Uitspraken

Uitspraken is a Dutch noun with several related senses, depending on context. In everyday language, it denotes statements or utterances made by a person or organization. A public figure might make a controversial uitspraak, or an official body might issue a formal uitspraak in a report or press release. In legal discourse, een uitspraak refers to a court decision or ruling, including the judgment and its reasoning. Courts and other authorities issue uitspraken that resolve disputes and establish legal standards.

In linguistics and phonetics, uitspraak means pronunciation—the way a word or phrase is articulated. This use covers segmental realization of sounds, as well as prosody, intonation, stress, and tempo. Discussions of regional accents, standard Dutch, or language teaching often distinguish between written spelling and spoken uitspraak.

The plural uitspraken can therefore refer to multiple statements, multiple pronunciations, or multiple legal rulings, with the precise sense dictated by surrounding text. Common phrases include: een uitspraak doen (to make a statement or to issue a ruling), de uitspraak van een woord (the pronunciation of a word), and de uitspraken van de rechtbank (the court’s rulings).

Etymology-wise, uitspraak is formed from uit- (out, away) and spraak (speech), conveying the notion of speech being spoken outward. In translation, the most appropriate English equivalent for uitspraken depends on context and can be statement, declaration, judgment, or pronunciation.