Hard and soft G in Dutch

rdf:langString Hard and soft G in Dutch

rdf:langString Hard and soft G in Dutch (Dutch: harde en zachte G) refers to a phonetic phenomenon of the pronunciation of the letters ⟨g⟩ and ⟨ch⟩ and also a major isogloss within that language. In southern dialects of Dutch (that is, those spoken roughly below the rivers Rhine, Meuse and Waal), the distinction between the phonemes /x/ and /ɣ/ is usual, with both realized as cardinal velars [x, ɣ] or post-palatal [ç˗, ʝ˗], hereafter represented without the diacritics. The allophony between those two types of fricatives is termed soft G in Dutch dialectology. It is almost the same as the distinction between the Ach-Laut and the Ich-Laut in German, with an additional contrast of voicing. In northern dialects of Dutch, the distinction (if present at all) is not consistent and is best described as a fortis–lenis contrast, rather than a contrast of voicing. In those varieties, /x/ and /ɣ/ are no more front than cardinal velars. In addition, /x/ is usually a post-velar fricative with a simultaneous voiceless uvular trill: [x̠͡ʀ̥]. /ɣ/, if distinct from /x/, is pronounced as a somewhat lengthened voiceless cardinal velar [xˑ], but it usually falls together with /x/ as [x̠͡ʀ̥], especially word-initially. This is termed hard G in Dutch dialectology. It is also used in Afrikaans, so that the Afrikaans word goed 'good' has the same pronunciation as in Northern Dutch, in addition to having the same meaning in both languages. Speakers normally use those pronunciations in both standard language and the local dialect. The only exception to that are speakers from the southern Netherlands that have undergone accent reduction training, in which case they will use a trill fricative when speaking standard Dutch. It is very rare for speakers to use the hard G when speaking Brabantian or Limburgish. In Ripuarian, the voiced /ɣ/ has been so fronted as to merge with the palatal approximant /j/ (except after back vowels); cf. Standard Dutch goed 'good' with jód in the Kerkrade dialect. Those dialects are also an exception to the rule, as they switch over to the respective standard pronunciation when speaking Standard Dutch (in which case [ɣ ~ ʝ] is used) or, on the other side of the border (e.g. in Herzogenrath, where the Kerkrade dialect is also spoken), Standard German (in which case [ɡ] is used). The pronunciation with /j/ is marked in both the Netherlands and Germany (where it is commonly associated with the Colognian dialect, which is another variety of Ripuarian).