Hard and soft G in Dutch

In the Dutch language, hard and soft G (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.

The pronunciation of "gezellig" with a soft and hard G

In southern dialects of Dutch (that is, those spoken roughly below the rivers Rhine, Meuse and Waal),^[1] 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.^[2][3]

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, with /x/ usually being uvular: [χ]. /ɣ/, if distinct from /x/, is typically a voiceless velar fricative [x]. This is termed hard G in Dutch dialectology.^[2][3] It is also used in Afrikaans, so that the Afrikaans word goed 'good' has the same pronunciation as in Northern Dutch ([χut]), in addition to having the same meaning in both languages.^[4]

Pronunciation

Southern

In Southern Dutch, the phonemes /x/ and /ɣ/ are either cardinal velars [x, ɣ] or post-palatal [ç̠, ʝ̠].^[2][3] More specifically, post-palatals occur in contact with phonemic front vowels and /ə/, whereas the cardinal velars occur in contact with phonemic back vowels (including /aː/ and /ɑ/).^[5][6] The phonemes usually contrast by voicing, but /ɣ/ can be devoiced to a lenis [ɣ̊ ~ ʝ̊] that differs from /x/ in a less energetic articulation. Verhoeven and Hageman^[7] have found that 70% of word-initial and 56% of intervocalic lenis fricatives (which includes /v/ and /z/) are realized as fully voiceless in Belgium. In Maastrichtian Limburgish, initial /ɣ/ is often partially devoiced as well.^[8]

In many cases, [j] still patterns as an obstruent, an allophone of /ɣ/ in Ripuarian. The plural form zeëje [ˈzeəjə]^[tone?] 'saws' has an underlying /ɣ/: /ˈzeəɣə/^[tone?] because it alternates with a voiceless fricative in the root zeëg [ˈzeəç]^[tone?] 'saw', phonemically /ˈzeəɣ/.^[tone?] Compare this with the alternation in vroag [ˈvʁoəχ]^[tone?] 'question' - vroage [ˈvʁoəʁə]^[tone?] 'questions' (phonemically /ˈvroəɣ/,^[tone?] /ˈvroəɣə/)^[tone?] or with the plural-singular pair löcher [ˈlœçəʁ] - laoch [ˈlɔːχ],^[tone?] which has underlying voiceless fricatives: /ˈlœxər/, /ˈlɔːx/.^[tone?] The /j/ phoneme is a sonorant and thus cannot participate in alternations like the first two. Furthermore, Ripuarian features a different pronunciation of /x/ and /ɣ/ after back vowels, as uvular [χ, ʁ], not dissimilar from the Northern Dutch pronunciation in the first case. The realization of /ɣ/ as [ʁ] results in a phonetic merger with /r/ and is thus an example of rhotacism. The consonants surrounding the diphthong in vroage /ˈvroəɣə/^[tone?] are indistinguishable from each other: [ˈvʁoəʁə]).^[tone?] This is a typical feature of Ripuarian. This merger is also not phonemic as /r/ too is a sonorant and thus cannot participate in alternations such as [ˈvʁoəχ]^[tone?] - [ˈvʁoəʁə]^[tone?] mentioned above.^[9][10]

Northern

In Northern Dutch, /ɣ/ appears immediately before voiced consonants and sometimes also between vowels, but not in the word-initial position. In the latter case, the sound is not voiced and differs from /x/ in length (/ɣ/ is longer) and in that it is produced a little bit further front (mediovelar, rather than postvelar) and lacks any trilling, so that vlaggen /ˈvlɑɣən/ 'flags' has a somewhat lengthened, plain voiceless velar [xˑ] (hereafter represented with ⟨ɣ̊⟩): [ˈvlɑ.ɣ̊ə(n)]^ⓘ, whereas lachen /ˈlɑxən/ 'to laugh' features a shorter, post-velar fricative with a simultaneous voiceless uvular trill, transcribed with ⟨x̠͡ʀ̥⟩ or ⟨ʀ̝̊˖⟩ in narrow IPA but normally written with ⟨χ⟩ or ⟨x⟩. In this article, ⟨χ⟩ is used ([ˈlɑ.χə(n)]^ⓘ), even though the fricative portion is usually more front than cardinal uvulars.^[2][3][11] In Northern Dutch, the contrast between /x/ and /ɣ/ is unstable, and vlaggen is more likely to feature [χ]: [ˈvlɑχə(n)].^[2][3] Apart from Ripuarian, the voiceless trill fricative [ʀ̝̊] appears in very different contexts in Southern Dutch, being an allophone of /r/.^[12]

See also

• Dutch phonology
• Afrikaans phonology