Swedish Phonology

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Vowels

The Swedish alphabet uses nine vowels: a, e, i, o, u, y, å, ä and ö.

Diphthongs do not exist orthographically in the Swedish language. With regard to their pronunciation, Swedish consists of 18 vowel phonemes which are distinguished by their lengthening. There are nine long and nine short vowels which entail a difference of quality and quantity.

Long Vowels

There are nine long vowel phonemes which can cause a change in the meaning of a word.

Long vowels swedish 3.jpg

Examples: is [iːs] ny [nyː] mus [mʉːs] sol [suːl] led [leːs] öl [øːl] bås [boːs] näs [nɛːs] sak [sɑːk]

Sometimes the doubling of a consonant also indicates the lengthening of a preceding vowel, e.g. bar - barr.

Short Vowels

Swedish makes use of nine short vowels.

Short vowels swedish.jpg

In many cases e an ä coincide and are pronounced the same as in sett - sätt. On that account some dictionaries mention that there are only eight short vowels in the Swedish language.

Consonants