Editing Middle Dutch (section)

===Consonants===
The consonants of Middle Dutch differed little from those of Old Dutch. The most prominent change is the loss of dental fricatives. In addition the sound {{IPA|[z]}} was phonemicised during this period, judging from loanwords that retain {{IPA|[s]}} to this day.

For descriptions of the sounds and definitions of the terms, follow the links on the headings.

{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+ Middle Dutch consonant phonemes
!colspan=2|
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]/<br/>[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
!colspan=2| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
|
|
|
|-
!rowspan=2|[[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
!{{small|[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t}}
|
| {{IPA link|k}}
|
|-
!{{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
|
|
|
|-
!rowspan=2|[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!{{small|[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
|
| {{IPA link|x}}
| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
!{{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|v}}
| {{IPA link|z}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɣ}}
|
|-
!colspan=2| [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
| {{IPA link|j}}
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
|-
!colspan=2| [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
| {{IPA link|r}}
|
|
|
|}

Notes:

* All obstruents underwent [[final-obstruent devoicing]] as in Old and Modern Dutch.
* During the first part of the Middle Dutch period, [[Gemination|geminated]] varieties of most consonants still occurred. Geminated {{IPA|/ɣ/}} was a plosive {{IPA|/ɡɡ/}}, retained in modern Limburgish as {{IPA|/ɡ/}}.
* {{IPA|/m, p, b/}} were most likely [[Bilabial consonant|bilabial]], whereas {{IPA|/f, v/}} were most likely [[Labiodental consonant|labiodental]].
* {{IPA|/n, t, d, s, z, l/}} could have been either dental {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|n̪}}, {{IPAplink|t̪}}, {{IPAplink|d̪}}, {{IPAplink|s̪}}, {{IPAplink|z̪}}, {{IPAplink|l̪}}]}} or alveolar {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|n|n͇}}, {{IPAplink|t|t͇}}, {{IPAplink|d|d͇}}, {{IPAplink|s|s͇}}, {{IPAplink|z|z͇}}, {{IPAplink|l|l͇}}]}}.
** {{IPA|/n/}} had a velar allophone {{IPAblink|ŋ}} when it occurred before the velars {{IPA|/k, ɣ/}}.
** After {{IPA|/n/}}, {{IPA|/ɣ/}} was realized as a plosive {{IPAblink|ɡ}}.
* {{IPA|/r/}} was most likely [[Alveolar consonant|alveolar]], either a [[Trill consonant|trill]] {{IPAblink|r|r͇}} or a [[Tap consonant|tap]] {{IPAblink|ɾ|ɾ͇}}.