The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Swedish and Norwegian pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.
See Swedish phonology and Norwegian phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of these languages. Examples in the table are Swedish unless otherwise noted.
| Consonants |
| IPA |
Examples |
Nearest English equivalent |
| Swed. |
Norw. |
| b |
abort ('abortion') |
about |
| ɕ |
ç |
Kina ('China') |
hue |
| d |
dag |
do |
| ɖ[1] |
nord ('north') |
order |
| f |
fot ('foot') |
fold |
| ɡ |
god ('good') |
ago |
| h |
hatt ('hat') |
hoot |
| ɧ[2] |
ʂ |
Swedish: sjö, Norwegian: sjø ('lake')
|
shoe |
| j |
jojo ('yo-yo') |
you |
| k |
kafé ('café') |
coo |
| l |
lake (Norwegian and Swedish: 'brine', 'burbot') |
love |
| ɭ[1] |
Karl (male first name) |
twirl |
| m |
man ('mane') |
mood |
| n |
natt ('night') |
noon |
| ɳ[1] |
barn ('child') |
turner |
| ŋ |
ting ('thing') |
long |
| p |
pappa ('father') |
pool |
| r[3] |
år ('year') |
A flapped or trilled R. |
| s |
sabel ('sabre') |
soon |
| ʂ[1] |
torsdag ('Thursday') |
marshal (in some dialects) |
| t |
torsdag ('Thursday') |
too |
| ʈ[1] |
parti ('political party') |
cartel |
| v |
vaktel ('quail') |
vote |
|
| Vowels |
| IPA |
Examples |
Nearest English equivalent |
| Swed. |
Norw. |
| ɑː |
mat [ˈmɑːt] "food" |
bra |
| a |
ɑ |
fast [ˈfast]/[ˈfɑst] "steady, unmoving" |
father |
| æː[4] |
ära [æːra]/"ære" [æːre] "honor" |
Australian ham |
| æ[4] |
fersk [ˈfæʂːk] "fresh" |
trap |
| eː |
hel [ˈheːl] "whole" |
Scottish save |
| ɛː |
|
häl [ˈhɛːl] "heel" |
there |
| ɛ |
häll/helle [ˈhɛl] "flat rock" |
hell |
| iː |
sil [ˈsiːl] "sieve" |
leaf |
| ɪ |
sill/sild [ˈsɪl]/[ˈsɪl(d)] "herring" |
hill |
| oː |
mål [ˈmoːl] "goal" |
Scottish/Canadian stove |
| ɔ |
moll [ˈmɔl] "minor" (music) |
moll, with round lips |
| øː |
dö/dø ['døː] "die" |
No English equivalent; German long ö |
| œ |
nött [ˈnœt] "worn" in Swedish
nøtt "nut" in Norwegian |
No English equivalent; German short ö |
| œː[4] |
|
öra [œːra] "ear" |
British learn or fur |
| ɵ |
ʉ |
full [ˈfɵl]/[ˈfʉl] "full" |
bird, with tight lips[5] |
| uː[5] |
bot [ˈbuːt] "penance" |
boot |
| ʉː[5] |
ful [ˈfʉːl] "ugly, cunning, sly" |
fuel, Australian food, with tight lips[6] |
| ʊ[5] |
bott [ˈbʊt] "lived" in Swedish |
put, with tight lips |
| yː[5] |
syl [ˈsyːl] "awl" |
No English equivalent; French u |
| ʏ[5] |
syll [ˈsʏl] "sleeper" (railroad) in Swedish;
fylle "fill" in Norwegian |
No English equivalent; German short ü |
| unstressed |
| ə |
begå [bəˈgoː] "commit" |
about |
| Stress and tone |
| IPA |
Examples from a rich regional variety |
|
| Swedish |
| ˈa |
[ˈandɛn]
"the duck" |
Tone 1 / acute accent:
• Single stress with single falling tone in Stockholm: [ˈândɛn]
• Low tone [ˈà] in Oslo and falling tone [ˈâ] in western Norway |
| ˈa.ˈa |
[ˈanˈdɛn]
"the spirit" |
Tone 2 / grave accent:
• Double stress with double falling tone in Stockholm: [ˈânˈdɛ̂n]
• Falling-rising tone [ˈâ] in Oslo and rising-falling tone in western Norway |
|
- ^ a b c d e In many of the dialects that have an apical rhotic consonant, a recursive Sandhi process of retroflexion occurs wherein clusters of /r/ and dental consonants /rd/, /rl/, /rn/, /rs/, /rt/ produce retroflex consonant realizations: [ɖ], [ɭ], [ɳ], [ʂ], [ʈ]. In dialects with a guttural R, such as Southern Swedish and many Southern and Western Norwegian dialects these are [ʀd], [ʀl], [ʀn], [ʀs], [ʀt].
- ^ Swedish /ɧ/ is a regionally variable sound, sometimes [xʷ], [ɸˠ], or [ʂ]
- ^ /r/ is regionally variable, being alveolar in some dialects and uvular in others.
- ^ a b c Before /r/, the quality of non-high front vowels is changed in Swedish. /ɛː/ and /ɛ/ lower to [æ]; /øː/, and /œ/ are lowered to [œ̞], though the diacritic is not included in the chart above for simplicity.
- ^ a b c d e f Vowels spelled u, o are compressed vowels. Those spelled ö/ø, y, å, on the other hand, are protruded vowels.
- ^ [ʉː] is a central vowel in Oslo, but a front vowel in Stockholm.
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