↑ 1.01.11.21.31.41.5Generally, the southern varieties preserve the /f/–/v/, /x/–/ɣ/ and /s/–/z/ contrasts.[1][2] Southern /x/, /ɣ/ may be also somewhat more front, i.e. post-palatal.[2] In the north, these are far less stable: most speakers merge /x/ and /ɣ/ into a post-velar [x̠] or uvular [χ];[1][2] most Netherlandic Standard Dutch speakers lack a consistent /f/–/v/ contrast.[2] In some accents, e.g. Amsterdam, /s/ and /z/ are also not distinguished.[2]/ʒ/ often joins this neutralization by merging with /ʃ/. In some accents, /ɦ/ is also devoiced to [h]. See also Hard and soft G in Dutch.
↑ 2.02.12.2Dutch 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 ('houses') becomes huis ('house') in singular, and duiven ('doves') becomes duif ('dove'). The other cases are always written with the voiced consonant, even though a devoiced one is actually pronounced: the voiced ‹d› in plural baarden[ˈbaːrdə(n)] ('beards') is retained in the singular spelling baard ('beard'), but pronounced as [baːrt]; and plural ribben[ˈrɪbə(n)] ('ribs') has singular rib, pronounced as [rɪp]. Because of assimilation, often the initial consonant of the next word is also devoiced, e.g. het vee ('the cattle') is [ɦətˈfeː]
↑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], or even a voiced labiodental fricative[v]. In the south of the Netherlands and in Belgium, it is pronounced as a bilabial approximant[β̞] (as it also is in the Hasselt and Maastricht dialects), and Standard Surinamese Dutch uses the labiovelar approximant[w].
↑ 5.05.15.25.35.4The alveolo-palatal stops [c] and [ɟ], the fricatives [ʃ] and [ʒ], and the nasal[ɲ] are allophones of the sequences /tj/, /dj/, /sj/, /zj/ and /nj/. [ɟ] and [ʒ] occur only in loanwords. [ɲ] also occurs as an allophone of /n/ before /tj/ (realized as [c]).
↑/ɡ/ is not a native phoneme of Dutch and only occurs in loanwords, like goal or when /k/ is voiced, like in zakdoek[ˈzɑɡduk].
↑The glottal stop[ʔ] is indicated sparingly in Dutch transcriptions on Wikipedia: it is mandatorily inserted between [aː] and [ə] and a syllable-initial vowel, both within words and at word boundaries. Often, it is also inserted before phrase-initial vowels and before any word-initial vowel. This is not indicated in most of our transcriptions.
↑After the schwa, the final /n/ is frequently elided, so that maken is often pronounced [ˈmaːkə], especially in non-prevocalic environments. The nasal may be retained before vowels, yielding a linking /n/. An intrusive /n/ may also occur, as in the phrase red je 't?[ˈrɛcənət]. In stems ending in /ən/ (such as teken[ˈteːkən] 'I draw') and in the indefinite article een/ən/ the nasal is always retained, except when it is degeminated, but when an additional /ən/ is added to the stem (yielding the infinitive form or the present tense plural form), it behaves regularly, as in tekenen[ˈteːkənə(n)] 'to draw' or 'we/you/they draw'. Furthermore, an epenthetic schwa can be inserted between /l/ or /r/ and /m,p,k,f,x/ (in the case of /r/ alone also /n/) within the same morpheme. This is found in all types of Dutch, standard or otherwise. However, in Standard Dutch, it is limited to non-prevocalic clusters. In dialects, it can be generalized to all environments and it can also apply to the sequence /rɣ/, so that morgen 'morning', pronounced [ˈmɔrɣə(n)] in Standard Dutch, is pronounced [ˈmɔrəɣə(n)].[3]
↑ 9.09.1The "checked" vowels /ɑ/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ɔ/, and /ʏ/ occur only in closed syllables, while their "free" counterparts /aː/, /eː/, /i/, /oː/, and /y/ can occur in open syllables (as can the other vowels).
↑ 10.010.110.2For most speakers of Netherlandic Standard Dutch, the long close-mid vowels /eː/, /øː/ and /oː/ are realised as slightly closing diphthongs [eɪ], [øʏ] and [oʊ], unless they precede /r/ within the same syllable.[4][5] The closing diphthongs also appear in certain Belgian dialects, e.g. the one of Bruges, but not in Belgian Standard Dutch. See Dutch phonology#Monophthongs for more details.
Gussenhoven, Carlos (1999), "Dutch", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, pp. 74–77, ISBN0-521-65236-7
