Swedish alphabet

The modern Swedish alphabet is a Latin-based alphabet consisting of 29 letters – the same letters that are found in the Basic modern Latin alphabet, plus three using diacritics:

Majuscule Forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Å

Ä

Ö

Minuscule Forms (also called lowercase or small letters)

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

r

s

t

u

v

w

x

y

z

å

ä

ö

In addition to the commonly occurring letters of the Latin alphabet, ‹a›-‹z›, the Swedish alphabet has the three letters, ‹å›, ‹ä› and ‹ö›. The letters ‹å›, ‹ä›, and ‹ö› are considered distinct letters in Swedish and are sorted after ‹z› as shown above (unlike the German umlauts in the German alphabet).

Since the additional letters do not mark grammatical variation, as in tense or mood, or syllable modification (diaeresis), they are not in function instances of diacritical marking. It is therefore not correct to refer to these characters as umlauts, despite the lack of a better term in English. The umlauted ‹ü› is recognised, but is only used in names of German origin. It is otherwise treated as a variant of ‹y› and is called a "German Y". In Swedish ‹y› is a vowel, and is pronounced as a consonant only in certain loanwords as a variant of ‹j›.

Until recently the letter ‹w› was treated as a variant form of ‹v› at least for sorting purposes, and this practice is still commonly encountered. However, in 2005 the Swedish Academy separated the two letters in conformity with international lexicographic practice. They appear under separate headings in the 13th edition of Svenska Akademiens Ordlista, released on 10 April 2006. ‹w› has nonetheless been an official letter in the Swedish alphabet, but sorted as if it were a ‹v›. The loanword webb is a word which has become rather common in Swedish since 1995.

The characters ‹à› (which is used only in the loanword à, from French) and ‹é› (used in some integrated loan words like idé and armé) are regarded simply as variants of ‹a› and ‹e›, respectively.

The above text relates to the formal status of the letters. Regarding actual usage, ‹q› is only used for the words quisling (traitor) and student terms such as gasque in Swedish, or for rare family names, a few loanwords, like queer, squash and quilting, and foreign geographic names, like Qatar. The letters ‹w› and ‹z› are used for names, and also for a few loanwords. The acute-accented ‹é› is used for well-integrated loan words like idé and armé. Also, á is a Swedish (old-fashioned) word, while ‹à› is used for a few rare non-integrated loanwords. For Swedish native personal names, ‹ü› and ‹è› and others are also used. For foreign names, ‹ç›, ‹ë›, ‹í›, ‹õ›, ‹ñ› and many others might be used, but are usually converted to ‹e›, ‹i›, ‹o›, etc.

Swedish newspapers and magazines have a tendency only to use letters available on the keyboard. ‹à›, ‹ë›, ‹í›, ‹ñ›, etc. are available on Swedish keyboards with a little effort, but usually not ‹æ› and ‹ø› (used in Danish and Norwegian), so ‹ae› or ‹ä›, and ‹ö› are usually substituted. The news agency TT follows this usage since some newspapers have no technical support for ‹æ› and ‹ø›, although there is a recommendation to use ‹æ› and ‹ø›.

The national population register can only use the letters ‹a›~‹z›, ‹å›, ‹ä›, ‹ö›, ‹ü›, ‹é›, ‹ç›, and maybe a few others, so immigrants with other Latin letters in their names will have the diacritic marks stripped.

Spellings for the sje-phoneme /ɧ/

Due to several phonetic combinations coalescing over recent centuries, the spelling of the the Swedish sje-sound is very eclectic. Some estimates claim that there are over 50 possible different spellings of the sound, though this figure is disputed. Garlén (1988) gives a list of 22 spellings (‹ch›, ‹che›, ‹g›, ‹ge›, ‹gi›, ‹ige›, ‹j›, ‹je›, ‹sc›, ‹sch›, ‹sh›, ‹shi›, ‹si›, ‹sj›, ‹sk›, ‹skj›, ‹ssi›, ‹ssj›, ‹stg›, ‹sti›, ‹stj, ‹ti›), but many of them are confined to only a few words, often loan words, and all of them except ‹sj›, ‹sch›, ‹skj›, ‹ssi›, and ‹ssj› can correspond to other sounds or sound sequences as well. Some spellings of the sje-sound are as follows:

• ‹sj› in native Swedish words, before both front (‹e›, ‹i›, ‹y›, ‹ä›, ‹ö›) and back vowels (‹a›, ‹o›, ‹u›, ‹å›);
• ‹sk› in native Swedish words before the front vowels ‹e›, ‹i›, ‹y›, ‹ä›, ‹ö›;
• ‹stj› in five words only, all enumerated in the phrase Det är lättare att stjäla en stjälk än att stjälpa en stjärna med stjärten. ("It is easier to steal a stalk than to overturn a star with the behind.");
• ‹skj› in five words only, four of which are enumerated in the phrase I bara skjortan skjuter han skjutsen in i skjulet. ("In just his shirt he pushes the vehicle into the shed.") The fifth word is skjuvning ("shear");
• ‹stg› in three words only: västgöte, östgöte, gästgiveri; each of these has an alternative pronunciation with /stj/;
• ‹sch› in all positions in a large number of German loanwords;
• ‹sh› in all positions in a large number of English loanwords;
• ‹ch› in most French loan words, but in final position often respelled ‹sch›; note that English loan words with this spelling usually use the tje-sound;
• ‹ge› mostly in the end of the word in a large number of French loanwords, like garage, prestige;
• ‹j› in French loanwords, for example jalusi;
• -tion, -sion, -ssion (pronounced /ɧon/) in a large number of words of Latin origin; in a few of these words, the sje-sound is preceded by a /t/ (e.g. nation, rationell);
• ‹xj› for the sequence /kɧ/ occurs only in the place-name Växjö;

References

• Garlén, Claes (1988), Svenskans fonologi i kontrastiv och typologisk belysning Studentlitteratur, Lund. 1988. ISBN 91-44-28151-X

See also

• Letter Å, Letter Ä, Letter Ö
• Finnish alphabet
• German alphabet
• Swedish phonology
• Danish and Norwegian alphabet
• Futhark