The comparative Phonetics of Dutch and its Dialects

Abstract

Abstract The literature on Dutch phonetics reveals a controversy about certain vowels and consonants. Dictionaries typically do not give phonetics, or if they do, it is not standard IPA, but Dutch-IPA, a personal, or local symbolism. In addition, transcriptions differ. The effect is that the researcher must use questionable symbols and descriptions, and that the language teacher and learner are not provided with a reliable or accessible resource for pronunciation. These difficulties are met here by the attempt to give more careful descriptions of articulations, and consonants. Terms for articulation are standardized, and an extended IPA vowel chart is given to provide a better descriptive analysis than is presently available. A system is presented for the consistent and precise location of vowels. This extended IPA system is used as the basis of phonetic description, analysis and comparison. Emphasis is on the specific case or paradigm method of the philosophy of science so that numerous examples must of necessity be given. This contrasts with the usual article on phonology which provides the fewest number of examples required to support a general or universal hypothesis. This is one of the important differences between phonetics and phonology. These examples provide data for phonology, further research, comparative and contrastive phonetics, as well as to aid the language teacher or learner. In addition, a phonetic comparison is given between Dutch and the Germanic languages.