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The nasal /n/

quickinfo

Features

A possible feature specification of /n/ is +sonorant, -labial, +coronal, -velar, +nasal.

Phonotactic behaviour

/n/ can occur in onset clusters of one or two consonants, such as in 1a, 1b and 1c, respectively. Furthermore, it can occur in simple codas like in 2a and in complex codas, such as in 2b and 2c. Exceptionally, /n/ can occur in clusters after a long vowel, like in 2d.

Onset

neem

take

snel

quick

knaap

guy

Coda

been

leg

hand

kern

core

hoorn

horn

/n/-deletion

After schwa, /n/ can be deleted optionally (but rather pervasively) in the standard language; e.g. [lopə] and [lopən] count as equally acceptable pronunciations for the verb lopen to walk. In some varieties, it can also be inserted loopte ie [lopteniː] walked he.

Sensitivity to place assimilation

/n/ tends to assimilate in place to a following consonant. The strength of this tendency depends on the morphosyntactic ‘distance’ of the following consonant. If /n/ is part of a level I prefix, assimilation is obligatory (*impopulair impopular), if it is part of a level II prefix or an independent stem, it is optional, as the examples under 3 show. Across word boundaries, the assimilation also occurs, but less regularly (see below under 4 and 5 and topic about processes in Casual Speech).

inparkeren

[np]

[mp]

arkeren

to park

tuinkabouter

tui

[nk]

[ŋ]

abouter

garden gnome

More detail

/n/ displays pharyngealisation when preceded by back vowels (Collins and Mees 2003:196). /n/ frequently undergoes place assimilation when followed by consonants at bilabial, labiodental, palatal or velar place of assimilation. The overlap between the place of articulation of the consonant and the nasal may be partial or complete. Examples of such cases are given in 4.

in Parijs

[mp]

in Paris

in Frankrijk

[ɱf]

in France

in Japan

[ɳj]

in Japan

in Canada

[ŋk]

in Canada

/n/ is frequently elided in casual or rapid speech. The elision may be partial, for instance by leaving a trace of nasalisation on a preceding vowel, or complete (Collins and Mees 2003:196).

kan je

[k̃ɑjə]

can you

kunnen

[ˈkʏnə]

can

Articulatory information
Acoustic properties of /n/
Examples

[+]Articulatory information

Dutch /n/ is a voicedalveolarnasal. It is subject to some degree of variation, largely because of phonological processes such as assimilation and deletion.

Alveolar

Speech sounds produced at alveolarplace of articulation, between dental and palatal. See the human speech organs.

Nasal

Speech sounds produced with a simultaneous oral closure and a lowered velum, allowing air to escape through the nose. See the the human speech organs.

Figure 1: The human speech organs

[click image to enlarge]

[+]Acoustic properties of /n/

Dutch /n/ is a voiced alveolar nasal.

Alveolar

in obstruents, noise or noise bursts characterised by a spectral peak around 1800 Hz, with formant transitions into vowels coming from around that region
in nasals, indicated by the presence of a spectral peak around 500 Hz and a spectral valley around 1 kHz.

Nasal

consonant involving low-amplitude, vowel-like periodicity. Typically characterised on a spectrogram by the presence of antiformants (spectral valleys).

[+]Examples

Table 1: Soundfiles, waveforms and spectrograms of the above sound files, with indications of the relevant acoustic parameters of Northern Standard Dutch /n/

wordgroup	phonological context	sound	waveform/spectrogramme
nu gauw naar binnen now soon inside	word-initial		[click image to enlarge]
verder kunnen lezen can read further	intervocalic		[click image to enlarge]

Table 2: Soundfiles, waveforms and spectrograms of the above sound files, with indications of the relevant acoustic parameters of Southern Standard Dutch /n/

wordgroup	phonological context	sound	waveform/spectrogramme
en nu ligt Anna alleen in Transit and now Anna lies alone in Transit	word-initial		[click image to enlarge]
we kunnen hier niet langer in de bergen blijven we cannot stay longer here in the mountains	intervocalic		[click image to enlarge]