Dutch

More than 22 million people speak Dutch-primarily in Holland, Belgium, Suriname, and the Antilles. This book offers a well-researched and highly readable survey of the language in all its historical, geographic, and social aspects. In addition to providing a general introduction to the evolution of Dutch, Willemyns pays special attention to oft-neglected topics, such as the question of whether Dutchmen and Flemings are separated by a common language, and thecontentious matter of the spread of Dutch abroad through colonization, which led to "exotic" variations such as Afrikaans, pidgins, and creoles.Dutch: Biography of a Language will appeal to students of Dutch and general readers interested in the history of the language.

All in all, Willemyns' biography of Dutch is a very dense book, clearly striving to provide as much information as possible on the history of Dutch. It remains, however, a very readable book, suitable for different groups of readers ranging from interested non-native speakers and foreigners to specialists in the Dutch language., a survey that brings a broad public up to date with the evolution of a language through centuries of contacts and conflicts with other tongues. Finally, you can trace the entire history of Dutch in an English-language book., Willemyns has splendidly packed a great deal of fascinating material into 260 pages of this highly readable and comprehensive survey, This book drives home the sociohistorical complexity of the language [with] fascinating illustrations of questions of linguistic form, vivid and clear ... a wonderful book

Roland Willemyns is Emeritus Professor of Dutch Linguistics at Vrije Universiteit Brussels