The fourteen papers in this volume Studies in Dutch Phonology were collected by the editors in the course of 1977 and 1978, at the request of the editorial board of Dutch Studies. In their opinion the collection represents a fair cross-section of current research done in the field of phonology both inside and outside the Netherlands, and therefore con stitutes a very suitable starting point for the new series Dutch Studies of the Intemationale Vereniging voor Neerlandistiek. In the various contributions one will find treated several issues of current phonological interest, such as phonotactic constraints (by Brink), abstractness (by Goyvaerts, Robinson, Tiersma, Trommelen and Zonneveld), stress-assign ment and vowel-reduction (by Van MarIe and Predota), the interaction between phonology and morphology (by Kooij, De Rooij-Bronkhorst, and Schultink), rule ordering (Taeldeman), and lexical diffusion (Gerritsen and Jansen, and Zonneveld). These issues are discussed in relation to a number of well-known traditional topics of Dutch phonology, such as: affIxal stress-attraction; constraints on consonant-clusters; separable and inseparable verb-forms; stress and vowel reduction in derived vs. non derived, and 'native' vs. 'foreign' Dutch words; Auslautverhartung and assimilation of voice in obstruent-clusters; regularity and irregularity in open syllable lengthening, diminutive formation, plural formation, and the weakening of intervocalic d; and the properties and phonological represen tation of diphthongs. (Frans van Coetsem's paper "Loan Phonology: the Example of Dutch", originally intended as a contribution to this volume, but not completed as it went to the press, will appear elsewhere.
