In a phonological perspective, single intervocalic consonants in Dutch are generally considered to be either autosyllabic or ambisyllabic depending on the nature of the preceding vowel. On the basis of a review of the relevant literature and recently obtained experimental results, it is argued that this phonological distinction does not have any clearly defined phonetic correlates. In this perspective, the concept of neutralization is discussed theoretically with respect to the degemination rule in Dutch. This discussion reveals a number of serious problems regarding the precise nature of neutralization in the case of the degemination rule in Dutch, i.e. whether it is contextual or absolute.