Help:IPA/Swedish

Today, Help:IPA/Swedish is a topic that has captured the attention of millions of people around the world. With its impact on society, economy and culture, Help:IPA/Swedish is a phenomenon that deserves to be analyzed and understood in depth. Throughout history, Help:IPA/Swedish has played a crucial role in the evolution of humanity, influencing decision-making, the way we relate to each other, and the way we see the world around us. In this article, we will explore different aspects related to Help:IPA/Swedish, from its origin to its influence in the present, including its future potential. Through this analysis, we hope to shed light on a topic that continues to have a significant impact on our lives.

The chart below shows how the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Swedish pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

The Sweden pronunciation is based primarily on Central Standard Swedish, and the Finland one on Helsinki pronunciation. Recordings and example transcriptions in this help are in Sweden Swedish, unless otherwise noted.

See Swedish phonology and Swedish alphabet § Sound–spelling correspondences for a more thorough look at the sounds of Swedish.

Consonants
IPA Examples English approximation
Sweden

SWE

Swedish-speaking Finns

FIN

b bok book
ɕ kjol, tjock, kön sheep (SWE); cheap (FIN)
d dop dad
ɖ rd nord retroflex /d/
f fot foot
ɡ god good
h hot hat
ɧ ʃ sju, stjärna, skör, station, pension, geni, choklad somewhat like Scottish loch or sheep (varies regionally)
j jord, genom, Göteborg yoyo
k kon cone
l lov lack
ɭ rl rl retroflex /l/
m mod mode
n nod node
ɳ rn barn retroflex /n/
ŋ ng long
p pol pole
r rov Scottish rose; somewhat like American atom
s sot soot
ʂ rs torsdag retroflex /ʃ/, somewhat like shrine
t tok tool
ʈ rt parti retroflex /t/
v våt vote
Rare sounds
IPA Examples English approximation
w Wales Wales
Zlatan, Bratislava aha
Vowels
IPA Examples English approximation
Sweden

SWE

Swedish-speaking Finns

FIN

a ɑ matt cut
ɑː mat bra
æ värk, verk trap
æː ära ham
fet mayor
ɛ e häll, fett sell
ɛː häl RP pair
ɪ i sill hit
sil leave
ɔ o moll off
mål floor
œ ø nött somewhat like hurt
œ börja
œː öra somewhat like herd
øː nöt
ɵ ʉ full, musik moot
ʉ duell,
känguru
ʉː ful mood
ʊ u bott wool
bot rule
ʏ y syll somewhat like cute
syl somewhat like cube
Suprasegmentals
IPA Examples Explanation
Sweden

SWE

Swedish-speaking Finns

FIN

ˈ◌̌ ˈ◌ anden

'the duck'
tone 1 / acute accent:
ˈ◌̂ anden

'the spirit'
tone 2 / grave accent:
  • falling-falling tone in Stockholm:
  • falling-rising tone in Gothenburg:
  • rising-falling tone in Malmö:
ˌ Oxenstierna
secondary stress, as in intonation
ː Helsingfors
geminated consonant: fresh shrimp

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e 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: , , , , . In dialects with a guttural R, such as Southern Swedish, they are , , , , . In Finland Swedish, retroflexion might only occur in some varieties, especially among young speakers and in fast speech.
  2. ^ Sweden Swedish /ɧ/ varies regionally and is sometimes , , or .
  3. ^ /r/ varies considerably in different dialects: it is pronounced alveolar or similarly (a trilled r when articulated clearly or in slow or formal speech; in normal speech, usually a tapped r or an alveolar approximant) in virtually all dialects (most consistently in Finland), 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 , similar to in English genre or vision.
  4. ^ a b c d Before /r/, the quality of non-high front vowels is changed: the unrounded vowels /ɛ/ and /ɛː/ are lowered to and (except certain instances of unstressed /ɛ/), whereas the rounded /œ/ () and /øː/ are lowered to open-mid and . For simplicity, no distinction is made between the mid and the open-mid , with both being transcribed as œ. Note that younger speakers use lower allophones (which they tend to merge with /ɵ/ into ) and .
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m In Sweden, are protruded vowels, while are compressed. Instead, are compressed, while only are protruded in Finland. This makes Finland Swedish and sound closer to Sweden Swedish and , which are also fronted, rather than to their respective counterparts.
  6. ^ a b and are the Sweden Swedish unstressed allophones of a single phoneme /ɵ/ (stressed /ɵ/ is always realized as ):
    • is used in all closed syllables (as in kultur ) but also in some open syllables, as in musikal . Some cases involve resyllabification caused by retroflexion, which makes the syllable open, as in kurtisan .
    • appears only in open syllables. In some cases, is the only possible realization, as in känguru , or when /ɵ/ appears in hiatus, as in duell .
    • In other cases, is in free variation with so musik can be pronounced as or (Riad 2014:28–9). For simplicity, only ɵ will be used.
  7. ^ a b The distinction between compressed and protruded is particularly difficult to hear for non-native speakers:
    • Sweden Swedish compressed sounds very close to German compressed (as in müssen );
    • Sweden Swedish protruded sounds more similar to English unrounded (as in hit) than to German compressed , and it is very close to Norwegian protruded (as in nytt ).
  8. ^ a b The distinction between compressed and protruded is particularly difficult to hear for non-native speakers:
    • Sweden Swedish compressed sounds very close to German compressed (as in üben );
    • Sweden Swedish protruded sounds more similar to English unrounded (as in leave) than to German compressed , and it is very close to Norwegian protruded (as in lys ).
  9. ^ a b Finland Swedish, as well as a few accents of Mainland Sweden, have a simple primary stress (transcribed as ˈ) rather than a contrastive pitch accent. In such accents, a word like anden is always pronounced as regardless of its meaning. The variety of Swedish spoken in Åland usually resembles phonetically speaking the dialects of the Uppland area rather than other Finland Swedish varieties, but the pitch accent is still largely missing.
  10. ^ Consonants always tend to geminate after a stressed short vowel in Sweden Swedish. In Finland, this is not always true and between vowels usually only happens when the short vowel is followed by an orthographic geminate.

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
  • Hedelin, Per; Elert, Claes-Christian (1997), Norstedts svenska uttalslexikon, Norstedts, ISBN 91-1-971122-0
  • Reuter, Mikael (1971), "Vokalerna i finlandssvenska: En instrumentell analys och ett försök till systematisering enligt särdrag" (PDF), Studier i nordisk filologi (in Swedish), 46, Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland: 240–249
  • Riad, Tomas (2014), The Phonology of Swedish, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954357-1

See also

External links