Dutch phonology

Dutch is a Germanic language and as such has a similar phonology with other Germanic languages (particularly Low German, Frisian, English, and to a lesser extent, German).

Vowels

The vowel inventory of Dutch is large, with 13 simple vowels and four diphthongs. The vowels /eː/, /øː/ and /oː/ 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 /r/ these vowels are pronounced as [ɪː], [ʏː] and [ɔː] respectively. [ɐ] (a near-open central vowel) is an allophone of unstressed /a/ and /ɑ/.

Dutch Vowels with Example Words

Symbol	Example
Vowel	IPA	orthography	Gloss
ɪ	bɪt	bit	'bit'
i	bit	biet	'beetroot'
ʏ	hʏt	hut	'cabin'
y	fyt	fuut	'grebe'
ɛ	bɛt	bed	'bed'
eː	beːt	beet	'bite'
ə	də	de	'the'
øː	nøːs	neus	'nose'
ɑ	bɑt	bad	'bath'
aː	baːt	baad	'bathe'
ɔ	bɔt	bot	'bone'
oː	boːt	boot	'boat'
u	ɦut	hoed	'hat'
ɛi		bijt, ei	'bite', 'egg'
œy	bœyt	buit	'booty'
ʌu		bout, faun	'bolt', 'faun'

1. Pronounced as /ɔu/ in Standard Belgian Dutch

Consonants

		Bilabial	Labio- dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m		n			ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p		t			k		(ʔ)
	voiced	b		d			g
Fricative	voiceless		f	s	ʃ
	voiced		v	z	ʒ		ɣ	ʁ	ɦ
Trill				r
Approximant				l		j

Notes:

1. [ʔ] is not a separate phoneme in Dutch, but is inserted before vowel-initial syllables within words after /a/ and /ə/ and often also at the beginning of a word.
2. /ɡ/ is not a native phoneme of Dutch and only occurs in borrowed words, like goal or when /k/ is voiced, like in zakdoek [zɑɡduk].
3. /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ 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 [sʲ] and [zʲ] respectively. However, /s/ + /j/ phoneme sequences in Dutch are often realized as [sʲ], like in the word huisje ('little house'). In dialects that merge s and z [zʲ] often is realized as [sʲ].
4. The sound spelled is a uvular fricative in Standard Dutch and velar in Belgian dialects.
5. In some dialects, the voiced fricatives have almost completely merged with the voiceless ones; /ɦ/ is usually realized as [h], /v/ is usually realized as [f], /z/ is usually realized as [s], and /ɣ/ is usually realized as [x].
6. The realization of the /r/ phoneme varies considerably from dialect to dialect. In "standard" Dutch, /r/ is realized as [r]. In many dialects it is realized as the voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] or even as the uvular trill [ʀ].
7. The realization of the /ʋ/ 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 ([β]). Other, mainly Northern Dutch, dialects pronounce it as a labiodental approximant: [ʋ].
8. The lateral /l/ is slightly velarized postvocalically.
9. The "standard" Dutch is more or less that as spoken in Haarlem, not the Amsterdam dialect. Amsterdam dialect is different from standard Dutch in, for example, that /z/ is replaced by [sʲ]

Dutch Consonants with Example Words

Symbol	Example
IPA	IPA	orthography	Gloss
p	pɛn	pen	'pen'
b	bit	biet	'beetroot'
t	tɑk	tak	'branch'
d	dɑk	dak	'roof'
k	kɑt	kat	'cat'
g	ɡol	goal	'goal' (sports)
m	mɛns	mens	'human being'
n	nɛk	nek	'neck'
ŋ	ɛŋ	eng	'scary'
f	fits	fiets	'bicycle'
v	ovən¹	oven	'oven'
s	sɔk	sok	'sock'
z	zep	zeep	'soap'
ʃ	ʃɛf	chef	'boss, chief'
ʒ	ʒyʁi	jury	'jury'
x	ɑxt	acht	'eight'
ɣ	ɣaːn	gaan	'to go'
r	rɑt	rat	'rat'
ɦ	ɦut	hoed	'hat'
ʋ	ʋɑŋ	wang	'cheek'
j	jɑs	jas	'coat'
l	lɑnt	land	'land / country'
ʔ	bəʔamən¹	beamen	'to confirm'

1. Often the final 'n' is not pronounced.

Dutch language devoices all obstruents at the ends of words (e.g. a final /d/ becomes [t]), 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 [baːrt], has plural baarden [baːrdən] and singular rib (rib), pronounced as [rɪp], has plural ribben [rɪbən].

Because of assimilation, often the initial consonant of the next word is usually also devoiced, e.g. het vee (the cattle) is /(h)ətfe/.

In some regions (Amsterdam, Friesland) have almost completely lost the voiced fricatives /v/, /z/ and /ɣ/. Further south these phonemes are certainly present in the middle of a word. Compare e.g. logen and loochen /loɣən/ vs. /loxən/. 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 - compare

• German machen /-x-/ Dutch maken, English make
• German Pfanne /p͡f-/, Dutch pan, English pan
• German zwei /t͡s-/, Dutch twee, English two

Dutch underwent a few changes of its own. For example, words with -old or -olt lost the /l/ in favor of a diphthong as a result of l-vocalization. Compare English old, German alt, Dutch oud.

Proto-Germanic */uː/ turned into /y/ through palatalization, which, in turn, became the diphthong /œy/, spelled . Long */iː/ also diphthongized to /ɛi/, spelled .

See also

• Dutch orthography

References

Bibliography