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')
|
Swedish: sheep; Norwegian: hue
|
| d
|
dag ('day')
|
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')
|
Swedish: Scottish English loch; Norwegian: 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"
|
British stack
|
| eː
|
hel [ˈheːl] "whole"
|
Scottish save
|
| ɛː
|
|
häl [ˈhɛːl] "heel"
|
there
|
| ɛ
|
häll/helle [ˈhɛl] "flat rock"
|
hell
|
| æː[4]
|
ära [æːra]/ære [æːre] "honour"
|
Australian ham
|
| æ[4]
|
färsk/fersk [ˈfæʂːk] "fresh"
|
trap
|
| 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 [ˈdøː] "die"
|
No English equivalent; German long ö
|
| œ
|
nött [ˈnœt] "worn" /nøtt "nut"
|
No English equivalent; German short ö
|
| œː[4]
|
|
öra [œːra] "ear"
|
No English equivalent; French sœur
|
| ʉː[5]
|
ful [ˈfʉːl] "ugly, cunning, sly"
|
fuel, Australian food, with tight lips[6]
|
| ɵ
|
ʉ
|
full [ˈfɵl]/[ˈfʉl] "full"
|
British butcher
|
| uː[5]
|
bot [ˈbuːt] "penance"
|
boot
|
| ʊ[5]
|
|
bott [ˈbʊt] "lived"
|
put, with tight lips
|
| yː[5]
|
syl [ˈsyːl] "awl"
|
No English equivalent; French long 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
|
|
- ↑ 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 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.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 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.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Vowels spelt u, o are compressed vowels. Those spelt ö/ø, y, å, on the other hand, are protruded vowels.
- ↑ [ʉː] is a central vowel in Oslo, but a front vowel in Stockholm.
