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') | she (Swedish), hue (Norwegian) | | d | dag | do | | ɖ[1] | nord ('north') | order | | f | fot ('foot') | fold | | ɡ | god ('good') | ago | | h | hatt ('hat') | hoot | | ɧ[2] | ʃ | Swedish: sjok ('chunk'), Norwegian: sjø ('sea')
| loch etc. (Swedish)
shoe (Norwegian) | | j | jojo ('yo-yo') | you | | k | kafé ('café') | coo | | l | lake (Norwegian: 'brine', Norwegian and Swedish: '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 | ʋ | vaktel ('quail') | vote in Swedish;
between v and w in Norwegian |
| | 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] "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 | |
|---|
| 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 tone [ˈâ] in Oslo and rising-falling tone in western Norway |
|
Notes
- ↑ अ आ इ ई उ 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.
- ↑ अ आ इ 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.
- ↑ अ आ इ ई उ ऊ 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.
Bibliography