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Dutch phonology
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Dutch is a Germanic language and as such has a similar phonology to other Germanic languages (particularly Low German, Frisian, English, and to a lesser extent, German). (See the West Germanic languages.)
The Dutch as spoken in Haarlem is popularly said to be closest to northern “Standard” Dutch, not the Amsterdam dialect. Amsterdam dialect is different from northern Standard Dutch in that, for example, is replaced by .
vowel inventory of Dutch is large, with 13 simple vowels and four diphthongs.
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Encyclopedia
Dutch is a Germanic language and as such has a similar phonology to other Germanic languages (particularly Low German, Frisian, English, and to a lesser extent, German). (See the West Germanic languages.)
The Dutch as spoken in Haarlem is popularly said to be closest to northern “Standard” Dutch, not the Amsterdam dialect. Amsterdam dialect is different from northern Standard Dutch in that, for example, is replaced by .
Vowels
The vowel inventory of Dutch is large, with 13 simple vowels and four diphthongs. The vowels , and are included on the diphthong chart because they are actually produced as narrow closing diphthongs in many dialects, but behave phonologically like the other simple vowels. In front of these vowels are pronounced as , and respectively. (a near-open central vowel) is an allophone of unstressed and .
Dutch Vowels with Example Words| Symbol | Example | | Vowel | IPA | orthography | Gloss |
|---|
| | bit | 'bit' | | | biet | 'beetroot' | | | hut | 'cabin' | | | fuut | 'grebe' | | | bed | 'bed' | | | beet | 'bite' | | | de | 'the' | | | neus | 'nose' | | | bad | 'bath' | | | baad | 'bathe' | | | bot | 'bone' | | | boot | 'boat' | | | hoed | 'hat' | | | bijt, ei | 'bite', 'egg' | | | buit | 'booty' | | | bout, faun | 'bolt', 'faun' |
- Pronounced as in Standard Belgian Dutch
Consonants
Notes:
- is not a separate phoneme in Dutch, but is inserted before vowel-initial syllables within words after and and often also at the beginning of a word.
- is not a native phoneme of Dutch and only occurs in borrowed words, like goal or when is voiced, like in zakdoek .
- and are not native phonemes of Dutch, and usually occur in borrowed words, like show and bagage ('baggage'). And even then they are usually realized as and respectively. However, + phoneme sequences in Dutch are often realized as , like in the word huisje ('little house'). In dialects that merge s and z often is realized as .
- The sound spelled is a uvular fricative in northern Standard Dutch and velar in Belgian Standard Dutch.
- In some dialects, the voiced fricatives have almost completely merged with the voiceless ones; is usually realized as , is usually realized as , is usually realized as . In the North is usually realized as , whereas in the South the distinction between and has been preserved.
- The realization of the phoneme varies considerably from dialect to dialect. In "standard" Dutch, is realized as the alveolar trill . In some dialects it is realized as the alveolar tap , the voiced uvular fricative , the uvular trill , or even as the alveolar approximant .
- The realization of the varies considerably from the Northern to the Southern and Belgium dialects of the Dutch language. A number of Belgian dialects pronounce it like a bilabial approximant . Other, mainly Northern Dutch, dialects pronounce it as a labiodental approximant: .
- The lateral is slightly velarized postvocalically.
Dutch Consonants with Example Words| Symbol | Example | | IPA | IPA | orthography | Gloss |
|---|
| | pen | 'pen' | | | biet | 'beetroot' | | | tak | 'branch' | | | dak | 'roof' | | | kat | 'cat' | | | goal | 'goal' (sports) | | | mens | 'human being' | | | nek | 'neck' | | | eng | 'scary' | | | fiets | 'bicycle' | | | oven | 'oven' | | | sok | 'sock' | | | zeep | 'soap' | | | chef | 'boss, chief' | | | jury | 'jury' | | | acht | 'eight' | | | gaan | 'to go' | | | rat | 'rat' | | | hoed | 'hat' | | | wang | 'cheek' | | | jas | 'coat' | | | land | 'land / country' | | | beamen | 'to confirm' |
- Often the final 'n' is not pronounced.
Dutch language devoices all obstruents at the ends of words (e.g. a final becomes ), which presents a problem for Dutch speakers when learning English. This is partly reflected in the spelling, the singular huis ('house') has the plural huizen and duif ('dove') becomes duiven. The other cases, viz. ‘p’/‘b’ and ‘d’/‘t’ are always written with the voiced consonant, although a devoiced one is actually pronounced, e.g. singular baard ('beard'), pronounced as , has plural baarden and singular rib ('rib'), pronounced as , has plural ribben .
Because of assimilation, often the initial consonant of the next word is usually also devoiced, e.g. het vee ('the cattle') is .
Some regions (Amsterdam, Friesland) have almost completely lost the voiced fricatives , and . Further south these phonemes are certainly present in the middle of a word. Compare e.g. logen and loochen vs. . In the South (i.e. Zeeland, Brabant and Limburg) and in Flanders the contrast is even greater because the becomes a palatal. ('soft g').
The final 'n' of the plural ending -en is often not pronounced (as in Afrikaans where it is also dropped in the written language), except in the North East (Low Saxon) and the South West (West Flemish) where the ending becomes a syllabic n sound.
Stress
When the penultimate syllable is open, stress may fall on any of the last three syllables. When the penultimate syllable is closed, stress falls on either of the last two syllables. While stress is phonemic, minimal pairs are rare. For example vóórkomen ('occur') and voorkómen ('prevent'). In composite words, secondary stress is often present. Marking the stress in written Dutch is optional, never obligatory, but sometimes recommended.
Phonotactics
The syllable structure of Dutch is (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C). Many words, like in English, begin with three consonants - e.g. straat ('street'). There are words that end in four consonants - e.g. herfst ('autumn'), ergst('worst'), interessantst ('most interesting'), sterkst ('strongest') - most of them being adjectives in the superlative form.
Historical sound changes
Dutch (with the exception of the Limburg dialects) did not participate in the second Germanic consonant shift except for the last stage - compare
> : German machen vs. Dutch maken, English make
> : German schaf vs. Dutch schaap, English sheep
> : German wasser vs. Dutch water, English water
> : German das, Dutch dat vs. English that
Dutch generalised the fricative variety of Proto-Germanic * as , in contrast with German which generalised the plosive , and English which lost the fricative variety through regular sound changes.
Dutch underwent a few changes of its own. For example:
- Words with -old or -olt lost the in favor of a diphthong as a result of l-vocalization. Compare English old, German alt, Dutch oud.
changed to , spelled , but this was later reverted in many words by analogy with other forms. Compare English loft, German luft, Dutch lucht.
- Proto-Germanic * turned into through palatalization, which, in turn, became the diphthong , spelled . Long * also diphthongized to , spelled .
See also
Bibliography
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