Taaltoestanden Volgens de "Reeks Nederlandse Dialect-atlassen"

The 16-volume "Reeks Nederlandse Dialect-atlassen" - RND (Atlases of Dutch Dialects Series; 1925-1976), which was started by Edgar Blanquaert, is due of the major sources of the study of linguistic variety in Dutch and Frisian. Very positive evaluations have already been made by researchers in the field of linguistic geography. In the present contribution, it will be shown that also from a sociolinguistic point of view the RND can be considered a distinctly progressive project. This is clear from the method of fieldwork chosen (personal interviewing; narrow phonetic transcription; original data on display maps), from the choice of location (particular attention for the urban character) and from the selection criteria for informers (several informers per location, great attention for middle-class speakers and relatively young speakers). The sociolinguistic character is strengthened by the additional information in the section Taaitoestand' (socio-linguistic situation), in which a brief sociolinguistic description of the location studied is given. The information to the following aspects: the period during which fieldwork took place, the fieldworkers, Flanders versus the Netherlands, local variation and, finally, social variation.