Sound change in present-day Dutch: a variationist, synchronic approach to the actuation problem

Abstract

In this paper we present a variationist, synchronic study of a sound change in progress, aiming to contribute to the question of actuation. Previous studies found that Dutch word-initial labiodental fricatives show patterns of devoicing. Completed changes might result in a merger of /v/-/f/. Five regions in the Dutch language area were selected to represent different stages of change. In each region, twenty highly educated young adults participated in a series of production experiments. The sociophonetic analyses of production patterns involve three levels of synchronic comparison: 1) a traditional regional analysis, 2) an analysis of individual patterns within regions and 3) an analysis of the combination of phonetic cues at the individual level. The different levels of synchronic comparison allow us to get a better understanding of the merging process and the individual and group dynamics of sound change.