[citation needed] Over the relatively-large area in which it is spoken, Brabantian can be roughly divided into three subdialects, all of which differ in some aspects: Over 5 million people live in the area where some form of Brabantian functions as the predominant colloquial language; this compares with a total of 22 million Dutch-speakers across the Netherlands and Flanders.

In the second half of the 14th century, emphasis in society shifted to Brabant and so the Brabantian dialect became dominant.

That made the cultural elite move from the oppressive Spanish and Roman Catholic region to the more liberal (and Protestant) north.

The first major formation of Standard Dutch also took place in Antwerp, where a Brabantian dialect is still spoken.

[7] Berlin scientists point to a very important phenomenon in the 20th century in the south of the Dutch language area: there has been an expansion in the use of Brabantian by the dominant presence of native Brabantian-speakers in the modern mass media like radio and television.

[9] The comic artist Hergé based fictional languages like Syldavian in his childhood Marols.

[citation needed] A characteristic phrase, houdoe ("take care"), derives from houd u goed (literally, "keep yourself all right"), but colloquial Dutch and Hollandic use doei ("bye").

As the accusative case had different forms for masculine and feminine nouns, both genders have thus remained separate in Brabantian.