In Brussels French, names of Flemish (Dutch) origin are reported to be more
faithful to the original pronunciation than in French as spoken in France.
For example, *Rembrandt* is typically pronounced [ˈrɛm.brant] in Flemish,
[ʀɛm.ˈbʀant] in Brussels French and [ʀ̃a.ˈbʀ̃ɑ(t)] in France French. Brussels French thus
tends towards a middle way between preservation and nativisation, but
regularly preserves some phonological elements more readily than others
(e.g. [ŋ] is preserved if [r] is preserved). The results of an
acceptability task performed by bilingual native speakers of Brussels
French are reported here, which reveal the following hierarchy: [r] < [h] <
word stress < [ŋ] < [x] < non-nasalised \<Vn\>. Two hypotheses to explain these
findings are compared: absolute markedness vs. tendencies to alter or preserve within the
Flemish varieties themselves.