- Dutch
- Frisian
- Afrikaans
- Dutch
- Phonology
- Segment inventory
- Phonotactics
- Phonological processes
- Phonology-morphology interface
- Word stress
- Primary stress in simplex words
- Monomorphemic words
- Diachronic aspects
- Generalizations on stress placement
- Default penultimate stress
- Lexical stress
- The closed penult restriction
- Final closed syllables
- The diphthong restriction
- Superheavy syllables (SHS)
- The three-syllable window
- Segmental restrictions
- Phonetic correlates
- Stress shifts in loanwords
- Quantity-sensitivity
- Secondary stress
- Vowel reduction in unstressed syllables
- Stress in complex words
- Primary stress in simplex words
- Accent & intonation
- Clitics
- Spelling
- Morphology
- Word formation
- Compounding
- Nominal compounds
- Verbal compounds
- Adjectival compounds
- Affixoids
- Coordinative compounds
- Synthetic compounds
- Reduplicative compounds
- Phrase-based compounds
- Elative compounds
- Exocentric compounds
- Linking elements
- Separable complex verbs (SCVs)
- Gapping of complex words
- Particle verbs
- Copulative compounds
- Derivation
- Numerals
- Derivation: inputs and input restrictions
- The meaning of affixes
- Non-native morphology
- Cohering and non-cohering affixes
- Prefixation
- Suffixation
- Nominal suffixation: person nouns
- Conversion
- Pseudo-participles
- Bound forms
- Nouns
- Nominal prefixes
- Nominal suffixes
- -aal and -eel
- -aar
- -aard
- -aat
- -air
- -aris
- -ast
- Diminutives
- -dom
- -een
- -ees
- -el (nominal)
- -elaar
- -enis
- -er (nominal)
- -erd
- -erik
- -es
- -eur
- -euse
- ge...te
- -heid
- -iaan, -aan
- -ief
- -iek
- -ier
- -ier (French)
- -ière
- -iet
- -igheid
- -ij and allomorphs
- -ijn
- -in
- -ing
- -isme
- -ist
- -iteit
- -ling
- -oir
- -oot
- -rice
- -schap
- -schap (de)
- -schap (het)
- -sel
- -st
- -ster
- -t
- -tal
- -te
- -voud
- Verbs
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Univerbation
- Neo-classical word formation
- Construction-dependent morphology
- Morphological productivity
- Compounding
- Inflection
- Inflection and derivation
- Allomorphy
- The interface between phonology and morphology
- Word formation
- Syntax
- Preface and acknowledgements
- Verbs and Verb Phrases
- 1 Characterization and classification
- 2 Projection of verb phrases I:Argument structure
- 3 Projection of verb phrases II:Verb frame alternations
- Introduction
- 3.1. Main types
- 3.2. Alternations involving the external argument
- 3.3. Alternations of noun phrases and PPs
- 3.3.1. Dative/PP alternations (dative shift)
- 3.3.1.1. Dative alternation with aan-phrases (recipients)
- 3.3.1.2. Dative alternation with naar-phrases (goals)
- 3.3.1.3. Dative alternation with van-phrases (sources)
- 3.3.1.4. Dative alternation with bij-phrases (possessors)
- 3.3.1.5. Dative alternation with voor-phrases (benefactives)
- 3.3.1.6. Conclusion
- 3.3.1.7. Bibliographical notes
- 3.3.2. Accusative/PP alternations
- 3.3.3. Nominative/PP alternations
- 3.3.1. Dative/PP alternations (dative shift)
- 3.4. Some apparent cases of verb frame alternation
- 3.5. Bibliographical notes
- 4 Projection of verb phrases IIIa:Selection of clauses/verb phrases
- 5 Projection of verb phrases IIIb:Argument and complementive clauses
- Introduction
- 5.1. Finite argument clauses
- 5.2. Infinitival argument clauses
- 5.3. Complementive clauses
- 6 Projection of verb phrases IIIc:Complements of non-main verbs
- 7 Projection of verb phrases IIId:Verb clusters
- 8 Projection of verb phrases IV: Adverbial modification
- 9 Word order in the clause I:General introduction
- 10 Word order in the clause II:Position of the finite verb (verb-first/second)
- 11 Word order in the clause III:Clause-initial position (wh-movement)
- Introduction
- 11.1. The formation of V1- and V2-clauses
- 11.2. Clause-initial position remains (phonetically) empty
- 11.3. Clause-initial position is filled
- 12 Word order in the clause IV:Postverbal field (extraposition)
- 13 Word order in the clause V: Middle field (scrambling)
- 14 Main-clause external elements
- Nouns and Noun Phrases
- 1 Characterization and classification
- 2 Projection of noun phrases I: complementation
- Introduction
- 2.1. General observations
- 2.2. Prepositional and nominal complements
- 2.3. Clausal complements
- 2.4. Bibliographical notes
- 3 Projection of noun phrases II: modification
- Introduction
- 3.1. Restrictive and non-restrictive modifiers
- 3.2. Premodification
- 3.3. Postmodification
- 3.3.1. Adpositional phrases
- 3.3.2. Relative clauses
- 3.3.3. Infinitival clauses
- 3.3.4. A special case: clauses referring to a proposition
- 3.3.5. Adjectival phrases
- 3.3.6. Adverbial postmodification
- 3.4. Bibliographical notes
- 4 Projection of noun phrases III: binominal constructions
- Introduction
- 4.1. Binominal constructions without a preposition
- 4.2. Binominal constructions with a preposition
- 4.3. Bibliographical notes
- 5 Determiners: articles and pronouns
- Introduction
- 5.1. Articles
- 5.2. Pronouns
- 5.3. Bibliographical notes
- 6 Numerals and quantifiers
- 7 Pre-determiners
- Introduction
- 7.1. The universal quantifier al 'all' and its alternants
- 7.2. The pre-determiner heel 'all/whole'
- 7.3. A note on focus particles
- 7.4. Bibliographical notes
- 8 Syntactic uses of noun phrases
- Adjectives and Adjective Phrases
- 1 Characteristics and classification
- 2 Projection of adjective phrases I: Complementation
- 3 Projection of adjective phrases II: Modification
- 4 Projection of adjective phrases III: Comparison
- 5 Attributive use of the adjective phrase
- 6 Predicative use of the adjective phrase
- 7 The partitive genitive construction
- 8 Adverbial use of the adjective phrase
- 9 Participles and infinitives: their adjectival use
- 10 Special constructions
- Adpositions and adpositional phrases
- 1 Characteristics and classification
- Introduction
- 1.1. Characterization of the category adposition
- 1.2. A formal classification of adpositional phrases
- 1.3. A semantic classification of adpositional phrases
- 1.3.1. Spatial adpositions
- 1.3.2. Temporal adpositions
- 1.3.3. Non-spatial/temporal prepositions
- 1.4. Borderline cases
- 1.5. Bibliographical notes
- 2 Projection of adpositional phrases: Complementation
- 3 Projection of adpositional phrases: Modification
- 4 Syntactic uses of the adpositional phrase
- 5 R-pronominalization and R-words
- 1 Characteristics and classification
- Phonology
- Frisian
- Introduction to Frisian
- Phonology
- Segment inventory
- Phonotactics
- Phonological Processes
- Assimilation
- Vowel nasalization
- Syllabic sonorants
- Final devoicing
- Fake geminates
- Vowel hiatus resolution
- Vowel reduction introduction
- Schwa deletion
- Schwa insertion
- /r/-deletion
- d-insertion
- {s/z}-insertion
- t-deletion
- Intrusive stop formation
- Breaking
- Vowel shortening
- h-deletion
- Replacement of the glide w
- Word stress
- Clitics
- Allomorphy
- Orthography of Frisian
- Morphology
- Inflection
- Word formation
- Derivation
- Prefixation
- Infixation
- Suffixation
- Nominal suffixes
- Verbal suffixes
- Adjectival suffixes
- Adverbial suffixes
- Numeral suffixes
- Interjectional suffixes
- Onomastic suffixes
- Conversion
- Derivation
- Syntax
- Verbs and Verb Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Unergative and unaccusative subjects
- Evidentiality
- To-infinitival clauses
- Predication and noun incorporation
- Ellipsis
- Imperativus-pro-Infinitivo
- Expression of irrealis
- Embedded Verb Second
- Agreement
- Negation
- Nouns & Noun Phrases
- Classification
- Complementation
- Modification
- Partitive noun constructions
- Referential partitive constructions
- Partitive measure nouns
- Numeral partitive constructions
- Partitive question constructions
- Nominalised quantifiers
- Kind partitives
- Partitive predication with prepositions
- Bare nominal attributions
- Articles and names
- Pronouns
- Quantifiers and (pre)determiners
- Interrogative pronouns
- R-pronouns
- Syntactic uses
- Adjective Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Complementation
- Modification and degree quantification
- Comparison by degree
- Comparative
- Superlative
- Equative
- Attribution
- Agreement
- Attributive adjectives vs. prenominal elements
- Complex adjectives
- Noun ellipsis
- Co-occurring adjectives
- Predication
- Partitive adjective constructions
- Adverbial use
- Participles and infinitives
- Adposition Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Complementation
- Modification
- Intransitive adpositions
- Predication
- Preposition stranding
- Verbs and Verb Phrases
- Afrikaans
- Phonology
- Segment inventory
- Overview of Afrikaans vowels
- The rounded and unrounded high front vowels /i/ and /y/
- The diphthongised long vowels /e/, /ø/ and /o/
- The unrounded mid-front vowel /ɛ/
- The unrounded low-central vowel /ɑ/
- The unrounded low-central vowel /a/
- The rounded mid-high back vowel /ɔ/
- The rounded high back vowel /u/
- The unrounded and rounded central vowels /ə/ and /œ/
- The diphthongs /əi/, /œy/ and /œu/
- Overview of Afrikaans Consonants
- The bilabial plosives /p/ and /b/
- The alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/
- The velar plosives /k/ and /g/
- The bilabial nasal /m/
- The alveolar nasal /n/
- The velar nasal /ŋ/
- The trill /r/
- The lateral liquid /l/
- The labiodental fricatives /f/ and /v/
- The alveolar fricatives /s/ and /z/
- The velar fricative /x/
- The approximants /ɦ/, /j/ and /ʋ/
- Overview of Afrikaans vowels
- Word stress
- The phonetic properties of stress
- Primary stress on monomorphemic words in Afrikaans
- Background to primary stress in monomorphemes in Afrikaans
- Overview of the Main Stress Rule of Afrikaans
- The short vowels of Afrikaans
- Long vowels in monomorphemes
- Primary stress on diphthongs in monomorphemes
- Exceptions
- Stress shifts in place names
- Stress shift towards word-final position
- Stress pattern of reduplications
- Phonological Processes
- Phonotactics
- Segment inventory
- Morphology
- Syntax
- Introduction to Noun Phrases
- Introduction to Adjective Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Complementation
- Modification and degree quantification
- Comparison by comparative, superlative and equative degree
- Attribution
- Predication
- The partitive adjective construction
- Adverbial use
- Participles and infinitives as adjectives
- Introduction to Verb Phrases
- Phonology
The following lists of segmental frequencies was extracted from the phonetically transcribed part of the Dutch Celex database (Baayen et al. 1995). The syllable boundaries provided in Celex were used. All syllables were classified as either being monosyllables (originating from monosyllabic words), stressed polysyllables or unstressed polysyllables (i.e. the stressed or unstressed syllable of a polysyllabic word). Subsequently, each syllable was parsed into a positional syllable template differentiating onset, nucleus and coda positions. The numbers in the following tables are based on the number of entities per syllable position.
Please note that ambisyllabic consonants are not tagged as such in the Celex database. They are consistently classified as onset consonants, which means that B-class vowels in polysyllabic words appear in open syllables in the Celex transcriptions. As a result, the numbers presented for coda consonants in polysyllabic words and in all words combined may be skewed.
Furthermore, the Celex (word) frequency count of 486 cases (out of 5380) is specified as zero - although these words are present in the Celex database. The frequency count of zero was taken over for the syllable counts.
A searchable xls-file with the raw Celex count data can be found here. Examples are provided for each syllable type. Moreover, the data set can be filtered with respect to word type (monosyllabic or polysyllabic word), stress type (stressed or unstressed syllable), each syllable position and all combinations of these elements. Celex token and type frequencies of the filtered data are given in the top left corner of the xls-file.
Table (1) lists the relative type and token frequencies of each consonantal segment given in the (phonetically transcribed part of the) Celex database irrespective of its position within the syllable or word.
Segment | Type frequency | Segment | Token frequency | |
[s] | 12.4% | [n] | 17.8% | |
[r] | 12.3% | [t] | 14.5% | |
[t] | 12.1% | [d] | 9.4% | |
[l] | 9.5% | [r] | 9.3% | |
[k] | 8.7% | [z] | 5.6% | |
[n] | 6.9% | [l] | 5.4% | |
[p] | 6.3% | [k] | 5.0% | |
[x] | 5.0% | [m] | 4.9% | |
[m] | 4.7% | [v] | 4.5% | |
[f] | 3.5% | [s] | 4.2% | |
[b] | 3.1% | [x] | 4.2% | |
[ʋ] | 3.0% | [h] | 3.7% | |
[d] | 2.2% | [ʋ] | 3.3% | |
[v] | 1.8% | [p] | 3.2% | |
[j] | 1.8% | [b] | 1.4% | |
[h] | 1.6% | [f] | 1.3% | |
[z] | 1.6% | [j] | 1.0% | |
[ŋ] | 1.6% | [ŋ] | 0.7% | |
[ʃ] | 1.1% | [χ] | 0.3% | |
[χ] | 0.4% | [ʃ] | <0.1% | |
[g] | 0.3% | [ʒ] | <0.1% | |
[ʒ] | 0.2% | [g] | <0.1% | |
[dʒ] | 0.1% | [dʒ] | <0.1% | |
[c] | <0.1% | [c] | <0.1% | |
[ɲ] | <0.1% | [ɲ] | <0.1% |
The following tables list the relative type and token frequencies of each consonantal segment in onset position given in the (phonetically transcribed part of the) Celex database. The relative frequencies are additionally split into onsets of monosyllabic words and onsets in stressed and unstressed syllables of polysyllabic words.


The following tables list the relative type and token frequencies of each consonantal segment in coda position given in the (phonetically transcribed part of the) Celex database. The relative frequencies are additionally split into codas of monosyllabic words and codas in stressed and unstressed syllables of polysyllabic words.


Segmental frequency data are also available for all Dutch segments combined, as well as for vowels only. Furthermore, frequency data for even more fine-grained positions within onsets and codas are given.
- Baayen, R. Harald, Piepenbrock, Richard & Gulikers, L1995The CELEX Lexical Database (CD-ROM), Release 2, Dutch Version 3.1
- Dutch
- Frisian
- Afrikaans
- Segment frequencies of consonants and vowels
[95%] Dutch > Phonology > Segment inventory
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[77%] Dutch > Phonology > Accent & intonation
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[76%] Afrikaans > Phonology > Phonotactics
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[76%] Afrikaans > Phonology > Phonological Processes > Vowel related processes
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[75%] Afrikaans > Phonology > Word stress
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- Derivation
[71%] Dutch > Morphology > Word formation
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[71%] Dutch > Morphology > Word formation > Compounding
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[70%] Dutch > Morphology > Word formation > Compounding
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[70%] Dutch > Morphology > Word formation > Derivation > Nouns > Nominal suffixes
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[74%] Frisian > Morphology > Inflection > Verbs
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- -DIM (diminutive)
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[71%] Frisian > Morphology > Word formation > Derivation > Suffixation > Nominal suffixes > Noun as base
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[71%] Afrikaans > Morphology > Word formation
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[70%] Afrikaans > Morphology > Word formation > Affixation
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- 9.1. The overall organization of the clause
[74%] Dutch > Syntax > Verbs and Verb Phrases > 9 Word order in the clause I:General introduction
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- 6.1.1.1. Simple and compound forms
[74%] Dutch > Syntax > Nouns and Noun Phrases > 6 Numerals and quantifiers > 6.1. Numerals > 6.1.1. Cardinal numerals
- 1.3. Inflection
[74%] Dutch > Syntax > Verbs and Verb Phrases > 1 Characterization and classification
- 1.3.1.6. Appendix: alternative means of expressing spatial relations
[73%] Dutch > Syntax > Adpositions and adpositional phrases > 1 Characteristics and classification > 1.3. A semantic classification of adpositional phrases > 1.3.1. Spatial adpositions
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[69%] Frisian > Syntax > Verbs and Verb Phrases > Negation
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[69%] Frisian > Syntax > Nouns & Noun Phrases > Modification > APs
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