/ instituut voor de Nederlandse taal / Taalportaal
bibliography glossary about
  • Dutch
  • Frisian
  • Saterfrisian
  • Afrikaans
Show all
    The single consonants of Frisian
    quickinfo

    Frisian has the following consonants: m, b, v, p, f, n, l, r, d, t, z, s, ŋ, ɡ, ɣ, k, x, ʔ, h.

    The consonants can be classified along the following traditional dimensions:

    1. Manner features
      • Sonority: sonorant (specified as +son) vs. obstruent (specified as -son);
      • Voice: voiced (specified as +voice) vs. voiceless (specified as -voice);
      • Degree of closure/obstruction: plosive (specified as -cont) vs. fricative (specified as +cont);
    2. Place features Place of closure/obstruction:
      1. labial (including labiodental)
      2. coronal (dental-alveolar)
      3. dorsal (velar)
      4. glottal (laryngeal)

    This leads to the following classification:

    1. Along the dimension of Sonority:
      Table 1
      1. Sonorants: i. liquids: l,r

      ii. nasals: m, n, ŋ

      2. Obstruents: h, ʔ, b, p, d, t, ɡ, k, v, f, z, s, ɣ, x

    2. Along the dimension of Voice:
      Table 2
      1. Voiced: b, v, d, z, ɡ, ɣ

      2. Voiceless: p, f, t, s, k, x

    3. Along the dimension of the Degree of closure:
      Table 3

      1. Plosives: i. oral: b, p, d, t, ɡ, k

      ii. nasal: m, n, ŋ

      2. Fricatives: v, f, z, s, ɣ, x

    4. Along the dimension of the Place of closure/obstruction:
      Table 4

      1. labial consonants: m, b, v, p, f

      2. coronal consonants: n, l, r, d, t, z, s

      3. dorsal consonants: ŋ, ɡ, ɣ, k, x

      4. glottal consonants: ʔ, h

    The subsets which result from the classification all play a role, either in (morpho)phonological patterns and processes, language change or dialectal divisions.

    readmore

    More details about the single consonants of Frisian can be found in the following topics:

    References
      About this article
      Author(s): Willem Visser
      Category: Frisian Phonology
      Keywords: consonantmanner featuresplace features
      Version: 1.0, December 2015
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Willem Visser December 2015
      printreport errorcite
      Jump to:
      X