Swedish phonology

Swedish has a large vowel inventory, with nine vowels distinguished in quality and to some degree quantity, making 17 vowel phonemes in most dialects. Swedish pronunciation of most consonants is similar to that of other Germanic languages. Another notable feature is the pitch accent, which is unusual for European languages.

There are 18 consonant phonemes of which /ɧ/ and /r/ show considerable variation depending on both social and dialectal context.

Standard pronunciation

There is no uniform nationwide spoken Standard Swedish. Instead there are several regional standard varieties (acrolects or prestige dialects), i.e. the most intelligible or prestigious forms of spoken Swedish, each within its area.

The differences in the phonology of the various forms of prestigious Central Swedish can be considerable, although as a rule less marked than between localized dialects, including differences in prosody, vowel quality and assimilation. The differences between the various regional dialects may be compared with those of General American, Australian English and British Received Pronunciation.

In Sweden, the Central Swedish varieties often go under the name of rikssvenska ('National Swedish'). Finlandssvenska is another notable variety, with a slightly different phonology.

Vowels

The vowel phonemes of Central Standard Swedish. From Engstrand (1999:140)

	Front				Central		Back
	unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	ɪ	iː	ʏ	yː		ʉː	ʊ	uː
Close-mid		eː		øː				oː
Open-mid	ɛ	ɛː	œ		ɵ		ɔ
Open					a			ɑː

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.[2] No short vowels appear in open stressed syllables.[3] The front vowels appear in rounded-unrounded pairs.

Vowel	Example	Vowel	Example
iː	/siːl/ sil ('sieve')	ɪ	/sɪlː/ sill ('herring')
eː	/heːl/ hel ('whole')	ɛ	/²hɛtːa/ hetta ('heat')
ɛː	/hɛːl/ häl ('heel')
ɑː	/mɑːt/ mat ('food')	a	/matː/ matt ('listless; matte')
oː	/moːl/ mål ('goal')	ɔ	/mɔlː/ moll ('minor (music)')
uː	/buːt/ bot ('penance')	ʊ	/bʊtː/ bott ('lived') (supine)
ʉː	/fʉːl/ ful ('ugly')	ɵ	/fɵlː/ full ('full')
yː	/syːl/ syl ('awl')	ʏ	/sʏlː/ syll ('sleeper (railroad tie)')
øː	/nøːt/ nöt ('nut')	œ	/nœtː/ nött ('worn')

• Central Standard Swedish /ʉː/ is near-close near-front [ʏː].[4] In other dialects it may be central.
• /ɛ, œ, ɵ/ are mid [ɛ̝, œ̝, ɵ̞].[4]
• /a/ has been variously described as central [ä][4] and front [a].[5]

Rounded vowels have two types of rounding:

• /ɵ/, /ʉː/, /ʊ/ and /uː/ are compressed [ɘ̞ᵝ], [ɪᵝː], [ʊᵝ] and [ɯᵝː][6][7][8][9][10]
• /ʏ/, /yː/, /œ/ and its pre-/r/ allophone [œ], /øː/ and its pre-/r/ allophone [œː], /ɔ/ and /oː/ are protruded [ɪʷ], [iʷː], [ɛ̝ʷ], [ɛʷ], [eʷː], [ɛʷː], [ʌʷ] and [ɤʷː].[6][7][10][11][12]

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/.[13][14][15]

• ära /²ɛːra/ → [²æːra] ('honor')
• ärt /ˈɛrt/ → [ˈæʈː] ('pea')
• öra /²øːra/ → [²œːra] ('ear')
• dörr /ˈdœr/ → [ˈdœrː] ('door')

The low allophones are becoming unmarked in younger speakers of Stockholm Swedish, so that läsa ('to read') and köpa ('to buy') are pronounced [²læːsa] and [²ɕœːpa] instead of standard [²lɛːsa] and [²ɕøːpa].[15] These speakers often also pronounce pre-rhotic /øː/ and /œ/ even lower, i.e. [ɶː] and [ɶ].[15] This is especially true for the long allophone.[15] Also, the [ɶː] allophone is sometimes difficult to distinguish from the long /ɑː/.[15]

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 [fœˈɖœmːandɛ] in Standard Swedish) and fördummande ('dumbing', pronounced [fœˈɖɵmːandɛ] in Standard Swedish) are then often pronounced similarly or identically, as [fɵˈɖɵmːandɛ].[16][17]

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'.[18]

In many central and eastern areas (including Stockholm), the contrast between short /ɛ/ and /e/ is lost,[19] except before /r/ when the subtle vowel distinction between the words herre 'master' and märr 'mare' is kept.[20] 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][21] The rounding is stronger in Gothenburg and weaker in most North Swedish dialects.[21]

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/.[22]

There is some variation in the interpretations of vowel length's phonemicity. Elert (1964),[23] 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].[24] 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.[25]

Consonants

The table below shows the Swedish consonant phonemes in spoken Standard Swedish.[26]

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
Fricative		f	s	ɕ	ɧ	h
Approximant		v	l	j
Rhotic			r

/t, l/ are dental [t̪, l̪],[27] but /n, d, s/ can be either dental [n̪, d̪, s̪] or alveolar [n, d, s].[28] If /d/ is alveolar, then /n/ is also alveolar.[29] Dental realization of /n, d/ is the predominant one in Central Standard Swedish.[29]

Stops

Phoneme	Example
p	/puːl/ pol ('pole') (of axis)
b	/buːk/ bok ('book')
t	/tuːk/ tok ('fool')
d	/duːp/ dop ('christening')
k	/kuːn/ kon ('cone')
ɡ	/ɡuːd/ god ('good')

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.[20][30] Word-medial lenis stops are sometimes voiceless in Finland, a likely influence from Finnish.[30]

Preaspiration of medial[31] and final fortis stops,[32] including the devoicing of preceding sonorants[33] is common,[34][35] though its length and normativity varies from dialect to dialect, being optional (and idiolectal[36]) in Central Standard Swedish but obligatory in, for example, the Swedish dialects of Gräsö,[37] Vemdalen and Arjeplog.[38] In Gräsö, preaspiration is blocked in certain environments (such as an /s/ following the fortis consonant[39] or a morpheme boundary between the vowel and the consonant[33]), while it is a general feature of fortis medial consonants in Central Standard Swedish.[33] When not preaspirated, medial and final fortis stops are simply unaspirated.[40] 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).[41]

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.[42] In the province of Härjedalen, though, it resembles [h] or [x].[42] The duration of preaspiration is highest in the dialects of Vemdalen and Arjeplog.[43] Helgason notes that preaspiration is longer after short vowels, in lexically stressed syllables, as well as in pre-pausal position.[31][44]

Fricatives

Phoneme	Example
f	/fuːt/ fot ('foot')
s	/suːt/ sot ('soot')
ɕ	/ɕuːl/ kjol ('skirt')
ɧ	/ɧuːk/ sjok ('chunk')
h	/huːt/ hot ('threat')

/s/ is dental [s̪] in Central Standard Swedish,[45][46] but retracted alveolar [s̠] in Blekinge,[47] Bohuslän,[47] Halland[47] and Scania.[47]

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/. In Finland Swedish, /ɕ/ is an affricate: [t͡ɕ] or [t͡ʃ].[20]

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.[48] Though the acoustic properties of its [ɧ] allophones are fairly similar, the realizations can vary considerably according to geography, social status, 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:[49]

• "Dark sounds" – [x], commonly used in the Southern Standard Swedish. Some of the varieties specific, but not exclusive, to areas with a larger immigrant population commonly realize the phoneme as a voiceless uvular fricative [χ].
• "Light sounds" – [ʂ], used in the northern varieties and [ʃ], and [ɕ] (or something in between) in Finland Swedish.
• Combination of "light" and "dark" – darker sounds are used as morpheme initials preceding stressed vowels (sjuk 'sick', station 'station'), while the lighter sounds are used before unstressed vowels and at the end of morphemes (bagage 'baggage', dusch 'shower').

Sonorants

Phoneme	Example
m	/muːd/ mod ('courage')
n	/nuːd/ nod ('node')
ŋ	/lɔŋ/ lång ('long')
r	/ruːv/ rov, ('prey')
l	/luːv/ lov, ('tack')
v	/voːt/ våt ('wet')
j	/juːrd/ jord ('earth')

/r/ has distinct variations in Standard Swedish. The realization as an alveolar trill occurs among most speakers only in contexts where emphatic stress is used. In Central Swedish, it is often pronounced as a fricative (transcribed as [ʐ])[50] or approximant (transcribed as [ɹ]),[7] which is especially frequent in weakly articulated positions such as word-finally[20] and somewhat less frequent in stressed syllable onsets, in particular after other consonants.[50] It may also be an apico-alveolar tap.[20] One of the most distinct features of the southern varieties is the uvular realization of /r/, which may be a trill [ʀ],[51] a fricative [ʁ] or an approximant [ʁ̞]. In Finland, /r/ is usually an apical trill [r], and may be an approximant [ɹ] postvocalically.[52]

Examples of retroflexion[53]

	input	output		gloss
Inflection	/før–t/	[fœ̞ːʈ]	fört	'brought' sup
	/før–s/	[fœ̞ːʂ]	förs	'is brought' pass
Derivation	/før–tal/	[fœ̞ˈʈʰɑːl]	förtal	'slander'
	/før–sɔrj/	[fœ̞ˈʂɔrj]	försorg	'taking care'
Compounds	/før–tʉr/	[²fœ̞ːʈʰʉ̟ːr]	förtur	'priority'
	/før–sal/	[²fœ̞ːʂɑːl]	försal	'antechamber'
Across words	/før tɵnː/	[fœ̞ˈʈʰɵnː]	för tunn	'too thin'
	/før sen/	[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, a recursive sandhi process called "retroflexion".[54][55] Thus, /²kɑːrta/ ('map') is realized as [²kʰɑːʈa], /nuːrd/ ('north') as [nuːɖ], /ˈvɛːnern/ ('Vänern') as [ˈvɛːnɛɳ], and /fɛrsk/ ('fresh') as [fæʂːk]. 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].[56]

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. /fεrs/ is [fεʃː], not [fεsː].

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.[57] In the southern varieties, which use a uvular /r/,[58] retroflex realizations do not occur.[59] For example, /²kɑːrta/ ('map') is realized as [²kʰɑʁta], etc.[60] A double sequence /rr/ usually will not trigger retroflexion so that spärrnät ('anti-sub net') is pronounced [²spærːnɛːt].[61] The process of retroflexion is not limited to just one dental, and e.g. först is pronounced [fœ̞ʂʈ].[59] Retroflexion also does not usually occur in Finland.[62][63]

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].[65]

/v/ and /j/ are pronounced with weak friction and function phonotactically with the sonorants.[59]

Stress and pitch

Map of the major tonal dialects of Norwegian and Swedish, from Riad (2014).
• Dark areas have a low tone in accent 2, whereas the light areas have a high tone in accent 2.
• The isogloss marks the boundary between connective and non-connective dialects. East and north of it, all of the compounds get accent 2, whereas west and south of the isogloss, compounds vary in accent.

As in English, there are many Swedish word pairs that are differentiated by stress:

• formel [ˈfɔrːmɛl] — 'formula'
• formell [fɔrˈmɛlː] — 'formal'

Stressed syllables differentiate two tones,[66] often described as pitch accents, or tonal word accents by Scandinavian linguists.[67] They are called acute and grave accent, tone/accent 1 and tone/accent 2, or Single Tone and Double Tone. The actual realizations of these two tones varies from dialect to dialect.[68] In the central Swedish dialect of Stockholm, accent 1 is an LHL contour and accent 2 is an HLHL contour (with the second peak in the second syllable).[69] Generally, the grave accent is characterized by a later timing of the intonational pitch rise as compared with the acute accent; the so-called two-peaked dialects (such as Central and Western Swedish) also have another, earlier pitch peak in the grave accent, hence the term "two-peaked".

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.[70] 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.[71] For example, Old Norse kømr ('comes') has become kommer in Swedish (with an acute accent).[70]

The distinction can be shown with the minimal pair anden 'the duck' (tone 1) and anden 'the spirit' (tone 2).

• Acute accent: /ˈanden/ (realized [ˈa᷇ndɛ̀n] = [ˈan˥˧dɛn˩]) 'the duck' (from and 'duck')

In Central Swedish, this is a high, slightly falling tone followed by a low tone; that is, a single drop from high to low pitch spread over two syllables.

• Grave accent: /²anden/ (realized [ˈa᷆ndɛ̂n] = [ˈan˧˩dɛn˥˩]) 'the spirit' (from ande 'spirit')

In Central Swedish, a mid falling tone followed by a high falling tone; that is, a double falling tone.

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:

• Grave-accent trisyllable: flickorna /²flɪkːʊɳa/ (realized [ˈflɪ᷆kːʊ᷇ɳà] = [ˈflɪ˧˩kːʊ˥˧ɳa˩]) 'the girls'

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.[72] 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.

Acute accent (accent I)	Grave accent (accent II)	Translation acute	Translation grave
akter	akter	stern (of boat/ship)	acts
almen	allmän	the elm	public, general
A:na	ana	the A's	suspect
anden	anden	the duck	the spirit
backen	backen	the reverse gear, the crate	the slope
balen	balen	the ball (dance event)	the nest
ballen	ballen	the bulb (on horse)	the dick (slang for penis)
B:na	bena	the B's	parting (hair)
binder	bindor	binds	sanitary towels
biten	biten	the piece	bitten
boken	boken	the book	overripe, spoilt (of fruit)
bona	bona	the nests	polish
bonas	bonas	the nests' (genitive of 'bona')	be polished (passive of 'bona')
borsten	borsten	the bristles	the brush, the broom
brassen	brassen	the brace (sailing)	the Brazilian
breven	brevvän	the letters	pen pal
brister	brister	breaks (present tense of 'brista')	flaws
brunnen	brunnen	the well	burnt (past participle of 'brinna')
brynen	brynen	the edges (of for example forest)	whetstones
brynet	brynet	the edge (of for example forest)	the whetstone
buren	buren	the cage	carried (past participle of 'bära')
busen	busen	the pranks	the hooligan
dragen	dragen	the trolling spoons	drawn (past participle of 'dra'), tipsy
draget	draget	the draught, the trolling spoon	drawn (past participle of 'dra')
drivet	drivet	the speed, the energy	drifted, driven (past participle of 'driva')
E:na	ena	the E's	unite, unify
Enar	enar	male name	junipers
fallen	fallen	the falls	fallen (past participle of 'falla')
fallet	fallet	the fall	fallen (past participle of 'falla')
fäster	fester	fastens	parties
fisken	fisken	the fish	acts of fishing
F:en	FN	the F's	The UN
fonen	fånen	the phone (in phonetics)	the idiot
fången	fången	the armfuls	the prisoner
fånget	fånget	the armful	caught (past particple of 'fånga')
fällen	fällen	the rug	places where trees have been felled
fäller	fällor	fells, cuts down	traps (plural of the noun 'fälla')
festen	fästen	the party, the feast	places where something has been attached
fören	fören	the bow (on ship/boat)	conditions of the ground for travelling (plural of 'före')
förut	förut	towards the bow (on ship/boat)	before, earlier
gifter	gifter	marries	poisons (plural of 'gift')
giftet	giftet	the poison	the marriage
J:na	gina	the J's	tackle (sailing), take a shortcut
given	given	the deal (in card games)	given
ljusen	gjusen	the candles	the osprey
gripen	gripen	the griffin	grabbed, gripped (past participle of 'gripa')
gången	gången	the walkway	gone (past participle of 'gå')
heden	heden	the heath	heathen (adjective)
hinner	hinnor	has the time to do something	coatings
huggen	huggen	the cuts (made with a heavy object like an axe)	chopped (past participle of 'hugga')
hållen	hållen	the directions	held (past participle of 'hålla')
hållet	hållet	the direction	held (past participle of 'hålla')
H:na	håna	the H's	mock, taunt
högre	högre	higher	the man to the right (as in 'den högre')
iden	iden	the ide	bears' dens for hibernation
I:na	Ina	the I's	female name
inför	inför	ahead of, in front of	introduces, introduce (present tense or imperative of 'införa')
ljuden	juden	the sounds	the Jew
karaten	karaten	the carat	the karate
katten	katten	the cat	a profanity (as in for example 'Katten också!')
knallen	knallen	the bang	the small hill, the pedlar
knuten	knuten	the knot	tied (past participle of 'knyta')
kubben	kubben	the bowler hat	the chopping block (for wood)
kullen	kullen	the litter (group of newborn animals)	the hill
kåren	kåren	the corps	the breeze
laven	laven	the lichen	the headframe
leder	leder	leads (present tense of 'leda')	joints (anatomy)
lumpen	lumpen	the military service	contemptible, lousy
malen	malen	the moth	ground, milled (past participle of 'mala')
mjölken	mjölken	the milk	the fish seed
modet	modet	the courage	the fashion
moppen	moppen	the mop	the moped
namnen	namnen	the names	the namesake
normen	norrmän	the norm	Norwegians
nubben	nubben	the tack	the shot (alcohol)
nyper	nypor	pinches (present tense of 'nypa')	Grips made with the thumb against one or more of the other fingers (plural noun)
Oden	oden	name of a Norse God	odes
oret	orätt	the mite	injustice
packen	packen	the rabble (definite plural of 'pack')	the bale
pajas	pajas	clown	be destroyed (passive of 'paja')
panter	panter	panther	deposits
perser	pärser	Persians	ordeals
Polen	pålen	Poland	the pole (thick wooden stick)
pollen	pållen	pollen	the horsey
radar	radar	radar	present tense of 'rada', as in 'rada upp' (=list something)
raster	raster	grid	breaks (in school or at a workplace, i.e. for example coffee breaks)
regel	regel	rule	latch
reser	resor	travels (present tense of 'resa')	journeys, trips
rivet	rivet	the melee, the fighting	torn
roller	roller	cylinder that rotates and is used for painting	roles
ruter	rutor	diamonds (in card games)	squares, (window) panes
rutten	rutten	the route	rotten
rågen	rågen	the rye	the overmeasure
råna	råna	the nymphs	rob
räcken	räcken	the horizontal bars (gymnastics)	railings
räcket	räcket	the horizontal bar (gymnastics)	the railing
ränner	rännor	runs	chutes
sabbat	sabbat	sabbath	destroyed, sabotaged (past participle of 'sabba')
ceder	seder	cedar	customs (traditions)
C:na	sena	the C's	late (plural of 'sen'), sinew
cider	sidor	cider	pages
sikten	sikten	the view	sights (on rifles, plural of 'sikte')
skallen	skallen	the barks (dog sounds)	the skull
skeden	skeden	the spoon	stages (of time)
skiftet	skiftet	the shift	the change
skiften	skiften	the shifts	changes
skjuten	skjuten	the ejaculations	shot (past participle of 'skjuta')
skjutet	skjutet	the speed, the ejaculation	shot (past participle of 'skjuta')
skotten	skotten	the shots	the Scotsman
skuren	skuren	the (rain) shower	cut (past participle of 'skära')
skytten	skytten	the gunner	acts of shooting
slagen	slagen	the battles, the hits	beaten
slaget	slaget	the battle, the hit	beaten
slitet	slitet	the toil	worn
sluten	sluten	the ends	closed (past participle of 'sluta')
slutet	slutet	the end	closed (past participle of 'sluta')
släkten	släkten	the (extended) family	genera (biology)
snuten	snuten	the cop	past participle of 'snyta' (=blow one's nose)
zoona	sona	the zoos	expiate
spaden	spaden	the stocks (cooking)	the spade
spana	spana	the spas	watch, observe, search
spricker	sprickor	bursts, cracks (present tense of the verb 'spricka')	cracks (plural of the noun 'spricka')
stegen	stegen	the steps	the ladder
strider	strider	fights (present tense of 'strida')	fights, battles (plural of the noun 'strid')
stråken	stråken	the moving patches/bands (of something)	the bow (for a violin)
stubben	stubben	the stubble	the tree stump
ställen	ställen	the racks	places (locations)
stället	stället	the rack	the place
sugen	sugen	the sucking device	sucked (past participle of 'suga'), in the mood for something
suget	suget	the urge	sucked (past participle of 'suga'), in the mood for something
säden	säden	the seed, the grain	things intended for sowing (plural of 'säde')
cellen	sällen	the cell	the brute
tagen	tagen	the grips	taken
taget	taget	the grip	taken
tanken	tanken	the tank	the thought
toner	toner	toner	tones
traven	traven	the trot	the pile, the stack
tomten	tomten	the plot (of land)	Santa Claus, the gnome
tummen	tummen	the inch	the thumb
tecken	täcken	sign	bed covers
udden	udden	the point, the cusp	the headland
uppför	uppför	uphill	present tense or imperative of 'uppföra' (=set up a theatre play, behave)
utför	utför	downhill	present tense or imperative of 'utföra' (=carry out)
vaken	vaken	the hole in the ice	awake
valen	valen	the whale	stiff, numb
vanten	vanten	the shrouds (sailing)	the mitten
vasen	vasen	the vase	the bundle of brushwood
viken	viken	the bay	folded (past participle of 'vika')
viner	viner	makes a whistling sound (of for example wind)	wines
vreden	vreden	the knobs	the rage, the wrath
värden/världen	värden	the host/the world	values
Oskar	åskar	male name	present tense of 'åska' (=thunder)
ören	ören	the gravel	pennies (plural of the monetary unit 'öre' used when no numeral immediately precedes the word)
öret	öret	the gravel	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.[73] 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 ducks) 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.

Phonotactics

At a minimum, a stressed syllable must consist of either a long vowel or a short vowel and a long consonant.[74] 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:

(C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)

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 [skrɛmːts] (verb 'scare' past participle, passive voice) or sprängts [sprɛŋːts] (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 near-unpronounceable combinations, such as in västkustskt /²vɛstkɵstskt/, consisting of västkust ('west coast') with the adjective suffix -sk and the neuter suffix -t.[75]

Central Standard Swedish and most other Swedish dialects feature a rare "complementary quantity" feature[76] 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.[34][37] 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.[77] In literature on Swedish phonology, there are a number of ways to transcribe complementary relationship, including:[78]

• A length mark ː for either the vowel (/viːt/),[79] the consonant (/vitː/),[80] or both.
• Gemination of the consonant (/vit/ vs. /vitt/)
• Diphthongization of the vowel (/vijt/ vs. /vit/)
• The position of the stress marker (/viˈt/ vs. /vitˈ/)

With the conventional assumption that medial long consonants are ambisyllabic (that is, penna ('pen'), is syllabified as [²pɛn.na]), all stressed syllables are thus "heavy".[78] In unstressed syllables, the distinction is lost between /u/ and /o/ or between /e/ /ɛ/.[20] 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.[75]

Sample

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. The broad transcription is phonemic while the narrow is phonetic.

Broad transcription

/nuːrdanvɪndɛn ɔ suːlɛn tvɪstadɛ ɛn ɡoŋ ɔm vɛm ɑv dɔm sɔm vɑr starkast || jɵst do kɔm ɛn vandrarɛ vɛːɡɛn fram ɪnsveːpt ɪ ɛn varm kapa || dɔm kɔm doː øvɛrɛns ɔm at dɛn sɔm fœrst kɵndɛ fo vandrarɛn at ta ɑv sɛj kapan | han skɵlɛ anseːs vɑra starkarɛ ɛn dɛn andra || doː bloːstɛ nuːrdanvɪndɛn sɔ hoːrt han nɔnsɪn kɵndɛ | mɛn jʉ hoːrdarɛ han bloːstɛ dɛstʊ tɛːtarɛ sveːptɛ vandrarɛn kapan ɔm sɛj | ɔ tɪ slʉːt ɡɑv nuːrdanvɪndɛn ɵp fœrsøːkɛt || doː lɛːt suːlɛn sɪna stroːlar ɧiːna helt varmt ɔ jènast tuːɡ vandrarɛn ɑv sɛj kapan ɔ so vɑ nuːrdanvɪndɛn tvɵŋɛn atː eːrɕɛna at suːlɛn vɑː dɛn stàrkastɛ ɑv dɔm tvoː/

Narrow transcription

[ˈnuːɖaɱˌvɪnːdɛn ɔ ˈsuːlɛn ˈtv̥ɪsːtadɛ ɛŋ ɡɔŋː ɔɱ ˈvɛmˑ ɑˑv ˈdɔmˑ sɔɱ vɑː ˈstaɹːcast || ˈjɵst ˈd̥oː ˈkʰɔm ɛɱ ˈvanːdɾaɾɛ ˈvɛːɡɛɱ fɾamˑ ˈɪnːˌsv̥eə̯pt iˑ ɛɱ vaɹˑm ˈcʰapːa || dɔm kʰɔm ˈdoː øə̯vɛˈɾɛnːs ˈɔmˑ at d̥ɛnˑ sɔmˑ fɵʂˑʈ kʰɵndɛ fo ˈvanˑdɹaɹɛn at tʰɑː ˈɑːv sɛj ˈcʰapːan | hanˑ skɵlːɛ ˈanˑˌseːs ˈvɑ ˈstarːcaɾɛ ɛn dɛn ˈanˑdɾa || doː ˈbloə̯stɛ ˈnuwɖaɱˌvɪnˑdɛn soː hoːʈ han ˈnɔnˑsɪn ˈkʰɵndɛ | mɛn jɵ ˈhoːɖaɾɛ ham ˈbloə̯stɛ dɛstʊ ˈtʰɛːtaɾɛ ˈsv̥eə̯ptɛ ˈvanˑdɹaɹɛŋ ˈcʰapːan ˈɔmˑ sɛj | ɔ tɪ slʏ̹ːt ɡɑːv ˈnuːɖaɱˌvɪnˑdɛn ɵpː fœ̞ˈʂøə̯kɛt || doː lɛːt ˈsuːlɛn sɪna ˈstɾoːlaɹ ˈɧiːna heːlt vaɹːmt ɔ ˈʝeːnast tʰuːɡ ˈvanˑdɹ̝aɹɛn ˈɑːv sɛj ˈcʰapːan ɔ soː vɑ ˈnuːɖaɱˌvɪnˑdɛn ˈtv̥ɵŋːːɛn at ˈeːɹˌɕɛnːa atˑ ˈsuːlɛɱ vɑː ɖɛn ˈstaɹːcastɛ ɑːv dɔmˑ tv̥oə̯]

Orthographic version

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 nånsin 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.

Notes

1. Andersson (2002), p. 272.
2. Schaeffler (2005), p. 26; citing Elert (1964), Gårding (1974), and Bannert (1976).
3. Schaeffler (2005), pp. 7–8.
4. Engstrand (1999), p. 140.
5. Thorén & Petterson (1992), p. 15.
6. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), pp. 295–6.
7. Engstrand (1999), p. 141.
8. Elmquist (1915), p. 31.
9. Thorén & Petterson (1992), pp. 11–2, 14–5, 17–8.
10. Riad (2014), p. 27.
11. Elmquist (1915), p. 33.
12. Thorén & Petterson (1992), pp. 8–11, 13–4, 16–7.
13. Eliasson (1986), p. 273.
14. Thorén & Petterson (1992), pp. 13–5.
15. Riad (2014), p. 38.
16. Engstrand (2004), pp. 115–6.
17. Riad (2014), pp. 29, 38–9.
18. Riad (2014), pp. 22, 48–9.
19. Fant (1983), p. 2.
20. Andersson (2002), p. 273.
21. Riad (2014), pp. 35–6.
22. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 292. The symbols "i" and "e" used in the original citation were changed to /iː/ and /eː/ to keep this article consistent.
23. Cited in Schaeffler (2005, p. 8).
24. McAllister, Lubker & Carlson (1974); cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996, p. 295).
25. Elert (2000), pp. 38–43.
26. Table adapted from Engstrand (2004, p. 167).
27. Riad (2014), pp. 46, 67.
28. Riad (2014), pp. 46, 58.
29. Riad (2014), p. 46.
30. Ringen & Suomi (2012).
31. Helgason (1998), p. 53.
32. Ringen & Helgason (2004), p. 56.
33. Helgason (1999a), p. 80.
34. Tronnier (2002), p. 33.
35. Helgason (1999b), p. 1851.
36. Helgason (1999b), p. 1854.
37. Wretling, Strangert & Schaeffler (2002), p. 703; citing Helgason (1999a).
38. Wretling, Strangert & Schaeffler (2002), p. 706.
39. Helgason (1999b), p. 1853.
40. Ringen & Helgason (2004), p. 59.
41. Petrova et al. (2006), p. 20; citing Ringen & Helgason (2004).
42. Liberman (1978), pp. 64ff.
43. Wretling, Strangert & Schaeffler (2002), p. 704.
44. Helgason (1999b), pp. 1852–3.
45. Engstrand (1999), pp. 140–1.
46. Engstrand (2004), p. 167.
47. Adams (1975), p. 289.
48. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), pp. 171–2, 329–30.
49. Garlén (1988), pp. 71–2.
50. Elert (2000).
51. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), pp. 225–6.
52. Riad (2014), pp. 68, 75.
53. Table modified from Hamann (2003, p. 84), citing Eliasson (1986).
54. Eliasson (1986), pp. 278–9.
55. "Postalveolarization" and "supradentalization" are also common terms.
56. Eliasson (1986), p. 279.
57. Hamann (2003), p. 84; citing Eliasson (1986, p. 282).
58. Those south of Kalmar, Jönköping and Falkenberg; a little north of these cities, a uvular rhotic appears in initial position and as a long consonant (Andersson 2002, p. 273).
59. Andersson (2002), p. 274.
60. Garlén (1988), pp. 73–4.
61. Eliasson (1986), p. 281.
62. Riad (2014), p. 73.
63. Reuter (1992), p. 108.
64. Andersson (2002), pp. 273–4.
65. Eliasson (1986), p. 276.
66. Schaeffler (2005), p. 4.
67. Thorén (1997).
68. Liberman (1982), p. 3.
69. Riad (2006), pp. 38–9.
70. Liberman (1982), p. 13.
71. Engstrand (2004), pp. 186–90.
72. Translated from a Swedish-only Wikipedia article.
73. From the Discussion section of the Swedish article.
74. Schaeffler (2005), p. 7.
75. Garlén (1988), pp. 101–14.
76. Schaeffler (2005), p. 9.
77. Schaeffler (2005), p. 39.
78. Schaeffler (2005), p. 8; citing Elert (1964).
79. E.g. Elert (1964, p. 43).
80. E.g. Eliasson & La Pelle (1973) and Riad (1992).

References

• Adams, Douglas Q. (1975), "The Distribution of Retracted Sibilants in Medieval Europe", Language, Linguistic Society of America, 51 (2): 282–292, doi:10.2307/412855, JSTOR 412855
• Andersson, Erik (2002), "Swedish", in König, Ekkehard; van der Auwera, Johan (eds.), The Germanic Languages, Routledge language family descriptions, Routledge, pp. 271–312, ISBN 0-415-28079-6
• Bannert, R. (1976), Mittelbayerische Phonologie auf Akustischer und Perzeptorischer Grundlage, Lund: Gleerup
• Elert, Claes-Christian (1964), Phonologic Studies of Quantity in Swedish, Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell
• Elert, Claes-Christian (2000), Allmän och svensk fonetik (in Swedish) (8th ed.), Stockholm: Norstedts, ISBN 91-1-300939-7
• Eliasson, Stig (1986), "Sandhi in Peninsular Scandinavian", in Anderson, Henning (ed.), Sandhi Phenomena in the Languages of Europe, Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 271–300
• Eliasson, Stig; La Pelle, N. (1973), "Generativa regler för svenskans kvantitet", Arkiv för nordisk filologi, 88: 133–148
• Elmquist, A. Louis (1915), Swedish phonology, Chicago: The Engberg-Holmberg Publishing Company
• 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
• Engstrand, Olle (2004), Fonetikens grunder (in Swedish), Lund: Studenlitteratur, ISBN 91-44-04238-8
• Fant, G. (1983), "Feature analysis of Swedish vowels – a revisit", Speech, Music and Hearing Quarterly Progress and Status Report, 24 (2–3): 1–19
• Garlén, Claes (1988), Svenskans fonologi (in Swedish), Lund: Studenlitteratur, ISBN 91-44-28151-X
• Gårding, E. (1974), Kontrastiv prosodi, Lund: Gleerup
• Hamann, Silke (2003), The Phonetics and Phonology of Retroflexes, Utrecht, ISBN 90-76864-39-X
• Helgason, Pétur (1998), "On-line preaspiration in Swedish: implications for historical sound change", Proceedings of Sound Patterns of Spontaneous Speech, 98, pp. 51–54
• Helgason, Pétur (1999a), "Preaspiration and sonorant devoicing in the Gräsö dialect: preliminary findings.", Proceedings of the Swedish Phonetics Conference 1999, Gothenburg Papers in Theoretical Linguistics, Göteborg University, pp. 77–80
• Helgason, Pétur (1999b), "Phonetic preconditions for the development of normative preaspiration", Proceedings of the 14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, San Francisco, pp. 1851–1854
• Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-19815-4.
• Liberman, Anatoly (1978), "Pseudo-støds in Scandinavian languages", Orbis, 27: 52–76
• Liberman, Anatoly (1982), Germanic Accentology, 1: The Scandinavian Languages, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
• McAllister, Robert; Lubker, James; Carlson, Johann (1974), "An EMG study of some characteristics of the Swedish rounded vowels", Journal of Phonetics, 2: 267–278
• Petrova, Olga; Plapp, Rosemary; Ringen, Ringen; Szentgyörgyi, Szilárd (2006), "Voice and aspiration: Evidence from Russian, Hungarian, German, Swedish, and Turkish", The Linguistic Review, 23: 1–35, doi:10.1515/tlr.2006.001
• Reuter, Mikael (1992), "Swedish as a pluricentric language", in Clyne, Michael (ed.), Pluricentric Languages: Differing Norms in Different Nations, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 101–116
• Riad, Tomas (1992), Structures in Germanic Prosody, Department of Scandinavian Languages, Stockholm University
• Riad, Tomas (2006), "Scandinavian accent typology" (PDF), STUF - Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung, 59 (1): 36–55, doi:10.1524/stuf.2006.59.1.36, archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-08
• Riad, Tomas (2014), The Phonology of Swedish, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954357-1
• Ringen, Catherine; Helgason, Pétur (2004), "Distinctive [voice] does not imply regressive assimilation: evidence from Swedish", International Journal of English Studies: Advances in Optimality Theory, 4 (2): 53–71
• Ringen, Catherine; Suomi, Katri (2012), "The voicing contrast in Fenno-Swedish stops", Journal of Phonetics, 40 (3): 419–429
• Schaeffler, Felix (2005), "Phonological Quantity in Swedish Dialects", Phonum, 10
• Thorén, Bosse; Petterson, Nils-Owe (1992), Svenska Utifrån Uttalsanvisningar, ISBN 91-520-0284-5
• Thorén, Bosse (1997), Swedish prosody
• Tronnier, Mechtild (2002), "Preaspiration in Southern Swedish dialects", Proceedings of Fonetik, 44 (1): 33–36
• Wretling, P.; Strangert, E.; Schaeffler, F. (2002), "Quantity and Preaspiration in Northern Swedish Dialects", in Bel, B; Marlien, I. (eds.), Proceedings of the Speech Prosody 2002 conference, Aix-en-Provence: Laboratoire Parole et Langage, pp. 703–706

Further reading

• Bolander, Maria (2001), Funktionell svensk grammatik (1st ed.), Liber AB, ISBN 9789147050543
• Dahlstedt, Karl-Hampus (1967), Svårigheter i svenskans uttal, Modersmålslärarnas förening
• Garlén, Claes (2003), Svenska Spraknamndens Uttalsordbok, Svenska Spraknamnden, ISBN 978-9172273092
• Hedelin, Per (1997), Norstedts Svenska Uttalslexikon, Norstedts Ordbok, ISBN 9789119711229
• Kuronen, Mikko (2000), Vokaluttalets akustik i sverigesvenska, finlandssvenska och finska (PDF), University of Jyväskylä, ISBN 978-951-39-4093-5
• Kuronen, Mikko (2001), "Acoustic character of vowel pronunciation in Sweden-Swedish and Finland-Swedish" (PDF), Lund University Department of Linguistics Working Papers (49): 94–97
• Leinonen, Therese (2010), An Acoustic Analysis of Vowel Pronunciation in Swedish Dialects (PDF), University of Groningen, ISBN 978-90-367-4450-8
• Lundskær-Nielsen, Tom; Barnes, Michael; Lindskog, Annika (2005), Introduction to Scandinavian phonetics: Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, Alfabeta, ISBN 978-8763600095
• Rosenqvist, Håkan (2007), Uttalsboken: svenskt uttal i praktik och teori, Stockholm: Natur & Kultur, ISBN 978-91-27-40645-2
• Torp, Arne (2001), "Retroflex consonants and dorsal /r/: mutually excluding innovations? On the diffusion of dorsal /r/ in Scandinavian", in van de Velde, Hans; van Hout, Roeland (eds.), 'r-atics, Brussels: Etudes & Travaux, pp. 75–90, ISSN 0777-3692

External links

• Introduction to Swedish – A guide to pronunciation (Stockholm School of Economics)