Written by Dyami Millarson and Kenneth Millarson

The van der Kooy spelling is the eldest Hindeloopen Frisian orthography still in use today. It is regrettable that, until now, there has been no comprehensive table comparing Hindeloopen Frisian sounds in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) with their equivalent representations in the van der Kooy spelling. This article aims to fill that gap. The origins of this spelling predate T. van der Kooy, though his 1938 dictionary is traditionally the authoritative resource that showcases its usage. So, although the origins of this spelling cannot be credited to van der Kooy alone, the spelling is named after van der Kooy by the Hindeloopen Frisians due to his significant contributions and leadership in standardising it.

As of 18 June 2024, van der Kooy is mentioned not even once on the Standard Frisian Wikipedia page on Hindeloopen Frisian. Characteristically, this unfortunate omission is also found on the Dutch Wikipedia page and the English Wikipedia page. Despite being the eldest surviving spelling of Hindeloopen Frisian, the van der Kooy spelling remains underrepresented in linguistic research. This lack of recognition extends to the Wikipedia pages on Hindeloopen Frisian, which omit T. van der Kooy’s dictionary and the van der Kooy spelling, thereby creating the false impression that the more recent spelling adopted in the 1981 Hylper Wurdboek and the 2019 Graet Hylper Wordebook is the sole legitimate orthographic system.

This article therefore aims to correct this misconception by highlighting the ongoing relevance of the van der Kooy spelling within the Hindeloopen Frisian community and enhancing its accessibility through a comparative table of Hindeloopen Frisian sounds as represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and in the van der Kooy spelling. The table also helps to dispel the myth that the van der Kooy spelling is inadequate for representing the sounds of Hindeloopen Frisian: quite the contrary is true, as the van der Kooy spelling represents the sounds of Hindeloopen Frisian accurately, and this is well-known among speakers.

Not an insignificant number of speakers of Hindeloopen Frisian strongly identifies with the sounds of their language and the representations of those sounds in the van der Kooy spelling. The neglect of van der Kooy’s seminal work, his orthography, and the connection between Hindeloopen Frisian identity, orthography, and phonology in linguistic research makes Hindeloopen Frisian speakers feel unheard in scientific circles. Since it is essential that what is going on with the Hindeloopen Frisian language be described accurately and the speakers of Hindeloopen Frisian be listened to, it really makes a difference to publish the table below.

Educating people on T. van der Kooy’s seminal work and the van der Kooy spelling is a task that results from objective historical facts and must be approached with a scientific mind-set: it is vital to combat attempts at historical revisionism that may be expressed in the form of neglecting van der Kooy’s seminal work and the van der Kooy spelling. Such historical revisionism may further be addressed by decolonising research on Hindeloopen Frisian: Foundation Operation X conducts research in Hindeloopen by cooperating with the community and seeking community approval and consent during the research process as much as possible.

IPA	van der Kooy spelling
[a]	a
[aː]	ââ
[æ]	ä
[ai̯]	ai
[ɑː]	aa
[ɑːu̯]	aauw
[ɒːi̯]	aai
[ɒˑə̯] + r	aar
[ɒˑɪ̯]	aaₑ
[b]	b
[c]	tj
[d]	d
[dʷ]	dw
[eː]	ee
[ǝ]	e
[ɛ]	è
[ɛː]	èè
[ɛˑə̯ ~ ɛˑɔ̯] + r	èè(ₐ)r
[ɛˑɔ̯]	èèₐ
[ɛi̯]	ei
[ɛɔ̯]	èₐ
[ɛu̯]	èᵤ
[ɜ]	ö
[ɜː]	öö
[ɜˑə̯] + r	öör
[ɜi̯]	öi
[ɜu̯]	öuw
[f]	f
[ɡ]	g
[ɣ]	g
[h]	h
[i]	ie
[iː]	ii
[iːu̯]	iiuw
[iˑə̯] + r	iir
[iˑɔ̯]	iiₐ
[iu̯]	ieuw
[ɪ]	i
[ɪː]	éé
[ɪːu̯]	eeuw
[ɪˑə̯] + r	eer
[ɪˑɔ̯]	ééₐ
[ɪɔ̯]	iₐ
[j]	j
[k]	k
[kʷ]	kw
[l]	l
[m]	m
[n]	n
[ŋ]	ng
[ŋk]	nk
[o]	ó
[oː]	oo
[øː]	úú
[oːi̯]	ooi
[oˑə̯]	óóₐ
[øˑə̯] + r	úúr
[oˑɪ̯]	óóₑ
[œ]	ú
[øi̯]	úi
[ɔ]	ò
[ɔː]	òò
[ɔːi̯]	òòi
[ɔˑə̯] + r	òòr
[ɔˑɪ̯]	òòₑ
[ɔu̯]	ouw
[p]	p
[r]	r
[s]	s
[sʷ]	sw
[ʃ]	sj
[tʷ]	tw
[u]	oe
[uː]	oê
[uːi̯ ~ uə̯i̯]	oeₑi
[uːu̯]	oêʷ
[uˑə̯] + r	oer
[uˑɪ̯]	oeₑ
[ui̯]	oei
[ʋ]	w
[x]	g
[y]	uu
[yː]	uû
[yːɔ̯]	uuₐ
[yˑə̯] + r	uur
[yu̯]	uuw
[z]	z
[ʒ]	zj