Dutch Language
Dutch alphabet, Dutch orthography, Dutch language history and sources
Dutch language
Dutch: Spoken in the Netherlands and in certain regions of Belgium, France, Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Suriname, and Indonesia.
Number of Dutch Speakers: Over 21 million in Europe, including over 15 million in the Netherlands and 6 million in Flanders (Northern part of Belgium).
Origin of Dutch: Dutch is a Germanic. language. Grammar simplified over the last 100 years.
Dutch Alphabet: Latin alphabet containing 13 simple vowels and three diphthongs.
Dutch Orthography: Language roots go back to 700 AD and related to language group of Frisian, Faeroese, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, and Afrikaans.
Dutch Language History: Unification of language with translation of first Dutch Bible around 1600.
Dutch standardization efforts: Major efforts in 1800s with publication of first Dutch spelling book. Latest language reform in 1995 with publication of a newly revised Woordenlijst.
Dutch Language Enriched by: French, German, and English.
Unique Features of Dutch: Dutch language glues words (commonly two or three words) together.
Dutch language is included in the Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet (SAMPA) which is a computer-readable phonetic script using 7-bit printable ASCII characters based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
