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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, /z/ is replaced by [sʲ].^[1]

Vowels

Dutch has an extensive vowel inventory consisting of 13 plain vowels and four diphthongs. The vowels /eː/, /øː/ and /oː/ are included in the diphthong chart below because many northern dialects realize them as diphthongs, though they behave phonologically like the other simple vowels. When they precede /r/, these vowels are pronounced [ɪː], [ʏː] and [ɔː] respectively. [ɐ] (a near-open central vowel) is an allophone of unstressed /a/ and /ɑ/.

Monophthongs of Netherlandic Dutch. from Gussenhoven (1992:47)

Diphthongs of Netherlandic Dutch. from Gussenhoven (1992:47)

Dutch Vowels with Example Words

Symbol	Example
Vowel	IPA	orthography	Gloss
ɪ	kɪp (help·info)	kip	'chicken'
i	bit (help·info)	biet	'beetroot'
ʏ	ɦʏt (help·info)	hut	'cabin'
yː	fyːt (help·info)	fuut	'grebe'
ɛ	bɛt (help·info)	bed	'bed'
eɪ, eː1	beɪt (help·info) beːt (help·info)	beet	'bite'
ə	də (help·info)	de	'the'
øʏ, øː 1	nøʏs (help·info) nøːs (help·info)	neus	'nose'
ɑ	bɑt (help·info)	bad	'bath'
aː	baːt (help·info)	baad	'bathe'
ɔ	bɔt (help·info)	bot	'bone'
oʊ, oː1	boʊt (help·info) boːt (help·info)	boot	'boat'
u	ɦut (help·info)	hoed	'hat'
ɛi	bɛit (help·info), ɛi (help·info)	bijt, ei	'bite', 'egg'
œy	bœyt (help·info)	buit	'booty'
ʌu, ɔu 2	fʌut (help·info), nʌu (help·info) fɔut (help·info), nɔu (help·info)	fout, nauw	'mistake', 'narrow'

1. Pronounced as long vowels in Belgium, but as narrow closing diphthongs in the Netherlands. The transcription /eɪ øʏ oʊ/ for this diphthongal pronunciation is non-standard and used here for the sake of clarity.
2. Pronounced /ʌu/ in Northern Standard Dutch and /ɔu/ in Standard Belgian Dutch.^[2]

Consonants

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 <ch> is a voiceless velar fricative [x] in Northern Dutch and a voiceless palatal fricative [ç] in Southern Dutch, including all of Dutch-speaking Belgium.^[3] In the North /ɣ/ is usually realized as [x] or [χ], whereas in the South the distinction between /ʝ/ and /ç/ has been preserved.
5. In some northern 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].
6. The realization of the /r/ phoneme varies considerably from dialect to dialect. In "standard" Dutch, /r/ is realized as the alveolar trill [r]. In some dialects it is realized as the alveolar tap [ɾ], the voiced uvular fricative [ʁ], the uvular trill [ʀ], or even as the alveolar approximant [ɹ].
7. The realization of the /ʋ/ phoneme varies considerably from the Northern to the Southern and Belgium dialects of the Dutch language. In the north of the Netherlands, it is a labiodental approximant: [ʋ]. In the south of the Netherlands and in Belgium, it is pronounced as a bilabial approximant ([β̞])^[4] (so in the Hasselt and Maastricht dialects ^[5][6]), and Standard Belgian Dutch uses the voiced labiovelar approximant [w]^{[citation needed]}.
8. The lateral /l/ is velarized postvocalically (and may even be vocalized by certain speakers).^[2][4]

Dutch Consonants with Example Words

Symbol	Example
IPA	IPA	orthography	Gloss
p	pɛn (help·info)	pen	'pen'
b	bit (help·info)	biet	'beetroot'
t	tɑk (help·info)	tak	'branch'
d	dɑk (help·info)	dak	'roof'
k	kɑt (help·info)	kat	'cat'
ɡ	ɡoːl (help·info)	goal	'goal' (sports)
m	mɛns (help·info)	mens	'human being'
n	nɛk (help·info)	nek	'neck'
ŋ	ɛŋ (help·info)	eng	'scary'
f	fits (help·info)	fiets	'bicycle'
v	oːvən (help·info)¹	oven	'oven'
s	sɔk (help·info)	sok	'sock'
z	zeːp (help·info)	zeep	'soap'
ʃ	ʃɛf (help·info)	chef	'boss, chief'
ʒ	ʒyːri (help·info)	jury	'jury'
x	ɑxt (help·info)	acht	'eight'
ç	ɑçt (help·info)	acht	'eight'
ɣ	ɣaːn (help·info)	gaan	'to go'
ʝ	ʝaːn (help·info)	gaan	'to go'
r	rɑt (help·info)	rat	'rat'
ɦ	ɦut (help·info)	hoed	'hat'
ʋ	ʋɑŋ (help·info)	wang	'cheek'
w	wɑŋ (help·info)	wang	'cheek'
j	jɑs (help·info)	jas	'coat'
l	lɑnt (help·info)	land	'land / country'
ʔ	bəʔaːmən (help·info)¹	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]). This is partly reflected in the spelling, the voiced "z" in plural huizen (help·info) becomes huis (help·info) ('house') in singular. And duiven (help·info) becomes duif (help·info) ('dove'). The other cases, are always written with the voiced consonant, although a devoiced one is actually pronounced, e.g. the voiced "d" in plural baarden ( [baːrdən] (help·info)) is retained in singular spelling baard ('beard'), but pronounced as [baːrt] (help·info), and plural ribben ( [rɪbən] (help·info)) has singular rib ('rib'), pronounced as [rɪp] (help·info).

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

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 [loːɣən] vs. [loːxən]. In the South (i.e. Zeeland, Brabant and Limburg) and in Flanders the contrast is even greater because the <g> is palatal. ('soft g'): [loːʝən] (help·info) vs. [loːçən] (help·info).

The final 'n' of the plural ending -en is usually 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 (East and 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.^{[7] [8]} For example vóórkomen (to occur — listen (help·info)) and voorkómen (to prevent — listen (help·info)). In composite words, secondary stress is often present. Marking the stress in written Dutch is optional, never obligatory, but sometimes recommended. The most common practice is to distinguish een (indefinite article) from één (the cardinal number one).

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 (help·info) (street). There are words that end in four consonants - e.g. herfst (help·info) (autumn), ergst (help·info) (worst), interessantst (help·info) (most interesting), sterkst (help·info) (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

• /-k-/ > /-x-/: German machen vs. Dutch maken (help·info), English make
• /-p-/ > /-f-/: German Schaf vs. Dutch schaap (help·info), English sheep
• /-t-/ > /-s-/: German Wasser vs. Dutch water (help·info), English water
• /-θ-/ > /-d-/: German das, Dutch dat (help·info) vs. English that

Dutch generalised the fricative variety of Proto-Germanic */ɡ/ as [ɣ] or [ʝ], in contrast with German which generalised the plosive [ɡ], 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 /l/ in favor of a diphthong as a result of l-vocalization. Compare English old, German alt, Dutch oud (help·info).
• /ft/ changed to /xt/ (North) or /çt/ (South), spelled <cht>, but this was later reverted in many words by analogy with other forms. Compare English loft, German Luft, Dutch lucht (pronounced [lʏxt] (help·info) or [lʏçt] (help·info)).
• Proto-Germanic */uː/ turned into /yː/ through palatalization, which, in turn, became the diphthong /œy/ (help·info), spelled <ui>. Long */iː/ also diphthongized to /ɛi/ (help·info), spelled <ij>.

See also

• Dutch orthography
• Hard and soft G in Dutch

References

Bibliography

• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (2): 45–47 
• Gussenhoven, Carlos; Aarts, Flor (1999), "The dialect of Maastricht", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 29: 155–166 
• Peters, Jörg (2006), "The dialect of Hasselt", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (1): 117–124, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002428 
• Verhoeven, Jo (2005), "Belgian Standard Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 35 (2): 243–247, doi:10.1017/S0025100305002173 
• Verhoeven, Jo (2007), "The Belgian Limburg dialect of Hamont", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37 (2): 219–225, doi:10.1017/S0025100307002940