Help:IPA/Swedish

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Swedish on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Swedish in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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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
SWE	FIN	Examples	English approximation
b		bok^ⓘ	book
ɕ	tɕ	kjol^ⓘ, tjock^ⓘ, kön^ⓘ	sheep (SWE); cheap (FIN)
d		dop^ⓘ	dad
ɖ	rd	nord^ⓘ^[1]	retroflex /d/
f		fot^ⓘ	foot
ɡ		god^ⓘ	good
h		hot^ⓘ	hat
ɧ	ʃ	sju^ⓘ, stjärna^ⓘ, skör^ⓘ, station^ⓘ, pension^ⓘ, geni^ⓘ, choklad^ⓘ^[2]	somewhat like Scottish loch or sheep (varies regionally)
j		jord^ⓘ, genom^ⓘ, Göteborg^ⓘ	yoyo
k		kon^ⓘ	cone
l		lov^ⓘ	lack
ɭ	rl	kärl^ⓘ^[1]	retroflex /l/
m		mod^ⓘ	mode
n		nod^ⓘ	node
ɳ	rn	barn^ⓘ^[1]	retroflex /n/
ŋ		lång^ⓘ	long
p		pol^ⓘ	pole
r		rov^ⓘ^[3]	Scottish rose; somewhat like American atom
s		sot^ⓘ	soot
ʂ	rs	torsdag^ⓘ^[1]	retroflex /ʃ/, somewhat like shrine
t		tok^ⓘ	tool
ʈ	rt	parti^ⓘ^[1]	retroflex /t/
v		våt^ⓘ	vote

Rare sounds
IPA	Examples	English approximation
w	Wales	Wales
aː	Zlatan, Bratislava	aha

Vowels
IPA		Examples	English approximation
SWE	FIN	Examples	English approximation
a	ɑ	matt^ⓘ	cut
ɑː		mat^ⓘ	bra
æ		värk^ⓘ, verk^ⓘ^[4]	trap
æː		ära^ⓘ^[4]	ham
eː		fet^ⓘ	mayor
ɛ	e	häll^ⓘ, fett^ⓘ	sell
ɛː	eː	häl^ⓘ	RP pair
ɪ	i	sill^ⓘ	hit
iː		sil^ⓘ	leave
ɔ	o	moll^ⓘ^[5]	off
oː		mål^ⓘ^[5]	floor
œ	ø	nött^ⓘ^[5]	somewhat like hurt
œ	œ	börja^ⓘ^[4]^[5]	somewhat like hurt
œː		öra^ⓘ^[4]^[5]	somewhat like herd
øː		nöt^ⓘ^[5]	somewhat like herd
ɵ	ʉ	full^ⓘ, musik^ⓘ^[5]^[6]	moot
ʉ	ʉ	duell, känguru^[5]^[6]^[7]	moot
ʉː		ful^ⓘ^[5]^[8]	mood
ʊ	u	bott^ⓘ^[5]	wool
uː		bot^ⓘ^[5]	rule
ʏ	y	syll^ⓘ^[5]^[7]	somewhat like cute
yː		syl^ⓘ^[5]^[8]	somewhat like cube

Suprasegmentals
IPA		Examples	Explanation
SWE	FIN	Examples	Explanation
ˈ◌̌	ˈ◌	anden [ˈǎnːdɛn] 'the duck'	tone 1 / acute accent:^[9] rising-falling tone in Stockholm: [ˈǎnːdɛ̂n]^ⓘ low-rising tone in Gothenburg: [ˈànːdɛ̌n] falling-low tone in Malmö: [ˈânːdɛ̀n]
ˈ◌̂	ˈ◌	anden [ˈânːdɛn] 'the spirit'	tone 2 / grave accent:^[9] falling-falling tone in Stockholm: [ˈânːdɛ̂n]^ⓘ falling-rising tone in Gothenburg: [ˈânːdɛ̌n] rising-falling tone in Malmö: [ˈǎnːdɛ̂n]
ˌ		Oxenstierna [ˈʊ̂ksɛnˌɧæːɳa]	secondary stress, as in intonation
ː		Helsingfors [hɛlsɪŋˈfɔʂː]^ⓘ	geminated consonant: fresh shrimp^[10]

^ ^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: [ɖ], [ɭ], [ɳ], [ʂ], [ʈ]. In dialects with a guttural R, such as Southern Swedish, they are [ʁd], [ʁl], [ʁn], [ʁs], [ʁt]. In Finland Swedish, retroflexion might only occur in some varieties, especially among young speakers and in fast speech.
^ Sweden Swedish /ɧ/ varies regionally and is sometimes [xʷ], [ɸˠ], or [ʂ].
^ /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 [r] 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 [ʐ], similar to in English genre or vision.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Before /r/, the quality of non-high front vowels is changed: the unrounded vowels /ɛ/ and /ɛː/ are lowered to [æ] and [æː] (except certain instances of unstressed /ɛ/), whereas the rounded /œ/ ([œ˔]) and /øː/ are lowered to open-mid [œ] and [œː]. For simplicity, no distinction is made between the mid [œ˔] and the open-mid [œ], with both being transcribed as ⟨œ⟩. Note that younger speakers use lower allophones [ɶ] (which they tend to merge with /ɵ/ into [ɵ]) and [ɶː].
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m In Sweden, [ɔ, oː, œ, œː, øː, ʏ, yː] are protruded vowels, while [ɵ, ʉ, ʉː, ʊ, uː] are compressed. Instead, [œ, œː, ø, øː, ʉ, ʉː, y, yː] are compressed, while only [o, oː, u, uː] are protruded in Finland. This makes Finland Swedish [y] and [yː] sound closer to Sweden Swedish [ʉ] and [ʉː], which are also fronted, rather than to their respective counterparts.
^ a b [ɵ] and [ʉ] are the Sweden Swedish unstressed allophones of a single phoneme /ɵ/ (stressed /ɵ/ is always realized as [ɵ]):

[ɵ] is used in all closed syllables (as in kultur [kɵlˈtʉːr]) but also in some open syllables, as in musikal [mɵsɪˈkɑːl]. Some cases involve resyllabification caused by retroflexion, which makes the syllable open, as in kurtisan [kɵʈɪˈsɑːn].

[ʉ] appears only in open syllables. In some cases, [ʉ] is the only possible realization, as in känguru [ˈɕɛ̌ŋːɡʉrʉ], or when /ɵ/ appears in hiatus, as in duell [dʉˈɛlː].

In other cases, [ɵ] is in free variation with [ʉ] so musik can be pronounced as [mɵˈsiːk] or [mʉˈsiːk] (Riad 2014:28–9). For simplicity, only ⟨ɵ⟩ will be used.
^ a b The distinction between compressed [ʉ] and protruded [ʏ] is particularly difficult to hear for non-native speakers:
Sweden Swedish compressed [ʉ] sounds very close to German compressed [ʏ] (as in müssen [ˈmʏsn̩]);

Sweden Swedish protruded [ʏ] sounds more similar to English unrounded [ɪ] (as in hit) than to German compressed [ʏ], and it is very close to Norwegian protruded [ʏ] (as in nytt [nʏtː]).
^ a b The distinction between compressed [ʉː] and protruded [yː] is particularly difficult to hear for non-native speakers:
Sweden Swedish compressed [ʉː] sounds very close to German compressed [yː] (as in üben [ˈyːbn̩]);

Sweden Swedish protruded [yː] sounds more similar to English unrounded [iː] (as in leave) than to German compressed [yː], and it is very close to Norwegian protruded [yː] (as in lys [lyːs]).
^ ^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 [ˈɑnːden] 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.
^ 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.

[retroflex-1] 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: [ɖ], [ɭ], [ɳ], [ʂ], [ʈ]. In dialects with a guttural R, such as Southern Swedish, they are [ʁd], [ʁl], [ʁn], [ʁs], [ʁt]. 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 [xʷ], [ɸˠ], or [ʂ].

[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 [r] 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 [ʐ], similar to in English genre or vision.

[rhotic-4] Before /r/, the quality of non-high front vowels is changed: the unrounded vowels /ɛ/ and /ɛː/ are lowered to [æ] and [æː] (except certain instances of unstressed /ɛ/), whereas the rounded /œ/ ([œ˔]) and /øː/ are lowered to open-mid [œ] and [œː]. For simplicity, no distinction is made between the mid [œ˔] and the open-mid [œ], with both being transcribed as ⟨œ⟩. Note that younger speakers use lower allophones [ɶ] (which they tend to merge with /ɵ/ into [ɵ]) and [ɶː].

[roundedness-5] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m In Sweden, [ɔ, oː, œ, œː, øː, ʏ, yː] are protruded vowels, while [ɵ, ʉ, ʉː, ʊ, uː] are compressed. Instead, [œ, œː, ø, øː, ʉ, ʉː, y, yː] are compressed, while only [o, oː, u, uː] are protruded in Finland. This makes Finland Swedish [y] and [yː] sound closer to Sweden Swedish [ʉ] and [ʉː], which are also fronted, rather than to their respective counterparts.

[shortu-6] [ɵ] and [ʉ] are the Sweden Swedish unstressed allophones of a single phoneme /ɵ/ (stressed /ɵ/ is always realized as [ɵ]):

[ɵ] is used in all closed syllables (as in kultur [kɵlˈtʉːr]^ⓘ) but also in some open syllables, as in musikal [mɵsɪˈkɑːl]. Some cases involve resyllabification caused by retroflexion, which makes the syllable open, as in kurtisan [kɵʈɪˈsɑːn].

[ʉ] appears only in open syllables. In some cases, [ʉ] is the only possible realization, as in känguru [ˈɕɛ̌ŋːɡʉrʉ], or when /ɵ/ appears in hiatus, as in duell [dʉˈɛlː].

In other cases, [ɵ] is in free variation with [ʉ] so musik can be pronounced as [mɵˈsiːk]^ⓘ or [mʉˈsiːk] (Riad 2014:28–9). For simplicity, only ⟨ɵ⟩ will be used.

[7] [ɵ] is used in all closed syllables (as in kultur [kɵlˈtʉːr]^ⓘ) but also in some open syllables, as in musikal [mɵsɪˈkɑːl]. Some cases involve resyllabification caused by retroflexion, which makes the syllable open, as in kurtisan [kɵʈɪˈsɑːn].

[8] [ʉ] appears only in open syllables. In some cases, [ʉ] is the only possible realization, as in känguru [ˈɕɛ̌ŋːɡʉrʉ], or when /ɵ/ appears in hiatus, as in duell [dʉˈɛlː].

[9] In other cases, [ɵ] is in free variation with [ʉ] so musik can be pronounced as [mɵˈsiːk]^ⓘ or [mʉˈsiːk] (Riad 2014:28–9). For simplicity, only ⟨ɵ⟩ will be used.

[closerounded1-7] The distinction between compressed [ʉ] and protruded [ʏ] is particularly difficult to hear for non-native speakers:
Sweden Swedish compressed [ʉ] sounds very close to German compressed [ʏ] (as in müssen [ˈmʏsn̩]^ⓘ);

Sweden Swedish protruded [ʏ] sounds more similar to English unrounded [ɪ] (as in hit) than to German compressed [ʏ], and it is very close to Norwegian protruded [ʏ] (as in nytt [nʏtː]).

[11] Sweden Swedish compressed [ʉ] sounds very close to German compressed [ʏ] (as in müssen [ˈmʏsn̩]^ⓘ);

[12] Sweden Swedish protruded [ʏ] sounds more similar to English unrounded [ɪ] (as in hit) than to German compressed [ʏ], and it is very close to Norwegian protruded [ʏ] (as in nytt [nʏtː]).

[closerounded2-8] The distinction between compressed [ʉː] and protruded [yː] is particularly difficult to hear for non-native speakers:
Sweden Swedish compressed [ʉː] sounds very close to German compressed [yː] (as in üben [ˈyːbn̩]^ⓘ);

Sweden Swedish protruded [yː] sounds more similar to English unrounded [iː] (as in leave) than to German compressed [yː], and it is very close to Norwegian protruded [yː] (as in lys [lyːs]).

[14] Sweden Swedish compressed [ʉː] sounds very close to German compressed [yː] (as in üben [ˈyːbn̩]^ⓘ);

[15] Sweden Swedish protruded [yː] sounds more similar to English unrounded [iː] (as in leave) than to German compressed [yː], and it is very close to Norwegian protruded [yː] (as in lys [lyːs]).

[finlandtonemes-9] 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 [ˈɑnːden] 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.

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