Westphalian traits. When the Tweante region became a fixed part of the Netherlands, and the economic fulcrum of the country shifted towards the western provinces, Standard Dutch gained influence over the language within the Dutch borders, and as a result Middle Low Saxon grew more and more apart into the various modern Low Saxon dialects. Pronunciation and characteristics Tweants does not have a standardised pronunciation, but all varieties shared a number of characteristics. Phonetic details The following paragraphs contain IPA symbols. Vowels This survey of vowels includes only the most general vowels present in (nearly) all varieties, and does by no means give an all-encompassing overview of all varieties, as pronunciation differs per village and town, and may differ even within a town. A striking example of this may be found in the town of Rijssen, where two pronunciation forms of the past tense verb form of go are commonly accepted: gung and gong . As there is no standard variety of Tweants, and there is little or no education in the language, speakers may select their pronunciation based on personal preferences, social circumstance, or peer pressure. Westphalian vowel break Considered a remnant of Westphalian, some Tweants varieties add a diphthong to a number of vowels that are monophthongs in others. The /e/, /o/, and /ø/ are pronounced [ɪə], [ɔə], and [ʏə]. This is called the Westphalian vowel break, and is most noticeable in the dialects of Rijssen, Enter, and Vriezenveen. On some instances in the former two, the break has been lost and the onset vowel has developed into a monophthong. In Enter, for instance the word 'beaven' (to shiver) has developed into 'bieven' (, and in Rijssen, the words 'spoor' (track) and 'vöär' (before) have developed into and . Consonants * – as in the Dutch word pot, e.g. pot. * – as in the Dutch word tak, e.g. tand (tooth) * – as in the Dutch word ketel, e.g. kettel (kettle) – as in the Dutch word gaan, e.g. goan (go) – as in the Dutch word ja but with more friction, Southern Dutch g, e.g. rieg (impale) – as in the English word yes, e.g. rieg (impale) (local pronunciations may vary). – as in the English word ring, e.g. hangen (hang). – as above but more back. Occurs only before and after ; in the latter case as syllabic . – as in the Dutch word