| Examples: |
|
(Signs
between [ ] are phonetic signs) |
| Short vowels |
|
Long vowels |
| a more open
than bad [a]; e.g. Gat 'hole', falsk
'false' |
|
aa like father
[a:]; e.g. Taal 'number', maast
'most' |
| ä like net
[e]; e.g. Fäk
'compartment', fäl 'violent', rädje
'save' |
|
ää like bed
[e:]; e.g. sääd
'satisfied', fääst 'fixed' |
| e like open
[b]; e.g. Häidene
'peat shed', et 'it', bekoand 'known' |
|
ee
stretched i, about as gate
[e:]; e.g. leet 'late', Steen 'stone' |
| i like will
[I]; e.g. Wille 'will', licht
'light', bidje 'ask' |
|
ie like week
[i:]; e.g. Sies 'cheese', liek 'straight'* |
| o like Stock []]; e.g. Stok
'stick', konne 'be able' |
|
oa like water
[]:]; e.g. Toal
'hall', Hoase 'hare' |
| ö like but [œ]; e.g. bölkje
'roar' |
|
öä like girl [œ:];
e.g. Köäkene 'kitchen |
| u like wood [o];
e.g. Stuk ''piece', Buk 'buck' |
|
oo stretched o,
about as boat [o:]; e.g. Dook 'haze',
groot 'big', Hoose 'stocking' |
| |
|
öö stretched ö
[ø:]; e.g. Grööte 'magnitude', drööme
'dream' |
| |
|
uu like mood
[u:]; e.g. fuul 'much', suur 'sour',
Buuk 'belly'* |
| ü like
German Füllen [Y]; e.g. düt 'this',
wül 'well' |
|
üü like
German fühlen [y:]; e.g. Püüt
'pouch', wüül 'wanted'* |
| |
|
*
These vowels are sometimes pronunciated long,
sometimes shorter. |
| |
|
|
| Diphthongs (Stressed
at the beginning). |
| ai like fine [ai]; e.g. nai
'near', Sail 'sail', taie 'press' |
| äi like short ä + i
[ei]; e.g. näi
'new', Schäip 'sheep', Fäite
'feet' |
| au like long aa + u
[a:u] ; e.g. gau 'fast', kauje
'chew' |
| äuw like short ä + u
[eu]; e.g. häuw
'hitted', stäuwen 'made dust' |
| eeuw like long ee + u
[e:u]; e.g. scheeuw 'sloping', leeuwe
'believe' |
| ieuw like ie + u
[i:u]; e.g. Lieuw 'body', ieuwen
'even' |
| oai like long oa + i
[]:i]; e.g. Koai
'key', own 'eigen', loaierje 'laze' |
| oi like short o + i
[]i]; e.g. schoi
'scornfull', Moite 'trouble', bloie
'bloom' |
| öi like ö + ie
[œi]; e.g. fröier 'earlier', öile
'dig |
| |
| Consonants |
| Usually pronunciated and written like in
English. Exceptions are: |
| ch is always pronunciated like in
Scottish Loch [x]; e.g. light
'leicht', away 'weg', laachje
'laugh' |
| g usually like a voiced k
or a voiced h; e.g. goud 'good',
Deege 'days', ful 'full' |
| j after many consonants; e.g. djoop
'deep', Fjuur 'fire', gjucht 'right;
very', Kjuus 'cross', ljoo 'lovely',
Mjuks 'dung', Stjuur 'steering
wheel', tjuk 'thick' |
| kk in stead of ck after the
principle of doubling; e.g. Bakker 'baker'
(but Rok 'skirt') |
| ks in stead of x; e.g. Okse
'ox', niks 'nothing' |
| kw in stead of qu; e.g. Kwoal
'torment', kwäd 'says' |
| nk like sink [tk]; e.g. Droank
'drink', linker 'left', but like n + k
[nk] in diminutives: Tuunke 'small
garden' |
| r is usually a tongtip-r
[r] like in Scottish, e.g. rood 'red', fiere
'drive', deer 'there' |
| r is usually is usually softened to e
before consonants [b];
e.g. in Fuurke 'fork', Boart 'beard' |
| Initial s is always sharp like in
English sister [s] ; e.g. seer
'sore', sitte 'sit', Sunne 'sun' |
| sch like s + Scottisch ch
[sx]; e.g. Schip 'ship', scheen
'clean' |
| sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw nearly like in
English; e.g. släipe 'sleep', Smoacht
'hunger', sniede 'cut' , Splinter 'splinter',
switte 'sweat' |
| |
| Foreign words
keep the usual German spelling, apart from parts,
where Saterfrisian developed a different
pronunciation; e.g. in akroat 'accurate',
kontrollierje 'control', praktisk
'practical' |
| |
Two bottlenecks
Dr. Forts spelling has two properties
that don't get on well with the German spelling:
1. The long vowels should be
written single in open syllables, so Bome,
plural to Boom 'trees'.
2. For to make the sharp s
stand out more clearly, voiced s should
be written like z, so leze 'read'.
In practice one often observes
the bottlenecks to be avoided in writing: Boome,
leese etc. Finally, however, single o and u
are maintained:: so, nu. These
rules are also applied in this course. |
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