Swedish Phonology

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This article deals with the phonology of Standard Swedish (Rikssvenska) from a synchronical point of view. There may be a few references to regional variations, however, they are not explained in more detail. This entry is arranged into four larger parts: phonological systems, phonological processes, autosegmental phonology and phonotactics.


Phonological Systems: Segmentals

Phonemes, or rather segmentals, represent speech sounds which distinguish meaning. This can be proved by alining minimal pairs which differ in one single sound (e.g. here /hɪə/ - beer /bɪə/). The process of producing phonemic sounds differentiates between place of articulation (e.g. bilabial, palatal, velar, etc.), manner of articulation (e.g. plosives, fricatives, liquids, etc.) and voicing (either voiced or voiceless). Since standard orthographic systems, such as the Latin alphabet, do not correspond to a universal depiction of these sounds, phonemes are described in the IPA. The IPA is a set of phonetic symbols to which for instance vowels and consonants belong. They form a large phonetic inventory which, on the other hand, is the basis for a phonological system.[1][1]


Vowels

The Swedish alphabet comprises nine vowels: <a, e, i, o, u, y, å, ä> and <ö>

Regarding the pronunciation of those vowels, the language consists of 18 phonemes which are differentiated by their length. There are nine long and nine short vowels which entail a difference of quality and quantity and are therefore distinguishable in meaning. Diphthongs do not exist in Swedish.


Long Vowels

There are nine long vowel phonemes in the Swedish language.

  Front unrounded Front rounded Central rounded Back rounded
Close iː yː ʉː uː
Close mid eː øː   oː
Open mid ɛː      
Open       ɑː


Short Vowels

Swedish makes use of nine short vowels.

  Front unrounded Front rounded Central rounded Back rounded
Close ɪ ʏ   ʊ
Close mid e   ɵ  
Open mid ɛ œ   ɔ
Open a      

In many cases <e> and <ä> as in sett ('seen') and sätt ('a sort') coincide and are pronounced the same. This sometimes leads to the assumption that there are only eight short vowels and that [e] and [ɛ] are only allophones. Yet, /e/ and /ɛ/ are treated as phonemes in Standard Swedish.


Minimal Pairs: short and long vowels

Minimal pairs help to prove that two words differ in meaning based on one single sound which varies.

Phonemes Word with long vowel Word with short vowel
iː / ɪ vit vitt
eː / e vet vett
ɛː / ɛ rät rätt
ɑː / a fal fall
yː / ʏ byt bytt
øː / œ röt rött
uː / ʊ bot bott
oː / ɔ fåt fått
ʉː / ɵ Rut rutt

[2]

Hence, vit (white[UTR.SG]) and vit-t (white-NEUTR.SG), for instance, are both spelled with an < i >. Though quite often the doubling of the (final) consonant is responsible for the shortened pronunciation of a vowel. According to this, the quality of the vowel changes from [iː] (as in vit) to [ɪ] (as in vitt). This verifies that length distinguishes meaning in Swedish.

Consonants

  Labial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive p, b t, d ʈ, ɖ   k, g  
Fricative f, v s ʂ ɕ ɧ h
Nasal m n ɳ   ŋ  
Trill / Flap   r        
Approximant       j    
Lateral Approximant   l ɭ      

Annotation: Where two phonemes appear in a single column the first phoneme is always voiceless and the second one voiced.


Typical for Standard Swedish is for instance the /ɧ/ phoneme which renders the consonant cluster <sj> as in sjö ('lake'). It is described as a sound between [x] and [ʃ] but the existence of a real phoneme is often disputed. In some dialects, especially in northern and Finland Swedish, /ɧ/ does not exist.

Second, another typical phoneme in Swedish is /ɕ/. It is an initial sound which occurs in front of a stressed vowel as in kök ('kitchen').

Furthermore the retroflex consonants /ʈ, ɖ, ʂ, ɭ/ and /ɳ/ are a fixture in Standard Swedish. In order to produce such a sound, the tip of the tongue is raised and bended backwards as far as possible so that it touches the rear teeth-ridge, respectively the hard front of the palate. Retroflex consonants are orthographically represented by the consonant clusters < rt, rd, rs, rl > and <rn> and are a result of assimilation. Opinions differ concerning the total number of consonant phonemes since retroflex consonants are often treated as allophones. In Finland Swedish, for instance, retroflex consonants do not exist. They are realised bisegmentally as [rːs, rːd, rːs, rːl] and [rːn]. 

e.g. kurs ('course')
     Standard Swedish: [kɵʂ]
     Finland Swedish:  [kɵrːs]

Since this article deals with Standard Swedish, which is the most dominant regional variety of Swedish, retroflex consonants are counted among phonemes. Hence, there are 23 consonant phonemes in the Swedish language altogether.


Minimal Pairs: retroflex consonants

In order to prove that retroflex consonants are phonemes, some minimal pairs can be arranged:

Lexemes Phonetic Transcription
bord ↔ bod /buːɖ/ ↔ /buːd/
barsk ↔ bask /baʂk/ ↔ /bask/
Karl ↔ kal /kɑːɭ/ ↔ /kɑːl/
fart ↔ fat /fɑːʈ/ ↔ /fɑːt/
varna ↔ vana /vɑːɳa/ ↔ /vɑːna/

Phonological Processes

Retroflex Consonants

Not only are retroflex consonants fixed in most simplexes (e.g. barn) but they can also occur in other articulatory patterns:


  • Word boundaries:

Retroflex consonants can cross over word boundaries if the final letter of a word is an <r> and the initial letter of the following word is either <t, d, s, l> or <n>. 

e.g. vår triumf     /voːrtriɵmf/   [voːʈriɵmf]      ('our victory')
     hur mår du     /hʉːrmoːrdɵ/   [hʉːrmoːɖɵ]      ('how are you')
     under sängen   /ɵndərsɛŋən/   [ɵndəʂɛŋən]      ('under the bed')
     eller nej      /ɛlərnɛj/      [ɛləɳɛj]         ('or not')
     hur ledsam     /hʉːrlesam/    [hʉːɭesam]       ('how sad')

In this case retroflex consonants are usually obligatory but along with unstressed, frequent and short words they are optional and can even lower the language bar.


  • Flections:

a) Genitive: When the genitive < s > is attached to a word ending with <r>, the retroflex /ʂ/ is used. 

e.g. Peters hus        [petəʂhʉːs]         ('Peter's house')
     min mors affär    [minmuːʂafæːr]      ('my mother's shop')

b) Verbs: The retroflex consonants /ɖ/ and /ʈ/ occur in verbs with a final <r> in the word stem which receive the past and supine endings <-de>, respectively <-t>.[3] 

e.g. stör-de                  [støːɖə]
     disturb-PST

     stör-t                   [støːʈ]
     disturb-SUP

c) Participles: Furthermore the rule mentioned above also applies to past participles.[3] 

e.g. en psykiskt stör-d                        flicka      [støːɖ]
     a  mentally disorder-PST.PTCP.IDEF.UTR.SG girl
  
     ett psykiskt stör-t                          djur     [støːʈ]
     a   mentally disorder-PST.PTCP.IDEF.NEUTR.SG animal
    
     den psykiskt stör-da                      flickan     [støːɖa]
     the mentally disorder-PST.PTCP.DEF.UTR.SG girl

d) Nouns: Almost all nouns receive the ending <-rna> in the definite plural. The ending is assimilated to the retroflex consonant cluster /ɳa/. The only exceptions, which do not carry a retroflex consonant, are the definite plural forms of neutral nouns, for instance ett hus (definite plural: hus-en) and ett äpple (definite plural: äpple-na).[3] 

e.g. flickorna    [flɪkʊɳa]       (girl-DEF.UTR.PL)
     pojkarna     [pɔɪkaɳa]       (boy-DEF.UTR.PL)
     böckerna     [bœkeɳa]        (bok/DEF.UTR.PL)
     lärarna      [lɛːraɳa]       (teacher-DEF.UTR.PL)


  • Compounds: Retroflex consonants also occur in compounds.[3]
e.g. vårsång      [voːʂɔŋ]        ('spring song')
     vårdag       [voːɖɑːg]       ('spring day')
     vårnatt      [voːɳat]        ('spring night')
     vårtecken    [voːʈekən]      ('sign for springtime')
     vårluft      [voːɭɵft]       ('air in springtime')
  • Derivations:[3]
e.g. varsam       [vɑːʂam]        ('careful')
     förtala      [fœʈɑːla]       ('to asperse')
     lärdom       [lɛːɖuːm]       ('lesson', fig.)
     varning      [vɑːɳɪŋ]        ('warning')
     förlänga     [fœɭɛːŋa]       ('to extend')
  • Cyclic use:

Not only <r> but also retroflex consonants themselves can trigger a progressive assimilation. This rule is obligatory up to the word boundary. Across the word boundary it is optional.[3] 

e.g. vårdnad        ɖ+n  -->  /ɖɳ/            ('child custody')
     korsning       ʂ+n  -->  /ʂɳ/            ('crossbreed')
     barnlös        ɳ+l  -->  /ɳɭ/            ('childless')
     bärnsten       ɳ+s  -->  /ɳʂ/            ('amber')
     hjärndöd       ɳ+d  -->  /ɳɖ/            ('braindead')
     etc. [3]


Exceptions [3]

  • Often when there is a morpheme boundary between <rr> and <t, d, n, s, l>,
e.g. borrs    /rːs/      (drill-PASS)   
     bisarrt  /rːt/      (bizarre-ADV)
  • The infix <rl> can sometimes be either [l] or [ɭ],
e.g. pärla    [pɛːrla] or [pɛːɭa]         ('pearl')
     kärl     [ɧɛːrl]  or [ɧɛːɭ]          ('jar')
     Karl     [kɑːrl]  or [kɑːɭ]

Nevertheless, across morpheme boundaries it is usually [ɭ], e.g. härlig. Additionally, after a preceding [øː] it is also often [ɭ], e.g. curla.

  • The cyclic use does not apply to <rl> and <rst> if the letter < s > follows,
e.g. kärls           /ɭs/        (jar-GEN.SG)
     törstsläckande  /ʂt/        ('adipsous')

Autosegmental Phonology: Suprasegmentals

In contrast to segmentals, suprasegmentals (lat. supra = 'above') deal with segments from a higher level, i.e. this category comprises more than solely phonetic sounds. Pitch (e.g. intonation), duration (e.g. rate, rythm, emphasis) and loudness/intensity (e.g. stress) are the most important suprasegmental features. They are established by a comparison of items (segments) in a sequence.[2][3].


Tone Accents

Swedish is a pitch accent language which once derived from Old Norse. It has two distinctive accents related to the different syllabic structures in Old Norse. These two seperate patterns cause a difference in meaning:

audio sample

1. Accent 1 (acute) which all old monosyllabic words receive, 

e.g.  'and-en      [ándɛn]
     duck-DEF

2. Accent 2 (grave) which all old dissyllabic words receive, 

e.g.  ,an'de-n      [àndɛn]
     ghost-DEF

Besides their historical background, these two accents also follow phonological principle:

1. Accent 1 can occur in any accented syllable regardless of position.[4]

2. Accent 2 never occurs in the last syllable of a word. Therefore only polysyllabic words can have an accent contrast.[5]


Assimilation

Due to proximity, one sound influences the articulation of another sound. Thus the pronunciation of the velar plosives /g/ and /k/ differs according to the sound environment of the subsequent vowel.

If the voiced /g/ precedes a back vowel it does not change its velar position and is pronounced as [g]. If it precedes a front vowel it is palatalised and pronounced as [j]. 

e.g. gå   [goː]         ('to go')  
     göra ['jøːra]      ('to do')

The same applies to the voiceless counterpart /k/. If it precedes a back vowel its velar position is maintained and pronounced as [k]. If it precedes a front vowel it is palatalised and pronounced as [ɕ]. 

e.g. kort [kʊʈ]         ('short'/'card') 
     köra ['ɕøːra]      ('to drive')

Phonotactics

Syllable Structure

In modern Swedish the phonotactic patterns V:K and VK: are possible. 

tak [tɑːk], tack [takː]

Furthermore the cluster VK was introduced to Finland Swedish due to its contact with the Finnish language.


Likewise in many Germanic languages, the consonant cluster CCC is possible in Swedish, too. Combinations which are operative in spelling and in speech are <spr, spl, spj, str, skr> and <skv>. 

e.g. sprida     ('to spread')
     splittra   ('to splint'; 'splint') 
     spjut      ('spear')
     strejka    ('to go on strike') 
     skriva     ('to write')
     skvallra   ('to gossip')

<Stj> and <skj> exist in written but not in spoken form. These two clusters are pronounced with the typical Swedish /ɧ/ sound. 

e.g. stjärna [ɧɛːɳa]     ('star')
     skjorta [ɧʉːta]     ('shirt')

All Swedish vowels except for [ʉ, ø] and half-length vowels occur in stressed syllables. In unstressed syllables only short vowels can be found. 

e.g. göra     [gøːra]      ('to do')
     gudom    [gʉːdum]     ('divinity')
     lärjunge [lɛːrjɵŋə]   ('disciple')

References

  1. ↑ Mair, Christian. English Linguistics: An Introduction. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 2008. Print.
  2. ↑ Abramson, Arthur S., Kerstin Hadding-Koch. "Duration Versus Spectrum in Swedish Vowels: Some Perceptual Experiments." Studia Linguistica 18.2 (1964): p.94-107. Web. 23. July 2013. (p.95)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Lindqvist, Christer. Schwedische Phonetik: für Deutschsprachige. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag, 2007. Print. (p.58-62)

Bibliography

Quod Vide

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