USAGE: Dutch pronunciation

On Fri, 13 Oct 2000, Lars Henrik Mathiesen wrote:

> You mean there is a /v/ phoneme in Dutch? And here I've always thought
> that Dutch <v> was just a spelling of /f/ like in German.
In some dialects there is, especially in the south: we have a
learn-to-read CD that causes the kids to dissolve in giggles every
time the fish is shown ("vis") and the teacher voice spells out
[v][i][s] [vis]. Most people where we live (the mid-east) and where
we used to live (the mid-west) pronounce /v/ a little less tense than
/f/.

> (Of course the Germans spell their /v/ as <w>, but I also thought I
> knew that <w> is /w/ in Dutch. Probably wrong as well, though).
Right; not like English "w", though, but a lax labiodental.

> (We have a Dutch librarian at work, and I tried to show off the other
> day and pronounce the name of Aard van Wijngaarden to her. /Ard fan
> w@jnGArde/, right? But I missed deleting the final <n>).
Close: I'd say [art fan 'wEjnxard@]. <aa> always spells [a]; <a>
spells [A] in closed syllables and [a] in open syllables. Final
consonants are devoiced, and even if you speak a dialect that doesn't
devoice [v] it's assimilated to the preceding voiceless consonant.
Standard Dutch has no [G], though some southern dialects do.

   Irina

--
           Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
irina@valdyas.org (myself)     http://www.valdyas.org/irina/valdyas