Swedish Language - Phonology

Phonology

Swedish dialects have either 17 or 18 vowel phonemes, 9 long and 9 short. As in the other Germanic languages, including English, most long vowels are phonetically paired with one of the short vowels, and the pairs are such that the two vowels are of similar quality, but with the short vowel being slightly lower and slightly centralized. In most dialects, the short vowel sound pronounced or has merged with the short /e/ (transcribed ⟨ɛ⟩ in the chart below).

There are 18 consonant phonemes, two of which, /ɧ/ and /r/, vary considerably in pronunciation depending on the dialect and social status of the speaker. In many dialects, sequences of /r/ with a dental consonant result in retroflex consonants.

In stressed syllables, there are two tones, which give Swedish much of its characteristic sound. Prosody is often one of the most noticeable differences between its dialects.