Sounds and pronunciation of the Swedish language
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Swedish has a large vowel inventory, with nine vowels distinguished in quality and to some degree in quantity, making 18 vowel phonemes in most dialects. Another notable feature is the pitch accent, a development which it shares with Norwegian. Swedish pronunciation of most consonants is similar to that of other Germanic languages.
There are 18 consonant phonemes, of which /ɧ/ and /r/ show considerable variation depending on both social and dialectal context.
Finland Swedish has a slightly different phonology.
The vowel phonemes of Central Standard Swedish in the Stockholm area. From Engstrand (1999:140)Swedish has nine vowels that, as in many other Germanic languages, exist in pairs of long and short versions.[1] The length covaries with the quality of the vowels, as shown in the table below (long vowels in the first column, short in the second), with short variants being more centered and lax.[1] The length is generally viewed as the primary distinction, with quality being secondary. No short vowels appear in open stressed syllables. The front vowels appear in rounded-unrounded pairs: /ʏ/–/ɪ/, /yː/–/iː/, /œ/–/ɛ/ and /øː/–/eː/.
Rounded vowels have two types of rounding:
Type of rounding is the primary way of distinguishing /ʉː, ɵ/ from /yː, œ/, especially in Central Standard Swedish.
/ɛː/, /ɛ/ (in stressed syllables), /øː/ (with a few exceptions) and /œ/ are lowered to [æː], [æ], [œ̞ː] and [œ̞], respectively, when preceding /r/.
The low allophones are becoming unmarked in younger speakers of Stockholm Swedish, so that läsa ('to read') and köpa ('to buy') are pronounced [ˈlæ̂ːsa] and [ˈɕœ̂ːpa] instead of standard [ˈlɛ̂ːsa] and [ˈɕø̂ːpa]. These speakers often also pronounce pre-rhotic /øː/ and /œ/ even lower, i.e. [ɶː] and [ɶ]. This is especially true for the long allophone. Also, the [ɶː] allophone is sometimes difficult to distinguish from the long /ɑː/.
In some pronunciations, traditionally characteristic of the varieties spoken around Gothenburg and in Östergötland, but today more common e.g. in Stockholm and especially in younger speakers, [œ] and [ɵ] merge, most commonly into [ɵ] (especially before [r] and the retroflex consonants). Words like fördömande ('judging', pronounced /fœrˈdœ̌mandɛ/ in Standard Swedish) and fördummande ('dumbing', pronounced /fœrˈdɵmandɛ/ in Standard Swedish) are then often pronounced similarly or identically, as [fɵˈɖɵmːandɛ].[16]
In Central Standard Swedish, unstressed /ɛ/ is slightly retracted [ɛ̠], but is still a front vowel rather than central [ə]. However, the latter pronunciation is commonly found in Southern Swedish. Therefore, begå 'to commit' is pronounced [bɛ̠ˈɡoː] in Central Standard Swedish and [bəˈɡoː] in Southern Swedish. Before /r/, southerners may use a back vowel [ɔ]. In Central Standard Swedish, a true schwa [ə] is commonly found as a vocalic release of word-final lenis stops, as in e.g. bädd [ˈbɛdːə] 'bed'.
In many central and eastern areas (including Stockholm), the contrast between short /ɛ/ and /e/ is lost. The loss of this contrast has the effect that hetta ('heat') and hätta ('cap') are pronounced the same.
In Central Standard Swedish, long /ɑː/ is weakly rounded [ɒ̜ː].[1][7] The rounding is stronger in Gothenburg and weaker in most North Swedish dialects.
One of the varieties of /iː/ is made with a constriction that is more forward than is usual. Peter Ladefoged and Ian Maddieson describe this vowel as being pronounced "by slightly lowering the body of the tongue while simultaneously raising the blade of the tongue (...) Acoustically this pronunciation is characterized by having a very high F3, and an F2 which is lower than that in /eː/." They suggest that this may be the usual Stockholm pronunciation of /iː/.
There is some variation in the interpretations of vowel length's phonemicity. Elert (1964),[22] for example, treats vowel quantity as its own separate phoneme (a "prosodeme") so that long and short vowels are allophones of a single vowel phoneme.
Patterns of diphthongs of long vowels occur in three major dialect groups. In Central Standard Swedish, the high vowels /iː/, /yː/, /ʉː/ and /uː/ are realized as narrow closing diphthongs with fully close ending points: [ɪ̝i ʏ̝y ɵ̝˖ʉ̟ ʊ̝u]. According to Engstrand, the second element is so close as to become a palatal or bilabial fricative: [ɪ̝ʝ ʏ̝ʝʷ ɵ̝˖βʲ ʊ̝β].[7] Elsewhere in the article, the broad transcription ⟨iː yː ʉː uː⟩ is used.
In Central Standard Swedish, /eː/, /øː/ and /oː/ are often realized as centering diphthongs [eə], [øə] and [oə].
In Southern Swedish dialects, particularly in Scania and Blekinge, the diphthongs are preceded by a rising of the tongue from a central position so that /ʉː/ and /ɑː/ are realized as [eʉ] and [aɑ] respectively. A third type of distinctive diphthongs occur in the dialects of Gotland. The pattern of diphthongs is more complex than those of southern and eastern Sweden; /eː/, /øː/ and /ʉː/ tend to rise while /ɛː/ and /oː/ fall; /uː/, /iː/, /yː/ and /ɑː/ are not diphthongized at all.
The table below shows the Swedish consonant phonemes in spoken Standard Swedish.[25]
/t, l/ are dental [t̪, l̪], but /n, d, s/ can be either dental [n̪, d̪, s̪] or alveolar [n, d, s]. If /d/ is alveolar, then /n/ is also alveolar. Dental realization of /n, d/ is the predominant one in Central Standard Swedish.
Initial fortis stops (/p, t, k/) are aspirated in stressed position, but unaspirated when preceded by /s/ within the same morpheme.[7] Hence ko ('cow') is [kʰuː], but sko ('shoe') becomes [skuː]. Compare English [kʰuːɫ] ('cool') vs [skuːɫ] ('school'). In Finland Swedish, aspiration does not occur and initial lenis stops /b, d, ɡ/ are usually voiced throughout.[29] Word-medial lenis stops are sometimes voiceless in Finland, a likely influence from Finnish.
Preaspiration of medial and final fortis stops, including the devoicing of preceding sonorants, is common, though its length and normativity varies from dialect to dialect, being optional (and idiolectal) in Central Standard Swedish but obligatory in, for example, the Swedish dialects of Gräsö, Vemdalen and Arjeplog. In Gräsö, preaspiration is blocked in certain environments (such as an /s/ following the fortis consonant or a morpheme boundary between the vowel and the consonant), while it is a general feature of fortis medial consonants in Central Standard Swedish. When not preaspirated, medial and final fortis stops are simply unaspirated. In clusters of fortis stops, the second "presonorant" stop is unaspirated and the former patterns with other medial final stops (that is, it is either unaspirated or is preaspirated).
The phonetic attributes of preaspiration also vary. In the Swedish of Stockholm, preaspiration is often realized as a fricative subject to the character of surrounding vowels or consonants so that it may be labial, velar, or dental; it may also surface as extra length of the preceding vowel. In the province of Härjedalen, though, it resembles [h] or [x]. The duration of preaspiration is highest in the dialects of Vemdalen and Arjeplog. Helgason notes that preaspiration is longer after short vowels, in lexically stressed syllables, as well as in pre-pausal position.
/s/ is dental [s̪] in Central Standard Swedish,[45][46] but retracted alveolar [s̠] in Blekinge, Bohuslän, Halland and Scania.
The Swedish fricatives /ɕ/ and /ɧ/ are often considered to be the most difficult aspects of Swedish pronunciation for foreign students. The combination of occasionally similar and rather unusual sounds as well as the large variety of partly overlapping allophones of /ɧ/ often presents difficulties for non-natives in telling the two apart. The existence of a third sibilant in the form of /s/ tends to confuse matters even more, and in some cases realizations that are labiodental can also be confused with /f/. The historic palatized kj and tj sound /ɕ/, is an affricate [t͡ɕ] or [t͡ʃ] in Finland Swedish.[29]
The Swedish phoneme /ɧ/ (the "sje-sound" or voiceless postalveolar-velar fricative) and its alleged coarticulation is a difficult and complex issue debated amongst phoneticians. Though the acoustic properties of its [ɧ] allophones are fairly similar, the realizations can vary considerably according to geography, age, gender as well as social context and are notoriously difficult to describe and transcribe accurately. Most common are various sh-like sounds, with [ʂ] occurring mainly in northern Sweden and [ɕ] in Finland. A voiceless uvular fricative, [χ], can sometimes be used in the varieties influenced by major immigrant languages like Arabic and Kurdish. The different realizations can be divided roughly into the following categories:
/r/ has distinct variations in Standard Swedish. For most speakers, the realization as an alveolar trill occurs only in contexts where emphatic stress is used.[citation needed] In Central Swedish, it is often pronounced as a fricative (transcribed as [ʐ]) or approximant (transcribed as [ɹ]),[7] which is especially frequent in weakly articulated positions such as word-finally[29] and somewhat less frequent in stressed syllable onsets, in particular after other consonants. It may also be an apico-alveolar tap.[29] One of the most distinct features of the southern varieties is the uvular realization of /r/, which may be a trill [ʀ], a fricative [ʁ] or an approximant [ʁ̞]. In Finland, /r/ is usually an apical trill [r], and may be an approximant [ɹ] postvocalically.
Examples of retroflexion[53] input output gloss Inflection /fœrt/ [fœ̞ːʈ] fört 'brought' sup /fœrs/ [fœ̞ːʂ] förs 'is brought' pass Derivation /fœrˈtɑːl/ [fœ̞ˈʈʰɑːl] förtal 'slander' /fœrˈsɔrj/ [fœ̞ˈʂɔrj] försorg 'taking care' Compounds /ˈfœ̂rˌtʉːr/ [ˈfœ̞̂ːˌʈʰʉːr] förtur 'priority' /ˈfœ̂rˌsɑːl/ [ˈfœ̞̂ːˌʂɑːl] försal 'antechamber' Across words /fœr ˈtɵn/ [fœ̞ˈʈʰɵnː] för tunn 'too thin' /fœr ˈseːn/ [fœ̞ˈʂeːn] för sen 'too late'In most varieties of Swedish that use an alveolar /r/ (in particular, the central and northern forms), the combination of /r/ with dental consonants (/t, d, n, l, s/) produces retroflex consonant realizations ([ʈ, ɖ, ɳ, ɭ, ʂ]), a recursive sandhi process called "retroflexion".[55] Thus, /ˈkɑ̂ːrta/ ('map') is realized as [kʰɑ̂ːʈa], /nuːrd/ ('north') as [nuːɖ], /ˈvɛ̂ːnern/ ('Vänern') as [ˈvɛ̂ːnɛɳ], and /fɛrsk/ ('fresh') as [fæʂːk]. The process of retroflexion is not limited to just one dental, and e.g. först is pronounced [fœ̞ʂʈ].[56] The combination of /r/ and /l/ does not uniformly cause retroflexion, so that it may also be pronounced with two separate consonants [rl], and even, occasionally in a few words and expressions, as a mere [l]. Thus sorl ('murmur') may be pronounced [soːɭ], but also [soːrl].
In Gothenburg and neighbouring areas (such as Mölndal and Kungälv) the retroflex consonants are substituted by alveolar ones, with their effects still remaining. For example: /kvɑːrn/ is [kvɑːn] not [kvɑːɳ], /hoːrd/ is [hoːd], not [hoːɖ]. However, /rs/, unlike what many other Swedes believe, is not [s] but [ʃ], i.e. /fɛrs/ is [fæʃː], not [fæsː].[citation needed]
As the adjacent table shows, this process is not limited by word boundaries, though there is still some sensitivity to the type of boundary between the /r/ and the dental in that retroflexion is less likely with boundaries higher up in the prosodic hierarchy. In the southern varieties, which use a uvular /r/,[59] retroflex realizations do not occur.[56] For example, /ˈkɑ̂ːrta/ ('map') is realized as [ˈkʰɑ̌ʁta] (note that Tone 2 in Malmö sounds like Tone 1 in Stockholm), etc. An /r/ spelled ⟨rr⟩ usually will not trigger retroflexion so that spärrnät /ˈspæ̂rˌnɛːt/ ('anti-sub net') is pronounced [ˈspæ̂rːˌnɛːt]. Retroflexion also does not usually occur in Finland.
Variations of /l/ are not as common, though some phonetic variation exists, such as a retroflex flap [ɽ] that exists as an allophone in proximity to a labial or velar consonant (e.g. glad ('glad')) or after most long vowels.[64]
In casual speech, the nasals tend to assimilate to the place of articulation of a following obstruent so that, for example, han kom ('he came') is pronounced [haŋ ˈkʰɔmː].
/v/ and /j/ are pronounced with weak friction and function phonotactically with the sonorants.[56]
Map of the major tonal dialects of Norwegian and Swedish, from Riad (2014).In Swedish, stress is not fixed. Primary stress can fall on one of the last three syllables in a word’s stem. This can lead to surface contrasts based solely on difference in position of stress:
Primary stressed syllables are always metrically heavy, i.e. contain either a long vowel or a short vowel followed by a consonant. In phonological analyses of Swedish, stressed syllables in underived forms are assumed to be associated with a basic moraic trochaic foot [μ μ]σ , e.g. bˈil 'car' (stress marked as (ˈ)). More whole-word based analyses of metrical structure where affixes are included also assume other foot types, in particular, syllabic trochaic feet [σ σ]Ft, bˈil-ar 'cars'. Affixes affect stress to a considerable degree in the sense that inflectional suffixes can never receive primary stress (bˈil-ar-na 'the cars'), whereas many derivational suffixes can tent-ˈabel 'examinable'. Disyllabic words with accent 2 like ˈandˌe ‘spirit’, kvˈinnˌa ‘woman’, bˈilˌar 'cars' have secondary stress on the second syllable. In the Swedish Academy's lexicon , these disyllables are transcribed with the stress pattern 3 2, e.g. kvin3a2 where (3) stands for primary stressed syllable with accent 2 and (2) represents a ‘secondary stressed’ syllable in words with accent 2). This secondary stress is assumed to have existed in Old Norse (see and references therein). Compound words have primary stress on the first element and secondary stress on the last element bˈil-dels-butˌiken 'car-part shop' (secondary stress marked as (ˌ)).
Stressed syllables carry one of two different tones, often described as pitch accents, or tonal word accents. They are called acute and grave accent, accent 1 and accent 2. The actual realization of these two tones varies from dialect to dialect. In the central Swedish dialect of Stockholm, accent 1 is characterized by a low tone at the beginning of the stressed syllable (fìsken 'the fish') and accent 2, by a high tone at the beginning of the stressed syllable (mátta 'mat'). When the word is in a prominent/focused position, a high tone often occurs following the word accent (fìskén). In accent 2 words, this results in two high tones within the word (e.g. máttá), hence the term "two-peaked" for this dialect. In southern Swedish, a "one-peaked" dialect, accent 1 is realized as a high tone at the beginning of the stressed syllable (físken) and accent 2, by a low tone (màtta). Generally, the grave accent is characterized by a later timing of the word accent pattern as compared with the acute accent.
The phonemicity of this tonal system is demonstrated in the nearly 300 pairs of two-syllable words differentiated only by their use of either grave or acute accent. Outside of these pairs, the main tendency for tone is that the acute accent appears in monosyllables (since the grave accent cannot appear in monosyllabic words) while the grave accent appears in polysyllabic words. Polysyllabic forms resulting from declension or derivation also tend to have a grave accent except when it is the definite article that is added. This tonal distinction has been present in Scandinavian dialects at least since Old Norse though a greater number of polysyllables now have an acute accent. These are mostly words that were monosyllabic in Old Norse, but have subsequently become disyllabic, as have many loanwords.[76] For example, Old Norse kømr ('comes') has become kommer in Swedish (with an acute accent).
The distinction can be shown with the minimal pair anden 'the mallard' (tone 1) and anden 'the spirit' (tone 2).
A Central Swedish realization of the difference between acute (single) and grave (double) accents
The exact realization of the tones also depends on the syllable's position in an utterance. For instance, at the beginning of an utterance, the acute accent may have a rising rather than slightly falling pitch on the first syllable. Also, these are word tones that are spread across the syllables of the word. In trisyllabic words with the grave accent, the second fall in pitch is distributed across the second and third syllables:
The position of the tone is dependent upon stress: The first stressed syllable has a high or falling tone, as does the following syllable(s) in grave-accented words.
In most Finland-Swedish varieties, however, the distinction between grave and acute accent is missing.
A reasonably complete list of uncontroversial so-called minimal pairs can be seen below.[77][circular reference] The two words in each pair are distinguished solely by having different tone (acute vs. grave). In those cases where both words are nouns it would have been possible to list the genitive forms of the words as well, thereby creating another word pair, but this has been avoided. A few word pairs where one of the words is a plural form with the suffix -or have been included. This is due to the fact that many Swedish-speakers in all parts of Sweden pronounce the suffix -or the same way as -er.[citation needed]
Translation acute Acute accent (accent I) Grave accent (accent II) Translation grave stern (of boat/ship) akter akter acts the elm almen allmän public, general the As A:na ana suspect the mallard anden anden the spirit the reverse gear, the crate backen backen the slope the ball (dance event) balen balen the nest the bulb (on horse) ballen ballen the dick (slang for penis) the Bs B:na bena parting (hair) binds binder bindor sanitary towels the piece biten biten bitten the book boken boken overripe, spoilt (of fruit) the nests bona bona polish the nests' (genitive of 'bona') bonas bonas be polished (passive of 'bona') the bristles borsten borsten the brush, the broom the brace (sailing) brassen brassen the Brazilian the letters breven brevvän pen pal breaks (present tense of 'brista') brister brister flaws the well brunnen brunnen burnt (past participle of 'brinna') the edges of forests brynen brynen whetstones the edge of a forest brynet brynet the whetstone the cage buren buren carried (past participle of 'bära') the pranks busen busen the hooligan the trolling spoons dragen dragen drawn (past participle of 'dra'), tipsy the draught, the trolling spoon draget draget drawn (past participle of 'dra') the speed, the energy drivet drivet drifted, driven (past participle of 'driva') the Es E:na ena unite, unify male name Enar enar junipers the falls fallen fallen fallen (past participle of 'falla') the fall fallet fallet fallen (past participle of 'falla') fastens fäster fester parties the fish fisken fisken acts of fishing the Fs F:en FN The UN the phone (in phonetics) fonen fånen the idiot the armfuls fången fången the prisoner the armful fånget fånget caught (past participle of 'fånga') the rug fällen fällen places where trees have been felled fells, cuts down fäller fällor traps (plural of the noun 'fälla') the party, the feast festen fästen places where something has been attached the bow (on ship/boat) fören fören conditions of the ground for travelling (plural of 'före') towards the bow (on ship/boat) förut förut before, earlier marries gifter gifter poisons (plural of 'gift') the poison giftet giftet the marriage the Js J:na gina tackle (sailing), take a shortcut the deal (in card games) given given given the candles ljusen gjusen the osprey the griffin gripen gripen grabbed, gripped (past participle of 'gripa') the walkway gången gången gone (past participle of 'gå') the heath heden heden heathen (adjective) has the time to do something hinner hinnor coatings the cuts (made with a heavy object like an axe) huggen huggen chopped (past participle of 'hugga') the directions hållen hållen held (past participle of 'hålla') the direction hållet hållet held (past participle of 'hålla') the Hs H:na håna mock, taunt higher högre högre the man to the right (as in 'den högre') the ide iden iden bears' dens for hibernation the Is I:na Ina female name ahead of, in front of inför inför introduces, introduce (present tense or imperative of 'införa') the sounds ljuden juden the Jew Japanese syllabary kana kana slide (noun/verb) the carat karaten karaten the karate the cat katten katten a profanity (as in for example 'Katten också!') the bang knallen knallen the small hill, the pedlar the knot knuten knuten tied (past participle of 'knyta') the bowler hat kubben kubben the chopping block (for wood) the litter (group of newborn animals) kullen kullen the hill the corps kåren kåren the breeze the lichen laven laven the headframe leads (present tense of 'leda') leder leder joints (anatomy) the military service lumpen lumpen contemptible, lousy the moth malen malen ground, milled (past participle of 'mala') the milk mjölken mjölken the fish seed the courage modet modet the fashion the mop moppen moppen the moped the names namnen namnen the namesake the norm normen norrmän Norwegians the tack nubben nubben the shot (alcohol) pinches (present tense of 'nypa') nyper nypor Grips made with the thumb against one or more of the other fingers (plural noun) name of a Norse God Oden oden odes the mite oret orätt injustice the rabble (definite plural of 'pack') packen packen the bale clown pajas pajas be destroyed (passive of 'paja') panther panter panter deposits Persians perser pärser ordeals Poland Polen pålen the pole (thick wooden stick) pollen pollen pållen the horsey radar radar radar present tense of 'rada', as in 'rada upp' (=list something) grid raster raster breaks (in school or at a workplace, i.e. for example coffee breaks) rule regel regel latch travels (present tense of 'resa') reser resor journeys, trips the melee, the fighting rivet rivet torn cylinder that rotates and is used for painting roller roller roles diamonds (in card games) ruter rutor squares, (window) panes the route rutten rutten rotten the rye rågen rågen the overmeasure the nymphs råna råna rob the horizontal bars (gymnastics) räcken räcken railings the horizontal bar (gymnastics) räcket räcket the railing runs ränner rännor chutes sabbath sabbat sabbat destroyed, sabotaged (past participle of 'sabba') cedar ceder seder customs (traditions) the Cs C:na sena late (plural of 'sen'), sinew cider cider sidor pages the view sikten sikten sights (on rifles, plural of 'sikte') the barks (dog sounds) skallen skallen the skull the spoon skeden skeden stages (of time) the shift skiftet skiftet the change the shifts skiften skiften changes the ejaculations skjuten skjuten shot (past participle of 'skjuta') the speed, the ejaculation skjutet skjutet shot (past participle of 'skjuta') the shots skotten skotten the Scotsman the (rain) shower skuren skuren cut (past participle of 'skära') the gunner skytten skytten acts of shooting the battles, the hits slagen slagen beaten the battle, the hit slaget slaget beaten the toil slitet slitet worn the ends sluten sluten closed (past participle of 'sluta') the end slutet slutet closed (past participle of 'sluta') the (extended) family släkten släkten genera (biology) the cop snuten snuten past participle of 'snyta' (=blow one's nose) the zoos zoona sona expiate the stocks (cooking) spaden spaden the spade the spas spana spana watch, observe, search bursts, cracks (present tense of the verb 'spricka') spricker sprickor cracks (plural of the noun 'spricka') the steps stegen stegen the ladder fights (present tense of 'strida') strider strider fights, battles (plural of the noun 'strid') the moving patches/bands (of something) stråken stråken the bow (for a violin) the stubble stubben stubben the tree stump the racks ställen ställen places (locations) the rack stället stället the place the sucking device sugen sugen sucked (past participle of 'suga'), in the mood for something the urge suget suget sucked (past participle of 'suga'), in the mood for something the seed, the grain säden säden things intended for sowing (plural of 'säde') the cell cellen sällen the brute the grips tagen tagen taken the grip taget taget taken the tank tanken tanken the thought toner toner toner tones the trot traven traven the pile, the stack the plot (of land) tomten tomten Santa Claus, the gnome the inch tummen tummen the thumb sign tecken täcken bed covers the point, the cusp udden udden the headland uphill uppför uppför present tense or imperative of 'uppföra' (=set up a theatre play, behave) downhill utför utför present tense or imperative of 'utföra' (=carry out) the hole in the ice vaken vaken awake the whale valen valen stiff, numb the shrouds (sailing) vanten vanten the mitten the vase vasen vasen the bundle of brushwood the bay viken viken folded (past participle of 'vika') makes a whistling sound (of for example wind) viner viner wines the knobs vreden vreden the rage, the wrath the host/the world värden/världen värden values male name Oskar åskar present tense of 'åska' (=thunder) the gravel ören ören pennies (plural of the monetary unit 'öre' used when no numeral immediately precedes the word) the gravel öret öret the penny (1/100 of a Swedish krona)Note that karaten/karaten is the only pair with more than two syllables (although we would get a second one if we used the definite forms of the pair perser/pärser, i.e. perserna/pärserna). The word pair länder ('countries', plural of land) and länder ('loins', plural of länd) could have been included, but this one is controversial.[78][circular reference] For those speakers who have grave accent in the plural of länd, the definite plural forms will also constitute a three-syllable minimal pair: länderna (acute accent, 'the countries') vs. länderna (grave accent, 'the loins'). Although examples with more than two syllables are very few in Standard Swedish, it is possible to find other three-syllable pairs in regional dialects, such as Värmländska: hunnera (acute, 'the Huns') vs. hunnera (grave, 'the dogs'), ändera/ännera (acute, 'the mallards') vs. ändera/ännera (grave, 'the ends'), etc.
Prosody in Swedish often varies substantially between different dialects including the spoken varieties of Standard Swedish. As in most languages, stress can be applied to emphasize certain words in a sentence. To some degree prosody may indicate questions, although less so than in English.
At a minimum, a stressed syllable must consist of either a long vowel or a short vowel and a long consonant. Like many other Germanic languages, Swedish has a tendency for closed syllables with a relatively large number of consonant clusters in initial as well as final position. Though not as complex as that of most Slavic languages, examples of up to 7 consecutive consonants can occur when adding Swedish inflections to some foreign loanwords or names, and especially when combined with the tendency of Swedish to make long compound nouns. The syllable structure of Swedish can therefore be described with the following formula:
This means that a Swedish one-syllable morpheme can have up to three consonants preceding the vowel that forms the nucleus of the syllable, and three consonants following it. Examples: skrämts /skrɛmts/ (verb 'scare' past participle, passive voice) or sprängts /sprɛŋts/ (verb 'explode' past participle, passive voice). All but one of the consonant phonemes, /ŋ/, can occur at the beginning of a morpheme, though there are only 6 possible three-consonant combinations, all of which begin with /s/, and a total of 31 initial two-consonant combinations. All consonants except for /h/ and /ɕ/ can occur finally, and the total number of possible final two-consonant clusters is 62.
In some cases this can result in very complex combinations, such as in västkustskt /ˈvɛ̂stˌkɵstskt/ⓘ, consisting of västkust ('west coast') with the adjective suffix -sk and the neuter suffix -t.
Central Standard Swedish and most other Swedish dialects feature a rare "complementary quantity" feature wherein a phonologically short consonant follows a long vowel and a long consonant follows a short vowel; this is true only for stressed syllables and all segments are short in unstressed syllables. This arose from the historical shift away from a system with a four-way contrast (that is, VːCː, VC, VːC and VCː were all possible) inherited from Proto-Germanic to a three-way one (VC, VːC and VCː), and finally the present two-way one; certain Swedish dialects have not undergone these shifts and exhibit one of the other two phonotactic systems instead. In literature on Swedish phonology, there are a number of ways to transcribe complementary relationship, including:
With the conventional assumption that medial long consonants are ambisyllabic (that is, penna ('pen'), is syllabified as [ˈpɛ̂n.na]), all stressed syllables are thus "heavy". In unstressed syllables, the distinction is lost between /u/ and /o/ or between /e/ /ɛ/.[29] With each successive post-stress syllable, the number of contrasting vowels decreases gradually with distance from the point of stress; at three syllables from stress, only [a] and [ɛ] occur.
The sample text is a reading of The North Wind and the Sun. The transcriptions are based on the section on Swedish found in The Handbook on the International Phonetic Association, in which a man in his forties from Stockholm is recorded reading out the traditional fable in a manner typical of Central Standard Swedish as spoken in his area. The broad transcription is phonemic, while the narrow is phonetic.[86]
Broad transcription[edit]/nuːrdanvɪndɛn ɔ suːlɛn tvɪstadɛ ɛn ɡɔŋː ɔm vɛm ɑːv dɔm sɔm vɑːr starkast || jɵst doː kɔm ɛn vandrarɛ vɛːɡɛn fram | ɪnsveːpt iː ɛn varm kapːa || dɔm kɔm doː øːvɛrɛns ɔm | at dɛn sɔm fœrst kɵndɛ foː vandrarɛn at ta ɑːv sɛj kapːan | han skɵlːɛ anseːs vɑːra starkarɛ ɛn dɛn andra || doː bloːstɛ nuːrdanvɪndɛn sɔ hoːrt han nɔnsɪn kɵndɛ | mɛn jʉː hoːrdarɛ han bloːstɛ dɛstʊ tɛːtarɛ sveːptɛ vandrarɛn kapːan ɔm sɛj | ɔ tɪl slʉːt ɡɑːv nuːrdanvɪndɛn ɵpː fœrsøːkɛt || doː lɛːt suːlɛn siːna stroːlar ɧiːna heːlt varmt ɔ jeːnast tuːɡ vandrarɛn ɑːv sɛj kapːan | ɔ soː vɑːr nuːrdanvɪndɛn tvɵŋɛn at eːrɕɛnːa at suːlɛn vɑːr dɛn starkastɛ ɑːv dɔm tvoː/
Narrow transcription[edit][ˈnuːɖaɱˌvɪnˑdɛn ɔ ˈsuːlɛn ˈtv̥ɪsːtadɛ ɛŋ ˈɡɔŋː ɔɱ ˈvɛmˑ ɑv ˌdɔm sɔɱ vɑˑ ˈstaɹːcast || ˈʝɵsˑt ˈd̥oː kʰɔm ɛɱ ˈvanːdɾaɾɛ ˈvɛːɡəɱ fɾam | ˈɪnˌsv̥eə̯pt iˑ ɛɱ vaɹˑm ˈcʰapːa || dɔm kʰɔm doˑ øə̯vɛˈɾɛnːs ˈɔmˑ at dɛn sɔm ˈfɵʂːʈ kʰɵnˑdɛ foˑ ˈvanːdɹ̝aɹɛn at ˈtʰɑː ɑˑv sɛj ˈcʰapːan | hanˑ skɵlˑɛ ˈanːˌseːs vɑˑ ˈstaɹːcaɾɛ ɛn dɛn ˈandɾa || doː ˈbloə̯stɛ ˈnuːɖaɱˌvɪnˑdɛn soˑ ˈhoːʈ han ˈnɔnːˌsɪŋ ˈkʰɵnːdɛ | mɛɳ ʝʉˑ ˈhoːɖaɾɛ ham ˈbloə̯stɛ | dɛsˑtʊ ˈtʰɛːtaɾɛ ˈsv̥eə̯ptɛ ˈvanːdɹ̝aɹɛŋ ˈcʰapːan ˈɔmˑ sɛj | ɔ tʰɪl ˈslʉːt ɡɑˑv ˈnuːɖaɱˌvɪnˑdɛn ˈɵpː fœ̞ˈʂøə̯cɛt || doˑ lɛˑt ˈsuːlɛn siˑna ˈstɾoːlaɹ ˈɧiːna heˑlt ˈvaɹːmt | ɔ ˈʝeːnast tʰuˑɡ ˈvanːdɹ̝aɹɛn ˈɑːv sɛj ˈcʰapːan | ɔ soˑ vɑˑ ˈnuːɖaɱˌvɪnˑdɛn ˈtvɵŋːɛn at ˈeːɹˌɕɛnːa at ˈsuːlɛn vɑˑ dɛn ˈstaɹːcastɛ ɑˑv dɔm ˈtv̥oː]
Orthographic version[edit]Nordanvinden och solen tvistade en gång om vem av dem som var starkast. Just då kom en vandrare vägen fram, insvept i en varm kappa. De kom då överens om att den som först kunde få vandraren att ta av sig kappan, han skulle anses vara starkare än den andra. Då blåste nordanvinden så hårt han någonsin kunde, men ju hårdare han blåste, desto tätare svepte vandraren kappan om sig, och till slut gav nordanvinden upp försöket. Då lät solen sina strålar skina helt varmt och genast tog vandraren av sig kappan, och så var nordanvinden tvungen att erkänna att solen var den starkaste av de två.
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