Dialectcompetentie en functionaliteit van het dialect in Vlaanderen anno 2013

This study focuses on the dialect vitality in Flanders anno 2013. On the basis of a survey conducted among 543 Flemish university students, it is studied to what degree Flemish students still consider themselves competent dialect speakers and, if they indicate mastering their dialect, in which situations they use it. By comparing the gathered data to survey data from Van Keymeulen (1993) en Willemyns (1979), perceptual evidence is provided for the idea that dialect loss processes are increasingly turning the Flemish diaglossic repertoire (Auer 2005), marked by dialect, intermediate varieties and standard language, into a repertoire marked by a dyadic division of labour, i.e. with standard language as means of formal communication and intermediate varieties as the sole means of informal communication