Function of Symbols
This section lists Icelandic letters and letter combinations, and how to pronounce them using a narrow International Phonetic Alphabet transcription.
Icelandic vowels may be either long or short, but this distinction is only relevant in stressed syllables: unstressed vowels are neutral in quantitative aspect. The vowel length is determined by the consonants that follow the vowel: if there is only one consonant (i.e. in a syllable), the vowel is long; if there are more than one, including geminates, the vowel is short. There are, however, some exceptions to this rule:
- A vowel is long when the first consonant following it is and the second, vg. esja, vepja, akrar, vökvar, tvisvar.
- A vowel is also long in monosyllabic substantives with a genitive -s whose stem ends in a single following a vowel (vg. ráps, skaks), except if the final is assimilated into the (what sometimes happen, vg. báts).
- The first word of a compound term preserves its long vowel if its following consonant is one of the group, vg. matmál
- The non-compound verbs vitkast and litka have long vowels.
The chart below is incomplete:
| Grapheme | Phonetic realization | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| a | long: open central unrounded vowel
short: |
taska "handbag, suitcase" listen
kaka "cake" listen |
| before ng or nk
|
svangur "hungry" | |
| á | fár "damage" listen | |
| au | þau "they" listen | |
| b | unaspirated voiceless bilabial plosive | bær "town" listen |
| d | unaspirated voiceless alveolar plosive | dalur "valley" listen |
| ð | between vowels or at end of word:
|
eða "or" listen
bað "bath" listen |
before a voiceless consonant:
|
maðkur "maggot" listen | |
| e | long:
short: |
skera "to cut"
drekka "to drink" listen |
| before ng or nk
|
drengur "boy" | |
| é | ég "I" listen | |
| ei, ey | skeið "spoon" listen | |
| f | normally:
|
fundur "meeting" |
| around vowels:
|
lofa "promise" listen | |
between ó and a vowel:
|
prófa "test" listen
gulrófa "rutabaga" listen |
|
| before l or n:
|
Keflavík listen | |
| fnd | hefnd listen | |
| fnt | (voiceless) | nefnt listen |
| g | beginning of word, before a, á, é, o, ó, u, ú and ö; or between vowel and l or n:
|
glápa "have a look" listen
logn "calm (weather)" listen |
beginning of word, before e, i, í, j, y, ý, æ, ei or ey:
|
geta "can" listen
gulrófa "rutabaga" listen |
|
after vowels; before a, u, ð or r; or at end of word:
|
fluga "fly" listen
lag "song" listen |
|
before t or s
|
dragt "suit" | |
after a vowel and before j or i
|
segja "to say" | |
between á ó ú and a or u
|
fljúga "to fly" | |
| gj | unaspirated voiceless palatal plosive | gjalda "to pay" |
| hj | or | hjá "next to, with" |
| hl | voiceless alveolar lateral approximant | hlýr "warm" |
| hr | voiceless alveolar trill | hratt "fast" |
| hv | ( among some older speakers in southern Iceland) | hvað "what" listen |
| i | sin "sinew" listen | |
| í | íslenska "Icelandic" listen | |
| j | já "yes" | |
| k | kynskiptingur "transsexual" listen | |
beginning of word, before e, i, í, y, ý, æ, ei or ey:
|
keyra "drive" | |
before t
|
október "October" | |
| kj | beginning of word:
|
kjöt "meat" |
all other contexts:
|
þykja "to be regarded" | |
| kk | þakka "thank" listen | |
| l | in most cases:
|
lás "lock" listen |
at end of word, or next to a voiceless consonant:
|
sól "sun" listen, stúlka | |
| ll | in most cases:
|
bolli "cup" listen
milli "between" listen |
| in loan words and pet names:
|
bolla listen
mylla "mill" listen |
|
| m | in most cases:
|
mamma "mum" |
| after and before voiceless consonants
|
lampi "lamp" | |
| n | in most cases:
|
nafn "name" |
| after and before voiceless consonants
|
planta "plant"
hnifur "knife" |
|
| nn | after accented vowels or diphthongs:
|
steinn "rock"
fínn "elegant" |
| all other contexts
|
finna "to find" | |
| o | long:
short: |
lofa "promise" listen
dolla "pot" |
| ó | rós "rose" listen | |
| p | beginning of word:
|
par "pair" listen |
after a voiceless sound:
|
spara "save" listen | |
before s, k or t:
|
September "September"
skips "ship's" |
|
| pp | stoppa "stop" listen | |
| r | at the beginning of words and between vowels:
|
rigna "to rain"
læra "to learn" |
before and after voiceless consonants and at the end of a pause
|
svartur "black" | |
| rl | karlmaður "man" | |
| rn | þorn "the name of the letter þ" | |
| s | sósa sauce | |
| sl | rusl | |
| sn | bysna | |
| t | beginning of word:
|
taka "take" listen |
after voiceless sound:
|
stela "steal" listen | |
| tt | detta "to fall" | |
| u | hundur "dog" listen | |
| before ng or nk
|
munkur "monk" | |
| ú | þú "you" listen | |
| v | vera "to be" | |
| x | lax "salmon" | |
| þ | voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative | þú "you"
Aþena "Athens" listen |
| æ | læsa "lock" listen | |
| ö | ör "scar" listen |
Read more about this topic: Icelandic Orthography
Famous quotes containing the words function of, function and/or symbols:
“Of all the inhabitants of the inferno, none but Lucifer knows that hell is hell, and the secret function of purgatory is to make of heaven an effective reality.”
—Arnold Bennett (1867–1931)
“As a medium of exchange,... worrying regulates intimacy, and it is often an appropriate response to ordinary demands that begin to feel excessive. But from a modernized Freudian view, worrying—as a reflex response to demand—never puts the self or the objects of its interest into question, and that is precisely its function in psychic life. It domesticates self-doubt.”
—Adam Phillips, British child psychoanalyst. “Worrying and Its Discontents,” in On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored, p. 58, Harvard University Press (1993)
“The use of symbols has a certain power of emancipation and exhilaration for all men. We seem to be touched by a wand, which makes us dance and run about happily, like children. We are like persons who come out of a cave or cellar into the open air. This is the effect on us of tropes, fables, oracles, and all poetic forms. Poets are thus liberating gods.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)