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