# Germanic Languages: Comparative Phonology Reference

**Codes**: `de-DE`, `nl`, `sv`, `nb`, `da`, `is`, `af`, `en-GB`, `en-US`, and variants
**Family**: Indo-European > Germanic | **Script**: Latin (alphabet)

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## Final Devoicing: West and North Germanic

Final devoicing (obstruent voicelessness in coda) is a defining feature of **most Germanic languages**:

| Language | Code | Has final devoicing | Notes |
|:---|:---:|:---:|:---|
| German | de-DE | ✓ | Strong — all obstruents |
| Dutch | nl | ✓ | Strong — all obstruents |
| Afrikaans | af | ✓ | Inherited from Dutch |
| Swedish | sv | ✓ | Weak — mainly in rapid speech |
| Danish | da | ✓ | Moderate |
| Norwegian (Bokmål) | nb | ✓ | Moderate |
| Icelandic | is | — | No final devoicing |
| English | en-GB/en-US | — | No final devoicing (coda voiced stops allowed) |
| Yiddish | yi | ✓ | Strong |

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## German vs. Dutch: Key Differences

### Consonants

| Feature | German (de-DE) | Dutch (nl) |
|:---|:---:|:---:|
| g | [ɡ] onset, [k] coda | [ɣ] onset, [x] coda (voiced/voiceless fricative) |
| h | [h] | [ɦ] (breathy) |
| r | [ʁ] (uvular) | [r] or [ʁ] (varies by region) |
| w | [v] | [ʋ] (labiodental approximant) |
| ch word-final | [x] or [ç] | [x] always |

### Dutch G

Dutch ⟨g⟩ is a **velar fricative**, not a plosive:
- Onset: [ɣ] (voiced): `gaan` [ɣaːn] "to go"
- Coda/word-final: [x] (voiceless): `dag` [dax] "day"

Northern Dutch uses [x]/[ɣ]. Southern Dutch (Belgium) uses [h]/[ɦ] for ⟨g⟩.

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## Swedish Phonology Highlights

### Fronting/Palatalization

Swedish ⟨k⟩, ⟨g⟩, ⟨sk⟩ before front vowels (e/i/y/ä/ö):

| Grapheme | Before front vowels | Elsewhere | Examples |
|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---|
| k | [ɕ] (palatal fricative) | [k] | `kär` [ɕɛːr] "dear", `katt` [katː] "cat" |
| g | [j] | [ɡ] | `ge` [jeː] "give", `gå` [ɡoː] "walk" |
| sk | [ɧ] (sj-sound) | [sk] | `sked` [ɧeːd] "spoon" |

### Retroflex Consonants

In rikssvenska, ⟨r⟩ + coronal consonant → retroflex:

| Cluster | Retroflex | Examples |
|:---:|:---:|:---|
| rs | [ʂ] | `fors` [foʂ] "rapids" |
| rd | [ɖ] | `nord` [noɖ] "north" |
| rn | [ɳ] | `barn` [bɑɳ] "child" |
| rl | [ɭ] | `karl` [kɑɭ] "man" |
| rt | [ʈ] | `fort` [foʈ] "fort" |

### Sj-Sound [ɧ]

Swedish has the rare phoneme [ɧ] (simultaneous [ʃ] + [x]), rendered by multiple graphemes:
`sj`, `sk` (before front V), `stj`, `skj`, `sch` → all [ɧ]

### Tone (Pitch Accent)

Swedish has **two lexical tones** distinguishing otherwise identical words:
- **Accent 1** (acute): single-peaked, `anden` [²andən] "the duck"
- **Accent 2** (grave): double-peaked, `anden` [¹andən] "the spirit"

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## Dutch Vowel System

Dutch has a complex vowel system with length and quality contrasts:

| Short | Long | IPA short | IPA long | Example short | Example long |
|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
| a | aa | [ɑ] | [aː] | `kat` [kɑt] | `kaas` [kaːs] |
| e | ee | [ɛ] | [eː] | `bed` [bɛt] | `been` [beːn] |
| i | ie | [ɪ] | [iː] | `bit` [bɪt] | `biet` [biːt] |
| o | oo | [ɔ] | [oː] | `bof` [bɔf] | `boot` [boːt] |
| u | uu | [ʏ] | [yː] | `bus` [bʏs] | `buut` [byːt] |

Special vowels: `eu` [øː], `oe` [uː], `ui` [œy], `ij`/`ei` [ɛi], `au`/`ou` [ɑu]

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## Afrikaans (af): Derived from Dutch

Key differences from Dutch:
- Final devoicing retained
- No grammatical gender
- ⟨g⟩ → [x] throughout (no voiced [ɣ])
- ⟨r⟩ → [r] (alveolar trill, not uvular)
- ⟨v⟩ → [f] (devoiced vs. Dutch [v])
- New vowels: `ee` [iə], `oo` [uə]

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## References

- Wiese, R. (1996). *The Phonology of German*. OUP.
- Booij, G. (1995). *The Phonology of Dutch*. OUP.
- Riad, T. (2014). *The Phonology of Swedish*. OUP.
- Engstrand, O. (1999). *Swedish*. JIPA 29(1), 140–145.
- Gussenhoven, C. (1992). *Dutch*. JIPA 22, 45–47.

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