The Similarity of Plural Endings and Linking Elements in Regional Speech Variants of Dutch

Abstract

The plural suffix -en (noot+en, 'nuts') is pronounced differently by speakers coming from different regions of the Netherlands. In this study, we compared the pronunciation of the plural suffix -en in phrases (noot+en kraken, 'to crack nuts') with linking en in compounds (noot+en+kroker, 'nutcracker'), because some claim that both are similar (Schreuder, Neijt, van der Weide, & Baayen, 1998), whereas others claim that they are not (Verkuyl, 2007). The pronunciations of 109 participants coming from five regions of the Netherlands were therefore compared in a picture naming task. A systematic relation between the pronunciations of plural -en and linking en was detected: Speakers from the Northern and Eastern regions produced [(upside-down e)n] most often for both the linking elements and plural endings, while speakers from the Middle and Western regions produced [upside-down e] most often for both. For speakers from the Southern region, we found no preference to pronounce either [upside-down e] or [upside-down e n] in compounds or phrases. It is concluded that Dutch speakers often do not distinguish plural -en from linking en in their speech production. Possibly, speakers of Dutch consider linking en and plural -en as the same morpheme.

Morphological variation in the speech of Frisian-Dutch bilinguals

“…All of the speakers showed a tendency to identically pronounce regular plural nouns occurring in phrases, on the one hand, and nouns occurring as the first element of compounds, on the other. On the basis of these results, Hanssen et al (2012) concluded that the plural suffix and the linking suffix are usually identical in speech production, not only in standard Dutch, but also in its dialects, although the phonological realization may be subject to regional variation. Thus plural suffix and linking suffix are realized as a schwa in the west of the Netherlands, as a schwa followed by a nasal in the north.…”

“…Hanssen et al (2012) investigated, among other things, the Dutch of FD-bilinguals with respect to the question of the homophony between linking and plural suffix, whereas the present study investigates the same for the Frisian of FD-bilinguals. Hanssen et al (2012) detected a systematic relation between the pronunciation of the Dutch plural -en and the Dutch linking en, also for FD-bilinguals. All of the speakers showed a tendency to identically pronounce regular plural nouns occurring in phrases, on the one hand, and nouns occurring as the first element of compounds, on the other.…”

“…Dutch compounding does not support IPIC since regular plural nouns appear as the first constituents in compounds, and, furthermore, there is evidence that they are interpreted as regularly inflected plural forms by Dutch speakers (example: boeken "books", boeken+kast, "bookcase", see Hanssen, Banga, Schreuder, & Neijt, 2014;Schreuder et al, 1998). The results of other experimental studies similarly provide evidence that Dutch linking -en is often interpreted as a plural when used in compounds during visual and auditory word recognition tasks (Hanssen et al, 2014;Schreuder et al, 1998).…”

“…Furthermore, earlier studies have focused on the plural suffix in spoken Dutch and its dialects, by and large disregarding Frisian (Goeman, 2001;Goossens, 1987;de Schutter, 2001;de Schutter, van den Berg, Goeman, & de Jong, 2005;van de Velde & van Hout, 2003;Weijnen, 1966;de Wulf, Goossens, & Taeldeman, 2005;de Wulf & Taeldeman, 2001). The relation in Dutch, including the Dutch of FD-bilinguals, between the linking suffix and the plural suffix using spoken utterances has been investigated in Hanssen et al (2012), which is a sister study to the present one. Hanssen et al (2012) investigated, among other things, the Dutch of FD-bilinguals with respect to the question of the homophony between linking and plural suffix, whereas the present study investigates the same for the Frisian of FD-bilinguals.…”

“…The relation in Dutch, including the Dutch of FD-bilinguals, between the linking suffix and the plural suffix using spoken utterances has been investigated in Hanssen et al (2012), which is a sister study to the present one. Hanssen et al (2012) investigated, among other things, the Dutch of FD-bilinguals with respect to the question of the homophony between linking and plural suffix, whereas the present study investigates the same for the Frisian of FD-bilinguals. Hanssen et al (2012) detected a systematic relation between the pronunciation of the Dutch plural -en and the Dutch linking en, also for FD-bilinguals.…”