verbalelijke

Verbalelijke is a term used in Dutch-language criticism and sociolinguistics to describe a mode of textuality in which spoken language—dialogue, quotations, and performative speech acts—is foregrounded as the central material of interpretation. In texts described as verbalelijke, the boundary between spoken and written language is treated as permeable; narrators may reproduce conversational rhythms, and speech may drive the text’s meaning rather than descriptive exposition. The concept provides a lens for examining how authors represent talk, how voice is constructed, and how social context shapes interpretation.

Etymology and scope: The coinage combines the Dutch root for speech-related forms with the adjectival suffix -lijke, aligning it with similar terms that signal emphasis on verbal features. It is not a universally fixed term, and its exact definition can vary among scholars, sometimes overlapping with discussions of direct speech, quotation practices, or performativity in narrative.

Usage and methods: Verbalelijke appears in studies of contemporary fiction, memoirs, film scripts, and oral-history transcriptions. Researchers may employ close-reading of dialogue, analysis of quotative markers, turn-taking, and voice attribution; compare representations of talk across genres; and situate speech within larger sociolinguistic or hermeneutic frameworks such as discourse analysis or speech-act theory.

Relation and critique: The emphasis on speech can illuminate how language constructs social relations but may risk conflating fiction with documentary evidence or privileging spoken forms over nonverbal cues. As a niche concept, verbalelijke lacks a single, authoritative definition and remains subject to scholarly debate and contextual interpretation.