Dutch phonology

Dutch phonology is similar to that of other West Germanic languages.

Consonants

The following table shows the consonant phonemes of Dutch:

		Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Dorsal	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	c	k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ~ɕ	x	h
	voiced	v	z	ʒ~ʑ	ɣ	ɦ
Approximant	central	ʋ	ɹ	j	ɰ
	lateral		l	ʎ	ʟ
Trill		ʙ	r

Vowels

Dutch has an extensive vowel inventory consisting of thirteen plain vowels and at least three diphthongs. Vowels can be grouped as front unrounded, front rounded, central and back. They are also traditionally distinguished by length or tenseness. The vowels /eː, øː, oː/ are included in one of the diphthong charts further below because Northern SD realizes them as diphthongs, but they behave phonologically like the other long monophthongs.

Monophthongs

Native   Front Central Back unrounded rounded unr. rnd. unrounded rounded lax tense lax tense lax tense lax tense Close ɪ i ʏ y ɨ ʉ ʊ u Mid short ɛ e œ ø ə ɵ ʌ ɤ ɔ o long ɛː eː œː øː əː ɵː ʌː ɤː ɔː oː Open short æ ɑ a ɒ ɶ long æː ɑː aː ɒː ɶː

Non-native Front Back unrounded rounded Close iː yː uː Mid ɛ̃ː œ̃ː ɔ̃ː Open ɑ̃ː

External links

• Dutch phonology