Swedish phonology

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The phonology of Swedish is notable for having a large vowel inventory, with 9 vowels that are distinguished in quality and to some degree quantity, making up 17 vowel phonemes in most dialects (short /e/ and /ɛ/ coincide, particularly in unstressed syllables). In some areas these vowels are still distinguished and a full 18-vowel system is upheld. Swedish pronunciation of consonants is similar to that of most other Germanic languages.

There are 18 consonant phonemes out of which /ɧ/ and /r/ show quite considerable variation depending on both social and dialectal context. The voiceless palatal-velar fricative realization of /ɧ/ found in many dialects, including the more prestigious forms of the standard language, has so far not been found in any other language.

Standard pronunciation

Contrary to the situation with Danish or Finnish, there can't be said to exist any completely uniform nation-wide 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 their area. Within Sweden actors, singers and TV-personalties are often advised to "neutralize" their dialects by assimilating Central Standard Swedish pronunciation due to the high concentration of political and media power within the Stockholm region.

The differences in the phonology of the various forms of Standard Swedish can be quite considerable, although as a rule less marked than between more localized dialects, including major 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 high-prestige Central Swedish varieties often go under the name of rikssvenska ("National Swedish"), a term that in Finland indicates all varieties of Standard Swedish spoken in Sweden as opposed to Finland. Similarly, high-prestige Finland Swedish may go under the name of högsvenska ("High Swedish"), which however has become a controversial and emotionally loaded term that has also changed in meaning in the course of the 20th century.

Vowels

All pronunciations below are made by a Swedish male, age 25, in a variety of Central Standard Swedish spoken in the greater Stockholm region.

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

Like many other Germanic languages, Swedish has long and short vowels. The length covaries with the quality of the vowels, as shown below. As a rule, although not without exceptions, the place of articulation varies between long and short vowels. The front vowels appear in rounded-unrounded pairs. Unstressed /ɛ/ is rendered as [ə] (schwa) in most dialects, and a lowering of vowels is very common before /r/ and the various retroflex assimilations resulting from it (see below).

Long vowels

/ɛː/ and /øː/ are lowered when followed by /r/. In most Standard Swedish varieties, especially younger speakers are increasingly using [œ̞] in other contexts as well. Words like fördömande ("judging") and fördummande ("dumbing") often are pronounced similarly, if not identically.^[1]

<ära> /ɛːra/; [æːra]; ("honor") [ɛː] -> [æː] listen (help·info)

<öra> /øːra/; [œ̞ːra]; ("ear") [øː] -> [œ̞ː] listen (help·info)

Various patterns of diphthongs of long vowels occur in three major dialect groups. In eastern Svealand the long vowels are centereted diphthongs that end with a glide toward a neutral vowel, or schwa, ei falling diphthongs. The Central Swedish glide is also accompanied by a slight frication in the pronunciation of /ʉː/, /iː/, /yː/ and /uː/. In Southern Swedish dialects, particularly in Scania, 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, ei rising diphthongs. 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; /ːe/, /øː/ and /ʉː/ tend to rise while and /ɛː/ and /oː/ fall; /uː/, /iː/, /yː/ and /ɑː/ are not diphthongized at all.^[2]

Short vowels

Just like the long vowels, the short ones exhibit a similar allophonic pattern when preceding /r/. Though short /œ/ has a tendency to merge with /ɵ/.

<dörr>: "door" [œ] -> œ̞] listen (help·info)

<ärt>: "pea" [ɛ] -> [æ] listen (help·info)

Unstressed /ɛ/ is realized as [ə], i.e. a basic schwa. This feature is common to most varieties of Swedish.

<begå> "commit"; [bəˈɡoː] listen (help·info)

Consonants

The table below shows the Swedish consonant phonemes and the range of their realizations in spoken Standard Swedish.^[3]

Plosives

Initial /p, t, k/ are aspirated in most varieties, but unaspirated when preceded by /s/. Hence [kʰuː] ("cow"), but [skuː] ("shoe"). Compare English [kʰuːɫ] ("cool") vs [skuːɫ] ("school").

Fricatives

The Swedish fricatives /ɕ/ and /ɧ/ are often considered to be one of the most difficult aspects of Swedish pronunciation for foreign students. The combination of two such similar and fairly unique sounds as well as the large variety of partly overlapping allophones 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/. /ɕ/ is in most dialects realized as [ɕ] and occasionally [ç], in this case almost identical to the German "ich"-sound. The exception is Finland Swedish, where the phoneme is affricated into [t͡ɕ] or [t͡ʃ].

The Swedish phoneme /ɧ/ (the "sje-sound" or voiceless palatal-velar fricative) and its allegedly double places of articulation is a difficult and complex issue that is still debated among phoneticians.^[4] 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 [ɧ]-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:^[5]

• "Dark sounds" - [ɧ], and [x], most commonly used in the Southern Swedish Standard. Some of the varieties specific, but not exclusive, to areas with large percentage of immigrant population very 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, station; "sick", "station"), while the lighter sounds are used before unstressed vowels and at the end of morphemes (bagage, dusch; "baggage", "shower").

/r/-realizations and the retroflexes

/r/ has many quite distinct variations in Standard Swedish. The realization as an alveolar trill occurs among most speakers only in contexts where emphatic stress is used. In the southern variants the sound is rendered with [ʀ]. In Central Swedish the "r"s can vary greatly depending on social and phonotactic context. Word-initially, /r/ often becomes a fricative [ʐ], in consonant clusters often as [ʂ] and especially in Central Standard Swedish as the approximant [ɹ]. Uses of taps like [ɾ] are also common. One of the most distinct features of the southern varieties are the use of uvular trills or voiced fricatives, [ʀ], [ʁ] for the /r/-phoneme.

In most varieties of Swedish which use an alveolar /r/ (in particular the central, northern and Finland Swedish forms), the combination of /r/ with dental consonants (/t, d, n, l, s/) produces retroflex consonant realizations, which are usually described as allophones resulting from assimilation rather than separate phonemes. Thus, /kɑːrta/ ("map") is realized as [kʰɑːʈa], /nuːrd/ ("north") as [nuːɖ], /vɛːnern/ ("Vänern", the lake) as [vɛːnəɳ], /kɑːrlsta/ ("Karlstad", the town) as [kʰɑːɭ.sta], and /fɛrsk/ ("fresh") as [fæʂːk]. This process is not limited by word boundaries, e.g. <vi går nu> ("we're leaving now") and <vi går till sta'n> ("we're going downtown") are rendered [vɪɡoːɳʉ̟ː] and [vɪɡɔʈɪstɑːn]. In the southern varieties, which use a uvular /r/, retroflex realisations don't occur. For example, /kɑːrta/ ("map") is realized as [kʰɑʁta], etc.^[6]

Laterals

Variations of /l/ are not as common, though some allophones exist particularly in the north and in and around Värmland as a retroflex flap [ɽ].

Nasals

When preceding /f/ or /v/, /m/ is realized as [ɱ] as in [kaɱfɛr] ("camphor").

Stress and pitch

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. Swedish is, like English, a stress-timed language and has many words that are differentiated by stress:

• formel [ˈfɔrmɛl] — "formula"
• formell [fɔrˈmɛl] — "formal"

Stress in most dialects differentiates between two kinds of accents. Often referred to as acute and grave accent, they may also be referred to as accent 1 and accent 2 and are described as tonal word accents by Scandinavian linguists.^[7] Most dialects of Swedish make this distinction, although the actual realizations vary and are generally difficult for non-natives to distinguish. In some dialects of Swedish, including those spoken in Finland, this distinction is absent or only detectable through advanced phonetic analysis. Generally, accent 2 is characterized by a later timing of the intonational pitch rise as compared with accent 1; the so-called two-peaked accents (used in most dialects, except for southern Sweden, Gotland and Dalarna) also have another, earlier and non-intonational pitch rise in accent 2, hence the term.

Noteworthy are some three-hundred two-syllable word pairs that are differentiated only by their use of either grave or acute accent. The main rule is that a word that in dictionary form has one syllable has accent 1, while those that are bisyllabic have accent 2. Bisyllabic forms resulting from declination or derivation also tend to have accent 2, except for the definite article, which doesn't induce that accent. This distinction has been present in Scandinavian dialects at least since Old Norse.

• anden [ándɛn] — "the duck"
• anden [àndɛn] — "the spirit"

In the example below, the first word derives from and and has accent 1, while the second derives from ande and has accent 2. The mono- and bisyllabic rule seems to have been present since Old Norse, but nowadays a great number of polysyllables have accent 1. These are mostly words that were monosyllabic in Old Norse, but have subsequently become bisyllabic, as have many loanwords.^[8]

	Anden, anden
	A Central Swedish realization of the difference between accents 1 and 2
	Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Phonotactics

Like many other Germanic languages, Swedish has a tendency for closed syllables with a relatively large amount 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 amount of final two-consonant clusters is 62. In some cases this can result in near-unpronounceable combinations, such as in västkustskt listen (help·info), consisting of västkust ("west coast") with the adjective suffix -sk and the neuter suffix -t.

All vowel phonemes, short or long, can occur in stressed syllables. Unstressed syllables can only be short, and the distinction between /e/ and /ɛ/ is therefore not present. In pre-stress syllables, all vowels but /u/ and /o/ are differentiated. With each successive post-stress syllable, the number of contrasting vowels decreases gradually with distance from the point of stress; within three syllables from stress, only [a] and [ə] occur.^[9]

Sample

The sample text is a reading of The North Wind and the Sun. The transcription is based on the section on Swedish found in The Handbook on the International Phonetic Association.

	The North Wind and the Sun
	Traditional fable
	Problems listening to this file? See media help.

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 nuːrdnvɪndɛn 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

[nùːɖanvɪndən ɔ suːlən tvɪ̀stadə ɛŋ ɡoŋ ɔm vɛm ɑv dɔm sɔm vɑr stàɹkast. ʝɵst d̥o kɔm ɛn vàndɹaɹə vɛːɡən fram ɪ̀nsveːpt ɪ ɛn varm kàpa. dɔm kɔm do øvəɾəns ɔm at dɛn sɔm fœ̟ʂt kɵndə fo vàndrarən at ta ɑv sɛj kàpan, han skɵlə ànseːs vɑːra stàɾkaɾə ɛn dɛn àndɾa. doː blòːstə nùːɖnvɪndən sɔ hoːʈ han nɔ̀nsɪn kɵ̀ndə mɛn ʝʉ̟ hòːɖarə han blòːstə dɛstʊ tɛ̀ːtaɾə svèːptə vàndɹaɹən kàpan ɔm sɛʝ ɔ tɪ slʉ̟ːt ɡɑv nùːrdanvɪndən ɵp fœ̟ʂøːkət. do lɛːt suːlɛn sɪna stɹòːlaɹ ɧʷiːna heːlt vaɹmt ɔ ʝènast tuːɡ vàndrarən ɑv sɛj kàpan ɔ so vɑ nùːɖanvɪndən tvɵ̀ŋən atː èːɹɕɛna at suːlən vɑː dɛn stàɹkastə ɑv dɔm tvoː]

Orthographic version

Nordanvinden och solen tvistade en gång om vem av dom som var starkast. Just då kom en vandrare vägen fram insvept i en varm kappa. Dom kom då överens om att den som först kunde få vandraren att ta av sej 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 sej, och till slut gav nordanvinden upp försöket. Då lät solen sina strålar skina helt varmt och genast tog vandraren av sej kappan och så var nordanvinden tvungen att erkänna att solen var den starkaste av dom två.

Notes

References

• (Swedish) Elert, Claes-Christian (2000). Allmän och svensk fonetik. Norstedts. 
• (Swedish) Engstrand, Olle (2004). Fonetikens grunder. Studenlitteratur. 
• Engstrand, Olle (1999). "Swedish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet.. Cambridge University Press, 140-142. 
• (Swedish) Garlén, Claes (1988). Svenskans fonologi. Studenlitteratur. 
• Ladefoged, Peter (1996). The sounds of the world's languages. 
• Thorén, Bosse (1997). "Swedish prosody".

External links

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