Sunday, January 7, 2018

Dutch and German Diphthong Correspondence

The Dutch diphthong ij often corresponds to the German ei. In English this diphthong is often spelled i as in ricetime and wine. Here is a list which illustrates the orthographic correspondence between the Dutch ij and the German ei:

bijna beinahe (almost)
fijn fein (fine)
ijs Eis (ice)
rijk reich (rich)
rijst Reis (rice)
schrijver Schreiber (writer)
tijd Zeit (time)
vrijdag Freitag (Friday)
wijn Wein (wine)
Zonneschijn Sonnenschein (sunshine)

Most of the words in the list are similar to the English ones. Unlike in Dutch, German words are always capitalized. The Dutch diphthong is similar to the German one, but the first component of the Dutch diphthong has a more advanced articulation than in German.

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