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The obstruents: the plosives
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This section deals with the distribution of the voiced and voiceless plosives, which is almost symmetrical.

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The obstruents divide into plosives and fricatives, both of which come in a voiced and a voiceless series. The voiced and voiceless plosives have distinctive value, as shown by the examples in the table below:

Table 1
pear /pɪər/ pairbear /bɪər/ bear
plom /plom/ plume - blom /blom/ flower
prûk /pruk/ wig - brûk(e) /bruk/ to use
sip /sɪp/ glum, sour - sib /sɪb/ related
drippel /drɪpəl/ drop(let) - dribbel /drɪbəl/ in: op'e – wêze be on a spree, be on a loose
toer /tuər/ tower - doer /duər/ duration
tril(je) /trɪl/ to tremble - dril /drɪl/ jelly
graat /ɡra:t/ (fish) bone - graad /ɡra:d/ degree
akkoart /akoət/ agreement - akkoard /akoəd/ chord
liter /litər/ litre - lider /lidər/ in: de – wêze be the victim, be left holding the baby
kear /kɪər/ time; turn - gear /ɡɪər/ done, cooked
klei /klaj/ claw (hoofed animals) - glei /ɡlaju/ inflamed, fiery
krom /krom/ bent, crooked - grom /ɡrom/ coffee grounds; fishguts
The plosives have an almost symmetrical distribution, i.e., the voiced and voiceless ones occur in word-initial, word-medial, and word-final position. Though there are not many words ending in the bilabial voiced plosive /b/, the latter is not excluded in word-final position. This is different for the voiced velar plosive /ɡ/, which only occurs in word-initial position and at the beginning of a word-medial stressed syllable; as such it is exceptional among the plosives.
extra

The symmetrical distribution between the voiceless and voiced plosives pertains to the underlying level (see the table above). Due to Final Devoicing (see final devoicing), the voiced plosives in word-final position end up as voiceless in actual realization. This means that the phonological distinction is neutralized.

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