വിക്കിപീഡിയ:IPA for Swedish and Norwegian

The chart below shows how the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Swedish pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. The pronunciation is based primarily on Central Standard Swedish. See Swedish phonology for details about pronunciation.

Consonants
IPA	Examples	English approximation
b	bok^ⓘ	book
ɕ	kjol^ⓘ, tjock^ⓘ, kön^ⓘ	sheep
d	dop^ⓘ	dad
ɖ	nord^ⓘ^[1]	order
f	fot^ⓘ	foot
ɡ	god^ⓘ	good
h	hot^ⓘ	hat
ɧ	sju^ⓘ, stjärna^ⓘ, skör^ⓘ, station^ⓘ, pension^ⓘ, geni^ⓘ, choklad^ⓘ^[2]	somewhat like shoe (varies regionally)
j	jord^ⓘ, genom^ⓘ, Göteborg^ⓘ	yoyo
k	kon^ⓘ	cone
l	lov^ⓘ	lack
ɭ	kärl^ⓘ^[1]	somewhat like carl
m	mod^ⓘ	mode
n	nod^ⓘ	node
ɳ	barn^ⓘ^[1]	turner
ŋ	lång^ⓘ	long
p	pol^ⓘ	pole
r	rov^ⓘ^[3]	a trilled r when articulated clearly or in slow or formal speech; in normal speech, it is usually a tapped r or an alveolar approximant
s	sot^ⓘ	soot
ʂ	torsdag^ⓘ^[1]	marshal (in some dialects)
t	tok^ⓘ	tea
ʈ	parti^ⓘ^[1]	cartel
v	våt^ⓘ	vote

Rare sounds
IPA	Examples	English approximation
w	Wales	Wales
IPA	Examples	English approximation
aː	Audio file "Sv-Zlatan.ogg" not found, Audio file "Sv-Bratislava.ogg" not found	father
œɪ	Audio file "Sv-Creutz.ogg" not found, Audio file "Sv-Reuter.ogg" not found	void

Vowels
IPA	Examples	English approximation
a	matt^ⓘ	RP hat
ɑː	mat^ⓘ	bra
eː	fet^ⓘ	hear
ɛ	häll^ⓘ, fett^ⓘ	sell
ɛː	häl^ⓘ	RP pair
æ	värk^ⓘ^[4],verk^ⓘ^[4]	trap
æː	ära^ⓘ^[4]	ham
ɪ	sill^ⓘ	hit
iː	sil^ⓘ	leave
ɔ	moll^ⓘ^[5]	RP pot
oː	mål^ⓘ^[5]	floor
œ	nött^ⓘ^[5]	somewhat like RP nurse
œː	öra^ⓘ^[4]^[5]	somewhat like RP burn
øː	nöt^ⓘ^[5]	somewhat like RP burn
ɵ	full^ⓘ, musik^ⓘ^[5]^[6]	somewhat like put
ʉ	Audio file "Sv-duell.ogg" not found, Audio file "Sv-känguru.ogg" not found^[5]^[6]^[7]	somewhat like put; German müssen^ⓘ
ʉː	ful^ⓘ^[5]^[8]	like Scottish do; German üben^ⓘ
ʊ	bott^ⓘ^[5]	put
uː	bot^ⓘ^[5]	boot
ʏ	syll^ⓘ^[5]^[7]	like syllable; Norwegian Audio file "No-nytt.ogg" not found
yː	syl^ⓘ^[5]^[8]	somewhat like leave; Norwegian Audio file "No-lys.ogg" not found

Stress, tone and syllabification
IPA	Examples	Explanation
ˈ	anden [ˈanːdɛn]^[9]	tone 1 / acute accent:^[10] rising-falling tone in Stockholm: [ˈǎnːdɛ̂n] (സഹായം·വിവരണം) low-rising tone in Gothenburg: [ˈànːdɛ̌n] falling-low tone in Malmö: [ˈânːdɛ̀n] simple primary stress in Finland and some parts of Mainland Sweden: [ˈanːdɛn]^[11]
²	anden [²anːdɛn]^[9]	tone 2 / grave accent:^[10] falling-falling tone in Stockholm: [ˈânːdɛ̂n] (സഹായം·വിവരണം) falling-rising tone in Gothenburg: [ˈânːdɛ̌n] rising-falling tone in Malmö: [ˈǎnːdɛ̂n] simple primary stress in Finland and some parts of mainland Sweden: [ˈanːdɛn]^[11]
ˌ	Oxenstierna [²ʊksɛnˌɧæːɳa]	secondary stress, as in intonation
.	fria [²friː.a]	syllable break: co-op, rower

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 In many of the dialects that have an apical rhotic consonant, a recursive sandhi process of retroflexion occurs, and clusters of /r/ and dental consonants /rd/, /rl/, /rn/, /rs/, /rt/ produce retroflex consonant realisations: [ɖ], [ɭ], [ɳ], [ʂ], [ʈ]. In dialects with a guttural R, such as Southern Swedish, they are [ʁd], [ʁl], [ʁn], [ʁs], [ʁt].
↑ Swedish /ɧ/ varies regionally and is sometimes [xʷ], [ɸˠ], or [ʂ].
↑ /r/ varies considerably in different dialects. It is pronounced alveolar or similarly in virtually all dialects, but in South Swedish dialects, it is uvular, similar to the Parisian French "r". At the beginning of a syllable, it can also be pronounced as a fricative [ʒ], as in English "genre" or "vision".
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 Before /r/, the quality of non-high front vowels is changed: the unrounded vowels /ɛ/ and /ɛː/ are lowered to [æ] and [æː], whereas the rounded /[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "œ̫˔" not found in list|œ]]/ and /[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ø̫" not found in list|øː]]/ are lowered to open-mid [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "œ̫" not found in list|œ]]] and [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "œ̫" not found in list|œː]]]. For simplicity, no distinction is made between the mid [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "œ̫˔" not found in list|œ]]] and the open-mid [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "œ̫" not found in list|œ]]], with both being transcribed as ⟨œ⟩. Note that younger speakers use lower allophones [ɶ] and [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɶː" not found in list|ɶː]]].
↑ ^5.00 ^5.01 ^5.02 ^5.03 ^5.04 ^5.05 ^5.06 ^5.07 ^5.08 ^5.09 ^5.10 ^5.11 [ɔ, oː, œ, œː, øː, ʏ, yː] are protruded vowels, and [ɵ, ʉ, ʉː, ʊ, uː] are compressed. See roundedness for details.
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1
[[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɵ̞" not found in list|ɵ]]] and [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] are unstressed allophones of a single phoneme /ɵ/ (stressed /ɵ/ is always realized as [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɵ̞" not found in list|ɵ]]]):
- [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɵ̞" not found in list|ɵ]]] is used in all closed syllables (as in kultur [kɵlˈtʉːr] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)) but also in some open syllables, as in musikal [mɵsɪˈkɑːl] (സഹായം·വിവരണം). Some cases involve resyllabification caused by retroflexion, which makes the syllable open, as in kurtisan [kɵʈɪˈsɑːn] (സഹായം·വിവരണം).
- [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] appears only in open syllables. In some cases, [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] is the only possible realization, as in känguru [ˈɕɛŋːɡʉrʉ] (സഹായം·വിവരണം), such as when /ɵ/ appears in hiatus, as in duell [dʉˈɛlː] (സഹായം·വിവരണം).
- In other cases, [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɵ̞" not found in list|ɵ]]] is in free variation with [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] so musik can be pronounced as [mɵˈsiːk] (സഹായം·വിവരണം) or [mʉˈsiːk] (Riad (2014:28–29)). For simplicity, only [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɵ̞" not found in list|ɵ]]] will be used.
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1
The distinction between compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] and protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̫" not found in list|ʏ]]] is particularly difficult to hear for non-native speakers:
- Swedish compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] sounds very close to German compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ͍" not found in list|ʏ]]] (as in müssen [ˈmʏsn̩] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)).
- Swedish protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̫" not found in list|ʏ]]] sounds more similar to English unrounded [ɪ] (as in hit) than to German compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ͍" not found in list|ʏ]]], and it is very close to Norwegian protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̫" not found in list|ʏ]]] (as in nytt [nʏtː] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)).
↑ ^8.0 ^8.1
The distinction between compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ͍" not found in list|ʉː]]] and protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "y̫" not found in list|yː]]] is particularly difficult to hear for non-native speakers:
- Swedish compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ͍" not found in list|ʉː]]] sounds very close to German compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "y͍" not found in list|yː]]] (as in üben [ˈyːbn̩] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)).
- Swedish protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "y̫" not found in list|yː]]] sounds more similar to English unrounded [iː] (as in leave) than to German compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "y͍" not found in list|yː]]], and it is very close to Norwegian protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "y̫" not found in list|yː]]] (as in lys [lyːs] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)).
↑ ^9.0 ^9.1 Placed before the stressed syllable. For words with the second toneme, ⟨²⟩ will be used instead of the primary stress mark.
↑ ^10.0 ^10.1 Unless it is needed, the narrow phonetic transcription of Swedish tonemes is not to be used in articles.
↑ ^11.0 ^11.1 Finland Swedish, as well as few accents of Mainland Sweden, have a simple primary stress rather than a contrastive pitch accent. In such accents, anden (meaning 'wild duck') and anden (meaning 'spirit') are pronounced identically.

Bibliography

Engstrand, Olle (1999), "Swedish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 140–142, ISBN 0-521-63751-1
Riad, Tomas (2014), The Phonology of Swedish, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954357-1

External links

Lexin

[retroflex-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 In many of the dialects that have an apical rhotic consonant, a recursive sandhi process of retroflexion occurs, and clusters of /r/ and dental consonants /rd/, /rl/, /rn/, /rs/, /rt/ produce retroflex consonant realisations: [ɖ], [ɭ], [ɳ], [ʂ], [ʈ]. In dialects with a guttural R, such as Southern Swedish, they are [ʁd], [ʁl], [ʁn], [ʁs], [ʁt].

[2] Swedish /ɧ/ varies regionally and is sometimes [xʷ], [ɸˠ], or [ʂ].

[3] /r/ varies considerably in different dialects. It is pronounced alveolar or similarly in virtually all dialects, but in South Swedish dialects, it is uvular, similar to the Parisian French "r". At the beginning of a syllable, it can also be pronounced as a fricative [ʒ], as in English "genre" or "vision".

[rhotic-4] 4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 Before /r/, the quality of non-high front vowels is changed: the unrounded vowels /ɛ/ and /ɛː/ are lowered to [æ] and [æː], whereas the rounded /[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "œ̫˔" not found in list|œ]]/ and /[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ø̫" not found in list|øː]]/ are lowered to open-mid [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "œ̫" not found in list|œ]]] and [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "œ̫" not found in list|œː]]]. For simplicity, no distinction is made between the mid [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "œ̫˔" not found in list|œ]]] and the open-mid [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "œ̫" not found in list|œ]]], with both being transcribed as ⟨œ⟩. Note that younger speakers use lower allophones [ɶ] and [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɶː" not found in list|ɶː]]].

[roundedness-5] 5.00 ^5.01 ^5.02 ^5.03 ^5.04 ^5.05 ^5.06 ^5.07 ^5.08 ^5.09 ^5.10 ^5.11 [ɔ, oː, œ, œː, øː, ʏ, yː] are protruded vowels, and [ɵ, ʉ, ʉː, ʊ, uː] are compressed. See roundedness for details.

[shortu-6] 6.0 ^6.1 [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɵ̞" not found in list|ɵ]]] and [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] are unstressed allophones of a single phoneme /ɵ/ (stressed /ɵ/ is always realized as [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɵ̞" not found in list|ɵ]]]):

[[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɵ̞" not found in list|ɵ]]] is used in all closed syllables (as in kultur [kɵlˈtʉːr] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)) but also in some open syllables, as in musikal [mɵsɪˈkɑːl] (സഹായം·വിവരണം). Some cases involve resyllabification caused by retroflexion, which makes the syllable open, as in kurtisan [kɵʈɪˈsɑːn] (സഹായം·വിവരണം).

[[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] appears only in open syllables. In some cases, [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] is the only possible realization, as in känguru [ˈɕɛŋːɡʉrʉ] (സഹായം·വിവരണം), such as when /ɵ/ appears in hiatus, as in duell [dʉˈɛlː] (സഹായം·വിവരണം).

In other cases, [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɵ̞" not found in list|ɵ]]] is in free variation with [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] so musik can be pronounced as [mɵˈsiːk] (സഹായം·വിവരണം) or [mʉˈsiːk] (Riad (2014:28–29)). For simplicity, only [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɵ̞" not found in list|ɵ]]] will be used.

[7] [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɵ̞" not found in list|ɵ]]] is used in all closed syllables (as in kultur [kɵlˈtʉːr] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)) but also in some open syllables, as in musikal [mɵsɪˈkɑːl] (സഹായം·വിവരണം). Some cases involve resyllabification caused by retroflexion, which makes the syllable open, as in kurtisan [kɵʈɪˈsɑːn] (സഹായം·വിവരണം).

[8] [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] appears only in open syllables. In some cases, [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] is the only possible realization, as in känguru [ˈɕɛŋːɡʉrʉ] (സഹായം·വിവരണം), such as when /ɵ/ appears in hiatus, as in duell [dʉˈɛlː] (സഹായം·വിവരണം).

[9] In other cases, [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɵ̞" not found in list|ɵ]]] is in free variation with [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] so musik can be pronounced as [mɵˈsiːk] (സഹായം·വിവരണം) or [mʉˈsiːk] (Riad (2014:28–29)). For simplicity, only [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ɵ̞" not found in list|ɵ]]] will be used.

[closerounded1-7] 7.0 ^7.1 The distinction between compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] and protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̫" not found in list|ʏ]]] is particularly difficult to hear for non-native speakers:
Swedish compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] sounds very close to German compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ͍" not found in list|ʏ]]] (as in müssen [ˈmʏsn̩] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)).

Swedish protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̫" not found in list|ʏ]]] sounds more similar to English unrounded [ɪ] (as in hit) than to German compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ͍" not found in list|ʏ]]], and it is very close to Norwegian protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̫" not found in list|ʏ]]] (as in nytt [nʏtː] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)).

[11] Swedish compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̈" not found in list|ʉ]]] sounds very close to German compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ͍" not found in list|ʏ]]] (as in müssen [ˈmʏsn̩] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)).

[12] Swedish protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̫" not found in list|ʏ]]] sounds more similar to English unrounded [ɪ] (as in hit) than to German compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ͍" not found in list|ʏ]]], and it is very close to Norwegian protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ̫" not found in list|ʏ]]] (as in nytt [nʏtː] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)).

[closerounded2-8] 8.0 ^8.1 The distinction between compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ͍" not found in list|ʉː]]] and protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "y̫" not found in list|yː]]] is particularly difficult to hear for non-native speakers:
Swedish compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ͍" not found in list|ʉː]]] sounds very close to German compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "y͍" not found in list|yː]]] (as in üben [ˈyːbn̩] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)).

Swedish protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "y̫" not found in list|yː]]] sounds more similar to English unrounded [iː] (as in leave) than to German compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "y͍" not found in list|yː]]], and it is very close to Norwegian protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "y̫" not found in list|yː]]] (as in lys [lyːs] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)).

[14] Swedish compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "ʏ͍" not found in list|ʉː]]] sounds very close to German compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "y͍" not found in list|yː]]] (as in üben [ˈyːbn̩] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)).

[15] Swedish protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "y̫" not found in list|yː]]] sounds more similar to English unrounded [iː] (as in leave) than to German compressed [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "y͍" not found in list|yː]]], and it is very close to Norwegian protruded [[[ Error using {{ IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "y̫" not found in list|yː]]] (as in lys [lyːs] (സഹായം·വിവരണം)).

[stresstone-9] 9.0 ^9.1 Placed before the stressed syllable. For words with the second toneme, ⟨²⟩ will be used instead of the primary stress mark.

[narrow-10] 10.0 ^10.1 Unless it is needed, the narrow phonetic transcription of Swedish tonemes is not to be used in articles.

[finlandtonemes-11] 11.0 ^11.1 Finland Swedish, as well as few accents of Mainland Sweden, have a simple primary stress rather than a contrastive pitch accent. In such accents, anden (meaning 'wild duck') and anden (meaning 'spirit') are pronounced identically.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

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