Help:IPA/Norwegian

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Norwegian on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Norwegian in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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The chart below shows how the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Norwegian language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

The accent that has been used here as a model is Urban East Norwegian, the pronunciation of the dialect spoken in the Oslo region and most commonly taught to foreigners.

See also Norwegian phonology and Norwegian orthography § Sound to spelling correspondences for more details about pronunciation of Norwegian.

Consonants
IPA	Examples	Nearest English equivalent
b	stab	stab
ç	Kyrkjebø, bikkje, Kielland, tjue	hue
d	dåd, verden	deed
ɖ	sardin^[1]	Indian day
f	fot, loft, trivsel, lavt, Philip	foot
ɡ	genial	get
h	hatt	hat
j	jojo, hjelp, gjorde, geit, Biørn, Youngstorget	yoyo
k	kald, Skøyen, Dagsrevyen, Ingebrigtsen, Joacim, Schanche, Qvam	cold
l	farlig, årlig, perle, Sturla, land, smelte, Hordaland, smålig^[2]^[3]	lack
l̩	Abel	little, but without velarization; German Esel
ɫ	salig, tålig, falsk, stolt^[2]^[3]	pull
m	man	man
n	natt	night
n̩	katten	chosen
ɳ	barn^[1]	night, but retroflex
ɳ̍	verten, slitasjen, Kristoffersen	chosen, but retroflex
ŋ	signing, annonse	sing
p	par, spa, Ibsen, Jakob	pair
r	år^[1]	GA atom
ɽ	tæl, Dæhlie, Vål’enga^ⓘ^[4]	GA atom, but retroflex
s	sabel, cøliaki, enzym, xylofon	sabre
ʂ	sjø, skjerf, skøyte, slott, nysgjerrig, Skiaker, geni, journal, Schønberg, attaché, Nationaltheatret, torsdag^[1]	shoe, but retroflex
t	torsdag, Steinfeld, Vadsø	turn
ʈ	parti^[1]	Indian turn
v	vaktel, Wergeland, Nyquist	vat
Non-native consonants
ʈʂ^[5]	rutsjebane, tsjekkisk, Tschudi, Tetzschner, Archer	challenge, but retroflex
Other symbols
◌ː	sommer [ˈsɔ̂mːər]^[6]	roommate

Stress and tone
IPA	Examples	Explanation
ˈ◌̀	bønder [ˈbœ̀nːər]	Low tone / tone 1 / acute accent^[7]
ˈ◌̂	bønner [ˈbœ̂nːər]	Falling tone / tone 2 / grave accent^[7]
ˌ◌	skoleelev [ˈskûːləɛˌleːv]	Secondary stress

Vowels
IPA	Examples	Nearest English equivalent
Monophthongs
ɑ	fast, pensjonist, Isaachsen	art
ɑː	mat, Raabe	bra
æ	verden, herse, færre, æsj, krasje, Märtha	trap
æː	trær ("trees"), tæl, ærlig, her, perle, gjerde	Australian mad
ɛ	egne ("bait" vb.), regler ("rhymes" n.), hesje, helle, ætt	set
eː	egne ("own" adj. pl.), treg, regler ("rules" n.), manesje, mer, sel, allé, trær ("thread(s)" vb.), gælisk, Kathe	Scottish save
ɪ	sild, Dagny	hill
iː	i, de	need
ɔ	slott, slått, Slaatsveen, Fougner^[8]	off
oː	våg, skrog, Aass, Maud^[8]	story
œ	Søgne, øgle, pasteurisere^[8]	roughly like bet, but with rounded lips; German Röcke
øː	stø, Schreuder^[8]	roughly like Scottish save, but with rounded lips; German Behörde
ʊ	loff, skuffe ("shovel"), journal^[8]	put, German Nuss
uː	skog, fôr, glamour^[8]	fool, German Fuß
ʉ	skuffe ("disappoint"), debutant, outrert^[8]^[9]	goose (some dialects^[10]); German müssen
ʉː	kul, ajourføre^[8]^[9]	choose (some dialects^[10]); German üben
ʏ	nytt, gründer^[8]^[9]	roughly like hit, but with rounded lips; Swedish syll
yː	syl, Grünerløkka, debut^[8]^[9]	roughly like leave, but with rounded lips; Swedish syl
Diphthongs
ɑɪ	hai, Faye	price
æɪ	egne seg ("be suited"), negl, sein, hei, feil, Heyerdahl, Sejersted, Bræin	Australian day
æʉ	hauk, Europa, Klouman^[8]	have or GA mountain
ɛɪ	mail^[11]	day
ɔʏ	boikott, Roy^[8]	boy
œʏ	døgn, øyne, Øivind, Preus, Foyn^[8]	Canadian ice
ʉɪ	hui^[8]^[12]	fluid
ɑʊ	Haoko	how
Reduced vowels
ə	påle	about

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Clusters of /r/ and laminal consonants /rd/, /rn/, /rs/, /rt/ produce retroflex realizations in a recursive sandhi process: [ɖ], [ɳ], [ʂ], [ʈ].
^ ^a ^b In contemporary Urban East Norwegian, there are two lateral approximant phonemes: apical /l/ and laminal /l̻/. There is no longer a difference between the historical /rl/ and the simple /l/ when not preceded by /ɑː/ or /oː/. The most common lateral is the non-velarized apical alveolar [l]. Only the laminal [l̻] occurs after /t, d/ (in this guide transcribed the same as [l]) and after /ɑ/ and /ɔ/. After /ɑː/ and /oː/, the two phonemes contrast. The laminal phoneme is velarized [ɫ̻] (transcribed in this guide without the diacritic) after back vowels but not after the central /ə/ (Kristoffersen 2000:25).
^ a b When a lateral approximant occurs between two stressable vowels (i.e. any vowels other than /ə/) in a compound or derived word, the coloring of the lateral depends on whether it occurs in a morpheme-final position or not. If there is a morpheme boundary between the vowel and /l/ (as in Hordaland [ˈhɔ̂rdɑlɑn] or smålig), the lateral is clear [l] regardless of the preceding vowel.
^ /ɽ/ often alternates with /l/ (sometimes with /r/), but there is a small number of words in which only /ɽ/ occurs (Kristoffersen 2000:24, 90).
^ This sound occurs in native words across word boundaries.
^ Stressed short vowels usually trigger the gemination of the following consonant before another vowel or at the end of a word.
^ ^a ^b The rise that often follows is only realized at the end of an intonational phrase. It is non-phonemic.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ [ɔ, oː, œ, øː, ʏ, yː, ɔʏ, œʏ] are protruded vowels, while [ʉ, ʉː, ʊ, uː] (including the [ʉ] element in [æʉ] and [ʉɪ]) are compressed.
^ a b c d The distinction between compressed [ʉ] and protruded [y] is particularly difficult to hear for non-native speakers:
Norwegian compressed [ʉ] sounds very close to many German speakers' compressed [ʏ] (as in müssen [ˈmʏsn̩]).

Norwegian protruded [ʏ] sounds more similar to English unrounded [ɪ] (as in hit) than to German compressed [ʏ], and it is very close to Swedish protruded [ʏ] (as in syll [sʏlː]).
Similarly,
Norwegian compressed [ʉː] sounds very close to many German speakers' compressed [yː].

Norwegian protruded [yː] sounds more similar to English unrounded [iː] (as in leave) than to German compressed [yː], and it is very close to Swedish protruded [yː] (as in syl [syːl]).
^ ^a ^b These dialects include Received Pronunciation and most forms of English English (with some exceptions such as Yorkshire English), Australian English, New Zealand English, Scottish English, Ulster English, Southern American English, Midland American English, Philadelphia-Baltimore English, Western Pennsylvania English and California English. Other dialects of English, such as General American and most other forms of American English, Welsh English and Republic of Ireland English, have no close equiavalent vowel.
^ [ɛɪ] appears only in recent loanwords. Speakers who do not have [ɛɪ] in their diphthong inventory replace it with [æɪ] (Kristoffersen 2000:19).
^ [ʉɪ] appears only in the word hui (Kristoffersen 2000:19).

[retroflex-1] Clusters of /r/ and laminal consonants /rd/, /rn/, /rs/, /rt/ produce retroflex realizations in a recursive sandhi process: [ɖ], [ɳ], [ʂ], [ʈ].

[laterals-2] In contemporary Urban East Norwegian, there are two lateral approximant phonemes: apical /l/ and laminal /l̻/. There is no longer a difference between the historical /rl/ and the simple /l/ when not preceded by /ɑː/ or /oː/. The most common lateral is the non-velarized apical alveolar [l]. Only the laminal [l̻] occurs after /t, d/ (in this guide transcribed the same as [l]) and after /ɑ/ and /ɔ/. After /ɑː/ and /oː/, the two phonemes contrast. The laminal phoneme is velarized [ɫ̻] (transcribed in this guide without the diacritic) after back vowels but not after the central /ə/ (Kristoffersen 2000:25).

[clearafterbackvowels-3] When a lateral approximant occurs between two stressable vowels (i.e. any vowels other than /ə/) in a compound or derived word, the coloring of the lateral depends on whether it occurs in a morpheme-final position or not. If there is a morpheme boundary between the vowel and /l/ (as in Hordaland [ˈhɔ̂rdɑlɑn]^ⓘ or smålig), the lateral is clear [l] regardless of the preceding vowel.

[4] /ɽ/ often alternates with /l/ (sometimes with /r/), but there is a small number of words in which only /ɽ/ occurs (Kristoffersen 2000:24, 90).

[5] This sound occurs in native words across word boundaries.

[6] Stressed short vowels usually trigger the gemination of the following consonant before another vowel or at the end of a word.

[rise-7] The rise that often follows is only realized at the end of an intonational phrase. It is non-phonemic.

[roundedness-8] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ [ɔ, oː, œ, øː, ʏ, yː, ɔʏ, œʏ] are protruded vowels, while [ʉ, ʉː, ʊ, uː] (including the [ʉ] element in [æʉ] and [ʉɪ]) are compressed.

[closerounded-9] The distinction between compressed [ʉ] and protruded [y] is particularly difficult to hear for non-native speakers:
Norwegian compressed [ʉ] sounds very close to many German speakers' compressed [ʏ] (as in müssen [ˈmʏsn̩]^ⓘ).

Norwegian protruded [ʏ] sounds more similar to English unrounded [ɪ] (as in hit) than to German compressed [ʏ], and it is very close to Swedish protruded [ʏ] (as in syll [sʏlː]^ⓘ).
Similarly,
Norwegian compressed [ʉː] sounds very close to many German speakers' compressed [yː].

Norwegian protruded [yː] sounds more similar to English unrounded [iː] (as in leave) than to German compressed [yː], and it is very close to Swedish protruded [yː] (as in syl [syːl]^ⓘ).

[10] Norwegian compressed [ʉ] sounds very close to many German speakers' compressed [ʏ] (as in müssen [ˈmʏsn̩]^ⓘ).

[11] Norwegian protruded [ʏ] sounds more similar to English unrounded [ɪ] (as in hit) than to German compressed [ʏ], and it is very close to Swedish protruded [ʏ] (as in syll [sʏlː]^ⓘ).

[12] Norwegian compressed [ʉː] sounds very close to many German speakers' compressed [yː].

[13] Norwegian protruded [yː] sounds more similar to English unrounded [iː] (as in leave) than to German compressed [yː], and it is very close to Swedish protruded [yː] (as in syl [syːl]^ⓘ).

[goose-10] These dialects include Received Pronunciation and most forms of English English (with some exceptions such as Yorkshire English), Australian English, New Zealand English, Scottish English, Ulster English, Southern American English, Midland American English, Philadelphia-Baltimore English, Western Pennsylvania English and California English. Other dialects of English, such as General American and most other forms of American English, Welsh English and Republic of Ireland English, have no close equiavalent vowel.

[11] [ɛɪ] appears only in recent loanwords. Speakers who do not have [ɛɪ] in their diphthong inventory replace it with [æɪ] (Kristoffersen 2000:19).

[12] [ʉɪ] appears only in the word hui (Kristoffersen 2000:19).

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