Norwegian/Appendix 2

Appendix P: Norwegian Pronunciation The pronunciation is indicated in IPA. The sounds are best learned from a native speaker. Whenever possible, practice these with a native speaker. Reading aloud will also help your confidence. Note that the Norwegian language is full of dialects, so there are several ways of pronouncing the words. Foreign learners are usually taught to speak the way that people in the Oslo-area speak. Vowels The Norwegian vowels: a e i o u y æ ø å The main rule is that long vowels occur before single consonants, short vowels occur before double consonants. This is no absolute rule, though, as you will see in the examples below. Notice: the short o sound is rarely represented in written form with an o! (It's usually represented by u) Vowel IPA Example IPA a (short) ɑ hatt hɑt a (long) ɑː hat hɑːt e (short) e send sen e (long) eː sen seːn i (short) i vind vin i (long) iː vin viːn o (short) u bukk buk o (long) uː bok buːk u (short) ʉ lund lʉn u (long) ʉː lun lʉːn y (short) y lynne lyne y (long) yː lyn lyːn æ (short) æ vært vært æ (long) æː vær væːr ø (short) ø søtt søt ø (long) øː søt søːt å (short) ɔ vått vɔt å (long) ɔː våt vɔːt Consonants The Norwegian consonants b d f g h j k l m n p r s t v Most consonants in the Norwegian language are pronounced like the English consonants. Plosives In Norwegian, there are six plosives, all equal to the English version of them. Consonant IPA Example IPA p p hopp hɔp b b labb lɑb t t tak tɑːk d d ladd lɑd k k takk tɑk g g knagg knɑg Fricatives These are also quite equal to the English language, except that Norwegian does not have θ, (as in thin) ð (as in this) ʒ (as in measure) and z, (as in zing) but at the other hand, Norwegians have the ç sound, which is sort of a stiffer version of the ʃ sound (as in German ich). The ç sound is similar to the "h" in many English dialects' pronunciation of huge. Consonant IPA Example IPA f f fin fiːn v v vin viːn s s lass lɑs s(ky).../s(kj)... ʃ skyt ʃyːt k(i).../k(j)... ç kino çiːno j/g(j).../h(j).../g(i) j gi jiː h h ha hɑː Nasals Consonant IPA Example IPA m m lam lɑm n n vann vɑn ng ŋ sang sɑŋ Liquids Consonant IPA Example IPA l l fall fɑl Trills Consonant IPA Example IPA r r prøv prøːv Diphthongs Vowels also appear in set combinations. These are called diphthongs. They are two vowel sounds pronounced after the other as a continuous sound Diphthong IPA Example IPA ei æi vei væi øy øy høy høy au ɑʉ sau sɑʉ ai ɑi kai kɑi oy ɔy konvoy kunvɔy ui ʉi hui hʉi oi ui hoi hui Allophonic Variants IPA Example IPA ʈ hardt hɑʈ æɖ verdi væɖiː ɭ ærlig æːɭi ɳ garn gɑɳ ɽ fælbord fæɽbʉːɽ Tonemes Norwegian has two contrasting tonemes. These are kind of hard to describe using text, and some also say that foreigners (to Norway) are even unable to distinguish one from the other. However, they do exist. In the words indicated with 1 and a hacek, the tone is normal in the first part of the word, and rises in the last part of the word. In the words indicated with 2, the word is pronounced like any other normal word. (In other words, it's very hard to say 1 words in a monotone voice) Here are two examples: Example IPAEnglish word bønder ¹bø̌nrfarmers bønner ²bønrbeans     loven ¹lɔ̌ːventhe law låven ²lɔːventhe barn Notice: The two last examples are very similar to each other even though they are different, and I am actually somewhat unsure if it's loven or låven which is the more "special" one.