Dutch. A linguistic history of Holland and Belgium

[p. 185]

Glossary

The following definitions, which could have been more detailed in some instances, relate to how the terms are used in this book.

Ablaut:	(German term) regular system of alternation of vowels in the same consonantal environment; the alternation denotes a distinction in meaning e.g. sing/sang/sung/song.
ABN:	abbreviation of Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands (General Cultivated Dutch) - see p. 17).
affricate:	a stop (see stop) plus movement into the corresponding fricative (see fricative) position e.g. ts, pf, kch.
allograph:	see grapheme.
allophone:	see phoneme.
analogical change:	the occasional and unpredictable tendency of a word or form to be pulled out of its natural orbit of development by the attraction of another word or form with which it has a real or fancied resemblance.
Anlaut, Auslaut, Inlaut:	(German terms) at the beginning, at the end and in the middle of a word respectively.
apocope:	the loss of a final vowel e.g. MNL ic neme > NNL ik neem.
aspiration:	the addition of a perceptible breath, or h-sound, after a stop or plosive e.g. Eng. p^hot, t^hop.
Auslaut:	see Anlaut.
Auslautsverschärfung:	(lit. final sharpening - a German term) the devoicing of voiced stops and fricatives at the end of a word, common to Dutch and German but foreign to English e.g. leven-leef.
back vowel:	a vowel which is articulated in the back of the mouth - see chart on p. 132.
beschaafd:	(lit. civilised, cultured) standard, non-low class.
checked vowel:	see p. 46.
closed syllable:	a syllable ending in a consonant e.g. zet-ten - see open syllable.
cognate (form):	words in two or more languages from the same original source e.g. Eng. beam/Dutch boom, as distinct from a loan word e.g. Eng. boom (< Dutch boom).
compensatory lengthening:	the lengthening of a short vowel to compensate for the loss of a following nasal in the combination short vowel + n + fricative e.g. Dutch mond - Eng. mouth.
compound grapheme:	see grapheme.
cultuurtaal:	(lit. language of culture) standard language, R.P.
diphthong:	a sound made by gliding continuously from the position for one vowel to that for another.
diphthongisation:	see p. 131.
Ersatzdehung:	(German term) - see compensatory lengthening.
etymology:	that branch of linguistics which deals with the origin and history of words.

[p. 186]

fricative:	a consonant produced by friction caused by the air moving through a narrow passage somewhere in the mouth e.g. f, s, th, v, z.
front vowel:	a vowel whose point of articulation is in the front of the mouth - see chart on p. 132.
fronting:	bringing a sound, whether vowel or consonant, from the back to the front of the mouth.
gemination:	doubling or prolonging of a sound, especially consonants, usually indicated by a double letter in writing.
grapheme:	the smallest unit of writing that distinguishes one meaning from another; compound grapheme - a group of two or more letters representing a single sound; allograph - a positional or other variant of a written symbol or grapheme.
gutteral:	see velar.
Ingwaeonism:	see p. 128.
Inlaut:	see Anlaut.
isogloss:	a line on a map marking the boundaries within which a given linguistic phenomenon is to be found.
methathesis:	a sporadic sound change whereby there is a transposition of the order of sounds within a word.
monophthong:	a phoneme produced as a single sound.
monophthongisation:	see p. 131.
morphology:	the science and study of the smallest meaningful units of language and of their formation into words - includes inflection and derivation but not syntax.
oblique cases:	a collective term for all declensional cases other than the nominative.
open syllable:	a syllable ending in a vowel e.g. pra-ten - see closed syllable.
palatal sound:	any sound formed by placing the front of the tongue against the hard palate as in front vowels for example.
phoneme:	a minimal unit of distinctive sound; allophone - a positional variant of a phoneme which occurs in a specific environment and does not differentiate meaning e.g. the different k-sounds in cat and kit.
phonetics:	the analysis and classification of speech sounds including how they are produced in the mouth - compare phonology.
phonology:	a description of the sounds of a language and how they function in that language - compare phonetics.
plat:	a non- or sub-standard form, often dialectical in origin.
plosive:	see stop.
Randstad:	(lit. rim city) the collective name given to the following cities in the west of the Netherlands which almost form a circle: Haarlem, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Delft, The Hague, and Leiden. Together they play a dominant role in the economic, political, sociological and linguistic life of the Netherlands.
rhotacism:	the shift from intervocalic voiced s (i.e. [z] to [r]) e.g. kiezen - keuren.
rounding, unrounding:	pronouncing a sound with the lips rounded or unrounded respectively - compare choose (rounded) and cheese (unrounded).
schwa:	(a Hebrew term) the colourless, indistinct, neutral vowel represented by the symbol [ә] e.g. father, enough.
stop:	a consonant that momentarily halts the flow of breath e.g. p, t, k, b, d - also called a plosive.
svarabhakti:	(a Sanscrit term) the insertion of a vowel to break up a troublesome consonant cluster e.g .film [filәm].
syncope:	the loss of a medial sound.
syntax:	the study of word order.
Umlaut:	(a German term) see p. 132.
Umlautsfaktor:	(a German term) the i or j (often weakened to ә or lost altogether)

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	which causes the back vowel in a previous syllable to mutate to a front vowel.
unrounding:	see rounding.
uvular:	a consonant, usually r, produced by contact between the back of the tongue and the uvula.
velar:	a consonant formed by the back of the tongue against the soft palate - also called gutteral.
vocalisation:	the change of a consonant to a semi-vowel or vowel.
voiced:	sounds produced with simultaneous vibration of the vocal cords i.e. all vowels and the following consonants for example b, d, g, v, z; the voiceless or devoiced counterparts of these consonants are p, l, k, f, s.

Note: Several of the definitions in this glossary have been taken (almost) verbatim from M. Pei, ‘Glossary of Linguistic Terminology’, Anchor Books, New York, 1966.