Swedish Phonology

Vowels

The Swedish language uses nine vowels: a, e, i, o, u, y, å, ä and ö. It also distinguishes between long and short 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, long vowels also indicate the doubling of a consonant as in bar - barr.