LL-L "Orthography" 2008.12.25 (01) [E]

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From: Diederik Masure <didimasure at hotmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2008.12.24 (02) [E]

In 1946 the Spelling Commission for the Dutch language abolished the
distinction between e.ee and o/oo in open syllables as in *regen/deelen,
mogen/hooge.* But it failed, for obscure reasons, to do away with similar
distinctions between *rijk/reis, gauw/*gouw with homonynous diphthongs.

Regards,

Roger Hondshoven

RE: well, for me they are two completely different sounds;) and I suppose
half of the other speakers of Dutch dialects here still distinguish between
e/ee and o/oo as well.

(but of course the spoken standard doesnt, that's true - but older
Antwerpian people will still stretch out the second one a bit longer even
when (trying to) talk "properly"!)

And ei/ij, ou/au etc. are indeed only distinguished between in a few
unsignificant village dialects, but when it comes to the original point of
the discussion this is no problem, as learners/people using dictionaries or
reference works still without any exception can deduct the pronunciation.
Only native speakers have problems here. I think in 95% of the vocabulary,
you can be certain of the pronunciation if you know how the Dutch pronounce
these certain letters. Only combinations where one grapheme can represent
two sounds without any way of knowing which of them is in English/French
loan words, mainly in cases like ou (as in douche), or ch.

If anyone can give me more than 10 Dutch words not borrowed with weird
foreign spellings where the spelling does not tell how to pronounce the
word, I'll reconsider my words.

Diederik

•

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