Dutch orthography uses the Latin alphabet according to a system which has evolved to suit the needs of the Dutch language. The regular relationship of graphemes to phonemes is listed in the article on Dutch language. This article will explain the present spelling system, and then trace the development of Dutch spelling as it has evolved from the Middle Ages through to the last two centuries when frequent government decrees sought to improve and simplify the system. The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... Dutch ( ), sometimes referred to as Netherlandic in English, is a Low Germanic language spoken by around 22 million people, mainly in the Netherlands and Belgium (2005 [1]). // History Main article: History of the Dutch language The West Germanic dialects can be divided according to tribe (see Germanic tribes), and according... A grapheme designates the atomic unit in written language. ... In spoken language, a phoneme is a basic, theoretical unit of sound that can distinguish words (i. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ...

Regularity

Dutch orthography has the reputation of being particularly logical. For the foreign learner it is relatively easy as, once one knows the system, one can almost always deduce pronunciation from spelling, if proper names and foreign loan-words are discounted. For Dutch children learning to write, the system is not quite so kind, as the reverse operation, deducing spelling from pronunciation, is more complicated: /k/ can be spelled ‹c› or ‹k› in loan words for example, and ‹ou› and ‹au› sound the same, as well as ‹ij› and ‹ei› in the standard dialect. Critics also complain that even when the system is regular it is occasionally antiquated: the digraph ‹oe› is spelled in this way because it was once a diphthong, but now it is a simple vowel /u/; the combination ‹sch› for /s/ in the ending -isch is also historically conditioned. All in all, among the Western European languages however, Dutch is closer than average to a phonemic spelling. The orthography of a language is the set of symbols (glyphs and diacritics) used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to write these glyphs correctly, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... In phonetics, a diphthong (Greek and ending tongue positions. ...

The present spelling system

The spelling system of the Dutch language is issued by government decree and is compulsory for all government documentation and educational establishments.

Doubled vowels or consonants

Since Dutch has many more vowels than the Latin alphabet, a system has come into use indicating vowels by an intricate system of single and double vowels or consonants. The same letter is used to indicate a pair of vowels that are close to each other in the IPA vowel space. Depending on the particular phonological treatise, the members of each pair are given various names: sharp/dull, clear/dim, free/checked, tense/lax, open/closed, long/short. Although vowel length is generally not phonemic in Dutch, one of each pair is pronounced slightly longer by many speakers, so the naming long/short is traditionally used to explain the orthography system and will be used here as well, even though some of the other indications might be more accurate. The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... In English phonetics and phonology, checked vowels are those that usually must be followed by a consonant in a stressed syllable, while free vowels are those that may stand in a stressed open syllable with no following consonant. ... Tenseness is a term used in phonology to describe a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. ... In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. ...

Some linguists propose to use /ɵ/ instead of /ʏ/ as a more precise rendition for the short u. The length signs ː are somewhat arbitrary as they do not mark a phonemic difference and the actual length varies with stress and the speed of speech.

The spelling rules for a, e, o, u are very regular, apart from e also being used for the neutral schwa sound /ə/ in unstressed syllables, thus giving it three possible interpretations. As the position of the stress in a polysyllabic word is not indicated in the spelling this may lead to some confusion.

The following basic rules are simple:

• A vowel in an open syllable (one ending with the vowel) is long:
  • po ('chamber pot') has a long /oː/
• A vowel in a closed syllable (one ending with a consonant) is short, unless the vowel is doubled to show its length:
  • pot ('pot') has a short /ɔ/
  • poot ('paw') has a long /oː/

More confusing for learners is the additional rule for polysyllabic words:

• The first syllable is open if it is followed by a single consonant, since this consonant belongs to the following syllable. There have to be two consonants for one of them to be closing the first syllable. So:
  • poot has plural poten; the "t" belongs to the second syllable so the syllables divide po-ten. As the first syllable is open, a double "oo" is no longer required to mark the long vowel /oː/.
  • pot has plural potten; the syllables divide pot-ten, so the double "t" indicates the first syllable is now closed and has the short vowel /ɔ/.

Much confusion is caused by the many words that change their vowel in declensions. For example the plural of lot is loten, not lotten as would be regular. So in fact:

• lot to loten keeps the same spelling "o", but changes sound /ɔ/ to /oː/
• poot to poten changes spelling "oo" to "o", but keeps the same sound /oː/

Similarly vat changes vowel to vaten and gebed to gebeden.

pad has two plurals according to the meaning: paden (paths) or padden (toads).

Rules for i are more complicated. In the past the language has indeed had a doubled ii. To avoid confusion with a handwritten u, it became customary to lengthen the second i to a letter j, thus forming ij, initially pronounced (as it still is in some dialects) as a long /iː/. In the standard language the sound shifted to a diphthong /ɛi/. In the modern language a long i is usually written as ie, even in open syllables. In loanwords however, a single i is often used.

When vowels appear in front of an 'r', their value may be affected and length may at times become phonemic in Dutch. Compare e.g:

bord: /bɔrt/

boord: /bɔːrt/

ver: /vɛr/

veer: vɪːr/

The vowels <oe> /u/ and <eu> /ø/ do not possess a long/short version.

The rule about 't kofschip

Weak verbs form their past tenses by addition of a dental, ‹d› or ‹t›. Because final consonants are always devoiced, there is no difference in pronunciation between these in the participle. However, the orthography operates as though this devoicing did not take place.

The rule is that words ending in voiceless consonants take the voiceless -t-, voiced consonants the voiced d. Dutch children are taught the rule 't kofschip is met thee beladen, ("the merchant ship is loaded with tea"), that is, if the verb stem in the infinitive ends with the consonants of 't kofschip (-t, -k, -f, -s, -ch or -p), the past tense dental is a -t-; otherwise it is a -d-.

• werken, ik werkte (to work)
• krabben, ik krabde (to scratch)

The History of Dutch Spelling Reforms

Dutch spelling in the Middle Ages

The Dutch spoken between 1150 and 1500 is referred to as Middle Dutch. During this period there was no standardization of grammar. Authors generally wrote in their own dialects. Very often it is possible tell from the language whether a text comes from Limburg, Brabant or Holland. There was a lot of variation in the spelling. Words were often written as they were pronounced: lant (land), hi vint (he finds). The sound determined the spelling, irrespective of the basic word. This is no longer the case with modern Dutch where land, has a voiceless ‘d’, but is written thus because the infinitive is landen, and hij vindt (he finds) has dt as it is 3rd person singular, thus stem (vind) +t . The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Events Åhus, Sweden gains city privileges City of Airdrie, Scotland founded King Sverker I of Sweden is deposed and succeeded by Eric IX of Sweden. ... 1500 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Linguistically speaking, Middle Dutch is no more than a collective name for closely related languages or dialects which were spoken and written between about 1150 and 1500 in the present-day Dutch-speaking region. ... Capital Maastricht Queens Commissioner L.J.P.M. (Leon) Frissen Religion (1999) Protestant 3% Catholic 80% Area  â€¢ Land  â€¢ Water   2. ... Holland is a region in the central-western part of the Netherlands. ...

From the very start of its written history Dutch used the Latin alphabet. At first there were 23 letters: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, v, x, y, z. It was not until later that the j, u and w were added. The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ...

A problem with the Latin alphabet was that it was not easy to make a distinction between long and short vowels (a - aa). Various solutions were found. At the beginning of the thirteenth century the word jaar (year) was spelt jar but other variants soon appeared: jaer and jair and later jaar or even yaer and iaer. Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ...

Another feature of Middle Dutch is that articles or prepositions were often joined on to the word they belonged to: tjaer (the year) and dlant (the land), as in the accompanying fragment from Karel ende Elegast. The text translates: “I will tell you a marvellous story, and a true one. Listen! One evening Charles was sleeping in Ingelheim on the Rhine. All the land you could see was his.”

There were also regional differences. Thus a clerk in Amsterdam in the fourteenth century would usually write lant, but in Utrecht he would write land. The modern system of double consonants for shortening the vowels was also known: compare tellen (short e) with slapen (long a) in the extract. Amsterdam Location Flag Country Netherlands Province North Holland Population 742,951(1 January 2005) Coordinates Website www. ... (13th century - 14th century - 15th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was that century which lasted from 1301 to 1400. ... Utrecht ( (help· info)) is a municipality and the capital city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. ...

The invention of printing led to a more standardized approach.

The Siegenbeek spelling (1804, the Netherlands)

The first official ruling for the spelling dates from 1804. With the spirit of the French Revolution pervading all areas of thought, attempts were made to unify spelling and grammar. Matthijs Siegenbeek, professor at Leiden was asked in 1801 to draw up a uniform spelling; the priest Petrus Weiland was asked to write a grammar book. A few years later Siegenbeek published his spelling in Verhandeling over de Nederduitsche spelling ter bevordering van de eenparigheid in dezelve (Treatise on Lower Dutch spelling to promote uniformity herein) (1804) and a Woordenboek voor de Nederduitsche spelling (Dictionary for the Lower Dutch Spelling) (1805). The government of the Batavian Republic officially brought in the spelling-Siegenbeek on 18 december 1804. 1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Liberty Leading the People, a painting by Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830 but which has come to be generally accepted as symbolic of French popular uprisings against the monarchy in general and the French Revolution in particular. ... Grammar is the study of rules governing the use of language. ... Leyden redirects here. ... The Union Jack, flag of the newly formed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... Roman Catholic priests in traditional clerical clothing. ... 1805 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... From 1795 to 1806, the Batavian Republic (Bataafse Republiek in Dutch) designated the Netherlands as a republic modelled after the French Republic, to which it was a vassal state. ... 1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Siegenbeek thought that the spelling should reflect refined Dutch pronunciation, taking into account the uniformity, etymology and analogy. From the spelling-Siegenbeek we get the modern Dutch ij (called lange ij (long y) as distinct from ei which has identical pronunciation and is called the korte ei (short ei). The word for iron ijzer used to be written yzer. Other spellings from Siegenbeek include: berigt (modern Dutch: bericht / report), blaauw (blauw / blue, Dingsdag (dinsdag / Tuesday), gooijen (gooien / to throw, magt (maagd / maiden), kagchel (kachel / stove), koningrijk (konginkrijk /kingdom), muzijk (muziek / music) and zamen (samen / together). Etymology is the study of the origins of words. ...

Siegenbeek’s spelling never achieved real popularity. In particular: the poet Willem Bilderdijk fought against it, partly out of personal spite. He produced some of his own spellings which were popular in the 1830s and 1840s including the modern kachel (stove), plicht (instead of pligt /duty) and gooien (to throw). However, other spellings of his did not last: andwoord (antwoord / answer), hair (haar /hair/her), ontfangen (ontvangen / to receive), thands (thans / at present) and wareld (wereld / world). A poet is some one who writes poetry. ... Willem Bilderdijk (September 7, 1756-December 31, 1831), Dutch poet, the son of an Amsterdam physician. ...

The Willems spelling (1844, Belgium)

In the Flemish speaking areas in the south of the Netherlands the Siegenbeek spelling was always unpopular. After Belgium declared independence in 1830 the spelling was denounced as “Hollandish” and “protestant”. The spelling situation was quite chaotic with much discussion about whether to use a or ae, oo or oó, ee or eé, ei or ey, ui or uy, ambt or ampt, u or ue, and about the spelling of verbs.

In 1836 the Belgian government offered a reward for a proposal for a new spelling. In the end the jury, headed by Jan Frans Willems, produced their own suggestion in 1839 which remained quite close to the Siegenbeek spelling in use in the Netherlands. They retained their own spelling of a few words such as kaes (cheese), ryden (to ride) en vuerig (fiery). The Willems spelling was given royal approval on January 9, 1844. Charles Darwin 1836 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Jan Frans Willems (March 11, 1793 - June 24, 1846), Flemish writer. ... 1839 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... January 9 is the 9th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1844 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

The De Vries and Te Winkel spelling (1864, Belgium; 1883, The Netherlands)

The spelling used today both in the Netherlands and in Flanders (Dutch-speaking Belgium) is based on an orthography originally intended only for use in a dictionary. An ambitious project was proposed in 1851 at the Taal- en Letterkundige Congress in Brussels at which both the Netherlands and Flanders were represented. The project aimed to produce a large dictionary: Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal (WNT) (Dictionary of the Dutch Language), incorporating vocabulary of the past centuries. Hotel de Ville de Bruxelles Map showing the location of Brussels in Belgium Emblem of the Brussels-Capital Region Flag of The City of Brussels Brussels (Dutch: Brussel, pronounced ; French: Bruxelles, pronounced in Belgian French and often by non-Belgian speakers of French; German: Brüssel) is the capital of...

There was a problem with this project: which spelling was to be used for the dictionary? There were three spelling systems in use at the time: the Willems spelling in Belgium, the Siegenbeek spelling in the Netherlands, and several variants of Bilderdijk’s system. It would have been unacceptable to have used a mixture of these systems. In addition, the Siegenbeek system did not address certain issues such as when compounds were to be written as one word or the interpolation of letters in between. It was proposed to create a special dictionary spelling.

This spelling was established by the linguists Matthias de Vries and L.A. te Winkel. In 1863 Te Winkel published the results in De grondbeginselen der Nederlandsche spelling. Ontwerp der spelling voor het aanstaande Nederlandsch Woordenboek (The foundations of Dutch spelling. Project for the spelling of the forthcoming Dutch Dictionary). The spelling of De Vries and Te Winkel combined elements of the three current systems, providing a much needed solution to the chaos. By 21 November royal decree in Belgium had accepted the decision. In 1866 De Vries and Te Winkel produced Woordenlijst voor de spelling der Nederlandsche taal (Vocabulary for the spelling of the Dutch language), which can be seen as a precursor of today’s Groene Boekje (Little Green Book). 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar). ... November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1866 (MDCCCLXVI) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

The Netherlands were slower in accepting the De Vries and Te Winkel spelling. Schools continued to use the Siegenbeek spelling until 1870, and in government circles it was not until 1883 that the new spelling started to be used. The De Vries and Te Winkel spelling eventually led to a large degree of uniformity of spelling in the Netherlands and Belgium. 1870 (MDCCCLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... 1883 (MDCCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

The Marchant spelling (1934, The Netherlands)

Teachers and linguists continued to object to certain features of the spelling. It was thought that too great an emphasis was being given to etymology. Why lezen (single vowel) but heeten (double vowel)? There were etymological reasons for this, but it was hard to teach as it did not reflect pronunciation. R.A. Kollewijn produced an article in 1891 Onze lastige spelling. Een voorstel tot vereenvoudiging (Our awkward spelling: a proposal for simplification). He emphasized the need for spelling to relate to pronunciation, therefore Mensch (person/human) and Nederlandsch ought to become mens and Nederlands, Russisch (Russian) he thought should be spelt Russies and moeilijk (difficult) moeilik. Etymology is the study of the origins of words. ... 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1916 a Dutch commission looked into the possibility of a compromise between De Vries and Te Winkel and the Kollewijn spelling. This gradually led to adaptations: on 1 September 1934 the minister for Education, Marchant, accepted most of Kollewijn’s proposals. The Netherlands and Belgium were starting to diverge once again. 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... September 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years). ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The Marchant spelling included:

• abolition of declension for cases (e.g. den heer for accusative form of “de heer” (the gentleman))
• oo and ee at the end of open syllables (zoo (so), heeten(to be called)) changed to zo and heten, but ee at the end of a word remained (zee (sea)).
• unpronounced 'ch' in words like mensch (person/human) and visch (fish) disappeared.

The endings '-isch' (as in logisch (logical)) en '-lijk' (mogelijk (possible)) remained unchanged.

The spelling changes of 1946 (Flanders) and 1947 (The Netherlands)

During World War II the governments of the Netherlands and Flanders decided to look for a way to restore the unification of spelling based on De Vries and Te Winkel. This led to the introduction of a simplication of the Marchant spelling being introduced in Flanders in 1946 and in the Netherlands the following year. A Flemish-Dutch committee compiled a vocabulary which was published in 1954 in a green volume entitled “Woordenlijst van de Nederlandse taal” (Vocabulary of the Dutch language), which became known as “het Groene Boekje” (The Little Green Book). Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The spelling change of 1996 (The Netherlands and Flanders)

There was still dissatisfaction after 1954. Uncertainty arose about many words which had alternative spellings: one version was the preferred spelling (e.g. actie (action)), the other was the permissible or progressive spelling (e.g. aktie). The Dutch generally used the former, the Belgians the latter. Another problem was the speed at which Dutch was developing new vocabulary for which the 1954 dictionary was of no help for spelling definition. 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1994, after much discussion, the Committee of Ministers of the Nederlandse Taalunie which had been founded in 1980 issued a new spelling decree. In the new Groene Boekje which they published the alterative “progressive” spellings were abolished (it was now actie) and there were new rules about the n linking the compounds of words (pannekoek (pancake) became pannenkoek and bessesap (currant juice) became bessensap). This came into force in 1996. 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated like the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal. // Events January Bill Clinton January 1 : North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect. ... The Nederlandse Taalunie or Dutch Language Union is an institution for discussing issues on the Dutch language between three partners: The Netherlands, Flanders (Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) and Suriname. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

The spelling change of 2006 (The Netherlands and Flanders)

In 1994 it was agreed that the vocabulary of het Groene Boekje should be reviewed every ten years without changing the actual rules. On 15 October 2005 the first of these revisions appeared. Only one rule concerning exceptions was made (the so-called Dandelion Rule): paardebloem (dandelion) and vliegezwam (fly agaric) became paardenbloem and vliegenzwam in order to conform to other similar compounds, e.g. paardenstaart (horse-tail) and vliegenmepper (fly swatter). (Notice that these ‘n’s are not normally pronounced.) 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated like the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal. // Events January Bill Clinton January 1 : North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect. ... October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Apart from this there are a few individual changes. Here are some of the most important ones:

• Names of population groups are now spelt with a capital letter, even if there is no geographical area connected to the name: Kelt, Azteek and Eskimo are capitalized. Exceptions are made to names which cover a number of different ethnic groups: indiaan (American Indian) and zigeuner (gypsy)
• Jood/jood is a special case. When talking about the Jewish religion it has a small initial letter, but it is capitalized if it refers to the Jewish people. Thus: joden, christenen en moslims; BUT: Joden, Amerikanen en Europeanen.
• There are changes to new English compounds: online instead of on line, full colour instead of fullcolour.
• A few rules for the hyphen have been changed: extreem-rechts (extreme right) is now spelt: extreemrechts, ikroman (a novel written in the first person) is now ik-roman and a few more.
• A few compounds which had still not acquired the n now conform: paddenstoel (toadstool), dronkenman and dronkenlap (drunkard).

Although government and educational establishments have to conform, some newspapers and other publications are refusing to use the new spelling.

See also

• Dutch writing system
• Nederlandse Taalunie
• English spelling
• orthography
• spelling
• punctuation

Dutch ( ), sometimes referred to as Netherlandic in English, is a Low Germanic language spoken by around 22 million people, mainly in the Netherlands and Belgium (2005 [1]). // History Main article: History of the Dutch language The West Germanic dialects can be divided according to tribe (see Germanic tribes), and according... The Nederlandse Taalunie or Dutch Language Union is an institution for discussing issues on the Dutch language between three partners: The Netherlands, Flanders (Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) and Suriname. ... It has been suggested that Letter-sound pairs in English be merged into this article or section. ... The orthography of a language is the set of symbols (glyphs and diacritics) used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to write these glyphs correctly, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. ... List of English words with diacritics Greek orthography Monotonic orthography Polytonic orthography Latin spelling and pronunciation Russian orthography Grapheme Official script Links Teaching spelling Category: ... The term punctuation has two different linguistic meanings: in general, the act and the effect of punctuating, i. ...

External links

• De grondbeginselen der Nederlandsche spelling. Ontwerp der spelling voor het aanstaande Nederlandsch Woordenboek (1863) van L.A. te Winkel
• De woordenlijst der Nederlandse taal online (2005) door de Taalunie

Bibliography

• Marijke van der Wal, Geschiedenis van het Nederlands, Utrecht: Het Spectrum, 1994.
• Nicoline van der Sijs, Taal als mensenwerk. Het ontstaan van het ABN, Den Haag: Sdu Uitgevers, 2004.
• G.C. Molewijk, Spellingverandering van zin naar onzin (1200-heden), Den Haag: Sdu Uitgeverij, 1992.
• Ronald Willemyns, Wim Daniëls (red.), Het verhaal van het Vlaams. De geschiedenis van het Nederlands in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden, Antwerpen: Standaard Uitgeverij, 2003.
• Onze Taal, juni 2005.
• The History section in this article is a translation of the corresponding article from the Dutch Wikipedia.