Swedish Phonology
Contents
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.
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.
