̇r' and 2. 'déze' (with a forward accent) as the initial-word and post 'en'-('and') subjects, 3. 'die', or alternately '4. 'deze', (both without accents) as the post-verb subjects,  5.'diėn' , or 6. alternately 'dèze' as the initial-word and emphatic objects, 7. 'den' as the pre-verb and final-word object, 8. 'dėn' as the post-verb object, 9. 'diėn's' as the initial-word and emphatic possessive, 10. 'zijn' as the possessive elsewhere, except if extra clarity is required, in which case. 'dien's' can be used, 11. 'zich' as the reflexive, and 12. 'de/het zijne' as the nominative form.      Multisyllable nouns with ambiguous '-en' suffixes are given the new unisex gender.. In Dutch, the genders of '-en' words are exceptional in that they are split about equally between male and female genders. .         The rare monosyllable nouns with strong 'feminine associations' (see the 'Zootricity' web page) use the same pronouns as animate female things. The same is true for the very rare "male type" monosyllable nouns,= types of cars with monosyllable names. .        Although 'déze'-subject and 'deze'-object can technically be used for all common-gender nouns, they aren't recommended for singular nouns because they tend to sound 'scholarly' or 'pedantic', except in sentences with more than one 'haar', 'hem', or 'diėn/den' person or thing, where they are recommended if they can help reduce ambiguity. ..         If the gender of a multisyllable proper noun is temporarily unknown to a student, such as the 'ABC' business/beurocratic entity, the entity can temporiarily be given the unisex gender, however the possessive is  'diėn's'.           Sentence cadence, or rhythm, is essential in Flemish. In fact, facilitating sentence rhythm is the underlying principle behind all the changes of California Dutch. .           Ideally, all phrases flow at roughly the same rate. Also, ideally they contain recurring rising tones that occur roughtly 60=70 times a minute, ie. roughly the rate of a heartbeat. .            In order to create and maintain this rhythm, words may be compressed or expanded, or the final sounds of words may be elided, ie. the first sound of a word may be slurred onto the penultimate sound of the preceding word.  .           To help master the underlying the timing of California Dutch, students are encouraged to use a metronom set at about 70 beats per minute to pace their speach.  .           Walking while talking can also help establish this cadence because the rhythm of most people's pace on level ground is roughly 90 beats per minute.  Another timekeeping trick is to wave a conductor's wand.  Calidocious Inc. sells wooden batons as one of the toys in the Zoot toy line. Inspiration to fight for Flemish- sign in the Flemish community of Voeren with Dutch names crossed out in favor of German and French names. An American Calidocious hero is the the Cherokee teacher Sequoia. Sequoia invented the Cherokee Alphabet.                          Grammar Footnotes         -A subtle, but important, difference between 'California Dutch' and 'Standard Dutch' is restriction of use the pronoun 'die'.  In California Dutch, 'die' is only used as a relative pronoun, as a subject pronoun after 'dat' for common gender inanimate nouns, and as a post-verb, subject pronoun for inanimate things. .          -The verb "kan" ('can'-1st person singular or plural) is substitued for "kùnt" ('could'-1st person singular or plural) if there is no doubt the action can actually occur.  This is intended to be similar to how 'can' and 'could' are used in English.  'kan' is followed by 'je' and 'kùnt' is followed by 'dú'. .         -In written 'California Dutch' the abbreviated subject pronous; je, ge, and zie, are only used as post-verb pronouns . In speech, however, the pre-verb variants of the pronouns may be condensed so they sound almost as condensed as the post-verb variants.        -The object pronoun 'deze' can optionally replace 'diėn', 'den'. 'zie', 'hem', 'hen', 'ze', or 'haar'.  This is done to reduce repetitiveness of pronouns. .         -Single male human beings  can be referred to via the object pronoun, 'diėn', but not by 'deze'. Single female human beings aren't referred to by 'diėn', but can be referred to via 'deze', in addition to 'haar', 'zie', and 'die'. .         -The word 'geen' , as well as the possessives 'mijn', 'zijn', and 'haar', can decline if they are the second-to-last words in a sentence. For example: 'Ik heb gene tijd'. (I don't have any time). .         -Because there are no English pronouns that correspond to the "first person singular ultra-informal" colloquial Flemish pronouns 'gij', 'u', and 'uw', none of these are used in translations from English into 'California Dutch'. Within ten years 90% of the Cherokee indians learned to read and write! Sequoia's Alphabet is in use to this day!        -As discussed above, to help with the visual flow of sentences, as well and indicate pronunciation speed, the typographic spacing around apostrophes needs to be condensed, or expanded. This can be done with the "advanced" font settings of PCs and Mac's.  (Note: Due to limitations of the fonts used on this web page, only partial enhanced spacing has been implemented.) .        A project of 'Calidocious inc.' is to develop software that allows all 'apostrophe-spacing' modifications to be added automatically when typing text.  .         Simiarly, the automatic addition of most accent marks is planned.  For words in which there are ambiguous spellings with forward or reverse accents, such as 'een' (a) and 'één' (one), Calidocius Inc. plans to develop software that will allow the forward and reverse accent marks to be created  by siimply simultaneously pressing one key plus a vowel, (such as how the 'Shift' key currently works to create capital letters). The Armenian system of writing was developed by Mesrop Mashtots in the 5th-6th century A.D.        The word 'jouzelf' (yourself) or 'jezelf' is written 'jùzelf'. The word 'alsjeblief'-(please informal) is changed to 'alsjùblief'. .        Expletive's like 'F*** You' can use the reflexive forms of the object for emphasis: for example: 'Fik dïr!'- (To hell with you all!) or 'Fik jou!'.         -Prepositions together with neuter-gender pronouns are usually written/spoken as one word- 'er + preposition'.  'er' is used only with neuter words.  Common gender constructions are usually 'daar + preposition'.    -The subject pronouns 'díe'-preverb and 'die'-post-verb can arbitrarily replace ' hij' and 'zij/zie' , however, beginning students should wait to do this until they have a "feel" for when it is appropriate. .      -To facilitate the use of 'den' as the unisex common-gender pre-verb object, the word 'den'-(pine tree) is replaced by the synonyms 'pijn', 'pinneboom', or 'denneboom'. Mosaic at Sequoia High School in Silicon Valley- (Unaliyi is Cherokee and means 'Place of Friends'.) A second-language success story of Northern California- 'Boontling'-on an Anderson Valley Brewery coaster.         -When a pronoun following a verb requires special emphasis, this is indicated by using the pre-verb pronoun, and a forward accent over the vowel of the pronoun is optional. .        -The phrase 'op zijn minst'- (at least) is shortened to 'op z'n minst'. .        -For emphasis, the pre-verb subject pronouns 'gîj/gij' may be used after the verb, which is concurrently given a suffix '-de'.  For example:  Dat meende gij niet?!-(Ya'll reallty didn't mean that?!).         -The pronouns 'U'-(You-formal subject and object) and 'Uw' (Your's-formal) are capitalized like they were in old fashioned Dutch to help decrease ambiguity, and to indicate a slight increase in stress.  The possessive 'Uw' doesn't decline. .         -In reflexive constructions with 'U'- you polite, 'zich' is preferred as the reflexive pronoun instead of 'U', as in 'Voelt U zich goed?'-(Do you feel well?). Entrance to the Palo Alto Community Center where "California Dutch" classes are held. The bottom word is "Community Center" 'Sideways Dutch' Pronouns English Before the Verb After  the Verb I ik/ ikke-emph. ik/ informally ek-ik We wij/we (dat 've) 've after multisyllable verbs if the verb is a helping verb or part of a split verb/ we-elsewhere You (s) informal jij/ jíj or jîj-emph  du̇- after simple, pres. tense verbs/ je-with compound & past tense verbs You (pl) informal gîj/gij after 'Soft Ketchup' consonants, ge- before multi-syllable-split verbs d'r- after simple, non-terminal verbs, ge-elsewhere', gîj/gij- optional terminally You (s&pl)formal        U U He hij hij/ informally 'hem' or ' 'ie ' She zij zie It (neuter) het, dit het It (Common-male) dæ̇r or déze die It (Common-female) díe or déze die It (Common-indeter-minate-monosyllable dæ̇r or déze die They zij/ze or déze (dat.'se) 'se after multisyllable verbs if the verb is a helping verb or part of a split verb; ze- elsewhere   English Object Reflexive Possessive I -mij mij mijn, mẏne penultimate before 1-2 syllable com-gender nouns, (mijne) We -ons ons on's -neuter, preverb & pre-adj/adv with all nouns, ons'-com-gender elsewhere, (onze) You (s) Inf. -Dù-1st word in a clause, jòu emphatic elsewhere, jìeu-preverb, jèu post--verb, u̇- after preps* & terminally after non-preps w/ consonants, jou after preps ending in vowels and terminally after vowels jou, du with seperable verbs, u terminally jȯúw-emphatic, jouw- penultimately before 1-2 syl. nouns, jœ̀u-default, u̇w-post prepostion*, except for aei- penultimately before 1-2 syl. neuter nouns or for æie before 1-2 syl, common nouns, (aeie) You (s) Ultra Inf.   -Not used in Ca Dutch) NA NA You (s&pl)Formal -U U (zich if juxtaposed to the subject U) Uw (Uwe) You (pl) Inf. -dìer- inital word, emphatic & preverb, dȋr-post-verb & after mid-sentence preps ending in vowels, u after mid-sentence preps* and terminally dȋr, dìer terminally  œu̇r- preverb, post 'dȧt', & emphatic,  uw- default neuter & pre-adjective all-genders, uẁe-post-verb & post-prepostiton common-gender,  (uwe/œùre emph) He  -hem (diėn optional preverb and emphatic) zich  zijn, zẏne penultimate before 1-2 syl. com-gender nouns, (zijne) She -haar (ze-conv.) dèze/dìe optional preverb and emphatic zich  haar, hære penultimate before 1-2 syl. com-gender nouns (hare) C.G.mono-syllable & with male suffix -diėn emphatic, den pre-verb & terminal, d'n post-verb zich  diėns or zijn, (diën) C.G. w/female suffix -dèze/dìe-emphatic &1st word,  zie elsewhere, (ze conv.) zich haar (hare) Neuter -dæ̇s/dàt-preverb, dit/dat/het-post-verb zich zijn, zẏne penultimate before 1-2 syl, common gender nouns, (zijne) They -hen, (ze-conv.), (dèze-opt. preverb) zich hun/(hulle) 'Calidocious' words- the Common Gender          'California Dutch' pronunciation is the same as 'Standard Flemish' pronunciation.  'Standard Flemish' is the style of pronunciation used by commentators on Flemish TV and can be described as Dutch spoken with a slight French accent. .          A sample of "California Dutch" is included below.  The excerpt is from a novel by Jack London- translated into Dutch around 1920 by an unknown author(s)- as it may have first appeared in serial form. .         The novel is "Smoke Bellew", which was translated as "Chichaquo en Old Timers".  The main character, 'Smoke', and his best friend 'Shorty', are on a trip to the Klondike gold fields in Alaska.. The carvings in the picture are of another pair of hero's of Calidocious Inc.- Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. 'Zoot' words- the Neuter Gender Before starting to read a text aloud, students are encouraged to tap out the underlying rhythm of 'California Dutch'. A conductor's wand is a good tool to do this. 'Zootgeist' (Spirit of Zoot) wooden wands are available on the 'Zoot Toys' page.            Note: Due to limitations of the font used in this web-page text- the contraction/expansion of letter-spacing adjacent to apostrophes, plus ligated vs. non-ligated 'ij's, haven't been fully implemented in the following text.  Also, initial and terminal slanted apostrophes can't be properly rendered.            Note: Unfortunately, the translator(s) of this translation of Smoke Bellew is/are unknown, and so can't be credited. The Dutch version of the book was initially printed in serial fashion in newspapers/magazines.  As a result, there may have been multiple translators, and none of them are credited.                  "California Dutch"ås̀ȧėu̇       Boven op de oever ontmoetten s̀e Breek.  Zijn vrouw stond een beetje verderòp.  Kit schudde hem de hand.       "Ik ben bang dat œùr boot het niet uithoudt," zei hij. "Zij is kleiner dan de onze en een beetje zwak."       De man hælde een bundeltje bankbiljetten tèvoor­schijn.       "Ik zal jèu beiden honderd dollars geven als gij ze er over brengt."       Kit keek naar de golvende Manen van het Witte Paard. Het begon te schemeren en hėt werd kouder, het landschap scheen een sombere bleekheid aan te nemen.       "Dat is het niet," sprak Shorty. "Wij hebben œùr geld niet nodig.    Maar, mijn makker heeft verstand van boten en als hij zegt,  dat de œùre niet vertrouwd is,  dan ben ik overtuìgd, dȧt hij weet wat hij zegt."       Kit knikte bevestigend en keek toevallig Breeks vrouw aan. Haar ogen waren op hem gericht en hij wist, dȧt wanneer hij ooit een bede in vrouwenogen gelezen had, dit nu het geval was. Shorty volgde zijn blik en zag hetzelfde, wat hij zag.  Zij keken elkaar verward aan, zonder te spreken.       Door 'n zelfde òpwelling gedreven, knikten s̀e elkaar toe en liepen de weg terùg, die naar het begin der versnelling leidde.  Ze hadden nog geen honderd meter afgelegd, toen zij Stine en Sprague ontmoetten, die naar beneden kwamen.       "Waar gaat.d'r heen?"   vroeg de laatste.       "Díe andere boot er over brengen," antwoordde Shorty.       "Nee, dat zult.ge niet.   Het wordt donker.   Gîj gaat het kamp in orde maken."       Kits afkeer van hen was zó groot, dȧt hij geen antwoord gaf.       "Hij heeft zijn vrouw bij zich," sprak Shorty.       "Dat is zijn zaak," beweerde Stine.       "En van Smoke en mij," was Shorty's antwoord.       "Ik verbied het u," zei Sprague bars.  "Smoke, als jij nog een stap verdergaat, ontsla ik ù."       "En ik jìeu ook, Shorty," voegde Stine er bij.       "En gîj zult er pleizier van hebben, als gij ons ont­slaat," antwoordde Shorty.       "Hoe zult ge díe vervloekte boot in Dawson krijgen?  Wie zal dìer uw koffie op bed brengen en uw nagels onderhouden?        Kom mee, Smoke. Zij durven ons toch niet te ontslaan. Bovendien hebben we contracten.  Als zij ons ontslaan, moeten.'se ons voldoende voedsel geven om de winter door te komen."       Nauwelijks hadden ze Breeks boot van de kant en kwamen in het eerste woeste water, of de golven begonnen over boord te slaan. Het waren kleine golfjes, maar het was een vermaning van hetgeen hen te wachten stond. Shorty wierp een sportende blik terùg, terwijl hij op zijn onontbeerlijke pruim kauwde en Kit kreeg een eigenaardig, warm gevoel in zijn hart voor deze man, die niet kon zwemmen en niet terùg kon.       De versnellingen werden sterker en het schuim begon te vliegen. In de toenemende duisternis zag Kit de Manen en de kronkelende stroom, die er heenleidde.  Hij werkte zich in deze stroom en voelde zich zeer voldaan toen de boot precies midden op de kop der Manen terechtkwam. Naderhand, toen zij in de damp sprongen, doken en onder het water verdwenen, wist hij niets meer dan dat hij met zijn vol gewicht tegen het stuur leunde en wenste,  dȧt zijn oom hem nu eens zien kon.       Zij kwamen er overheen, ademloos, doornat, en de boot bijna tot aan de dolboord vol water. Enkele lichtere uitrustingsstukken dreven binnen in de boot. Een paar voorzichtige riemslagen van Shorty brachten de boot in de stroom en dæ̇r deed de rest tot de boot veilig tegen de oever stootte.       Boven stond Brecks vrouw er naar te kijken.  Haar gebed was verhoord en de tranen stroomden over haar wangen.       "Jongens, gîj moet het geld aannemen," riep Breek hen van boven af toe.       Shorty stond òp, gleed uit en kwam in het water te zitten,  terwijl de ene dolboord der boot water schepte, en zich weer òprichtte.  "Dat vervloekte geld," zei Shorty.  "Geef òp díe whisky.  Nu wij er over zijn, krijg ik koude voeten en ik heb vast kou gevat."                    "Original Text"            Boven op den oever ontmoetten zij Breek.  Zijn vrouw stond een beetje verderop.  Kit schudde hem de hand.       „Ik ben bang dat uw boot het niet uithoudt," zei hij.  „Zij is kleiner dan de onze en een beetje zwak."       De man haalde een bundeltje bankbiljetten te voor­schijn.       „Ik zal u beiden honderd dollars geven als gij ze er over brengt."       Kit keek naar de golvende Manen van het Witte Paard. Het begon te schemeren en het werd kouder, het landschap scheen een sombere bleekheid aan te nemen.       „Dat is het niet," sprak Shorty.  „Wij hebben uw geld niet noodig.  Maar, mijn makker heeft verstand van booten en als hij zegt, dat de uwe niet vertrouwd is, dan ben ik overtuigd, dat hij weet wat hij zegt."       Kit knikte bevestigend en keek toevallig Breck's vrouw aan. Haar oogen waren op hem gericht en hij wist, dat wanneer hij ooit een bede in vrouwenoogen gelezen had, dit nu het geval was. Shorty volgde zijn blik en zag hetzelfde, wat hij zag; zij keken elkander verward aan, zonder te spreken.       Door een zelfde opwelling gedreven, knikten zij elkander toe en liepen den weg terug, die naar het begin der ver­snelling leidde.  Zij hadden nog geen honderd meter afgelegd, toen zij Stine en Sprague ontmoetten, die naar beneden kwamen.       „Waar gaan jelui heen?" vroeg de laatste.       „Die andere boot er over brengen," antwoordde Shorty.       „Neen, dat zal je niet.  Het wordt donker.  Jelui gaat het kamp in orde maken."       Kit's afkeer van hen was zoo groot, dat hij geen antwoord gaf.       „Hij heeft zijn vrouw bij zich," sprak Shorty.       „Dat is zijn zaak," beweerde Stine.       „En van Smoke en mij," was Shorty's antwoord.       „Ik verbied het je," zei Sprague barsch.  „Smoke, als je nog een stap verdergaat, ontsla ik je."       „En ik jou ook, Shorty," voegde Stine er bij.       „En je zult er pleizier van hebben, als je ons ont­slaat," antwoordde Shorty.       „Hoe zullen jelui die vervloekte boot in Dawson krijgen?       Wie zal je je koffie op bed brengen en je nagels onderhouden?       Kom mee, Smoke.   Zij durven ons toch niet te ontslaan. Bovendien  hebben wij contracten.  Als zij ons ontslaan, moeten zij ons voldoende voedsel geven om den winter door te komen."       Nauwelijks hadden zij Breck's boot van den kant en kwamen in het eerste woeste water, of de golven begonnen over boord te slaan.  Het waren kleine golfjes, maar het was een vermaning van hetgeen hen te wachten stond.  Shorty wierp een sportenden blik terug, terwijl hij op zijn onontbeerlijken pruim kauwde en Kit kreeg een eigenaardig, warm gevoel in zijn hart voor dezen man, die niet kon zwemmen en niet terug kon.       De versnellingen werden sterker en het schuim begon te vliegen.  In de toenemende duisternis zag Kit de Manen en den kronkelenden stroom, die er heenleidde.  Hij werkte zich in dezen stroom en voelde zich zeer voldaan toen de boot precies midden op den kop der Manen terechtkwam.  Naderhand toen zij in den damp sprongen, doken en onder het water verdwenen, wist hij niets meer dan dat hij met zijn volle gewicht tegen het stuur leunde en wenschte, dat zijn oom hem nu eens zien kon.       Zij kwamen er overheen, ademloos, doornat en de boot bijna tot aan den dolboord vol water.  Enkele lichtere uitrustingsstukken dreven binnen in de boot.  Een paar voorzichtige riemslagen van Shorty brachten de boot in den stroom en deze deed de rest tot de boot veilig tegen den oever stootte.        Boven stond Breek's vrouw er naar te kijken.  Haar gebed was verhoord en de tranen stroomden over haar wangen.       „Jongens,  je moet het geld aannemen," riep Breek hen van boven af toe.       Shorty stond op, gleed uit en kwam in het water te zitten, terwijl de eene dolboord der boot water schepte en zich weer oprichtte.  „Dat vervloekte geld," zei Shorty.  „Geef op die whiskey.  Nu wij er over zijn, krijg ik koude voeten en ik heb vast kou gevat." New Amsterdam Theater in New York- "It's C-Z as A,B,C!" © 2022 Calidocious Inc.  All Rights Reserved. Version 02/20/2022 "Gone to Burgundy" " CA Overdrive!™ " "Abalonia!"