Dalecarlian pronunciation
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This pronunciation guide uses the SAMPA (alternative description) phonetical alphabet together with - mainly - English examples. The standardised pronunciation used here is based on the dialects of the core triangle Øfdaln-Vomos-Ossa, with emphasis on Øfdaln.
Contents |
Vowels
| Vowel | SAMPA | Pronunciation example | Word example |
|---|---|---|---|
| A, a | [A] [AU] [{] | star [A:] house [AU] pat [{] | kall [´kAll] (n. 'man, husband') lang [´l\AUNg] (adj. 'long, tall') hjarta [j{r`tA] (n. 'heart') |
| Á, á | [o:] [O:] | Ger. Sohle [o:] cause [O:] | hás [´o:s] (n. 'neck') hjápa [jO:`pA] (v. 'help') |
| E, e | [E] [aI] | fair [E:] high [aI] | kenna [kEnn`A] (v. 'feel, know') seng [´saINg] (n. 'bed') |
| É, é | [i:] | feet [i:] | kné [´kni:] (n. 'knee') |
| I, i | [I] [e] | pit [I] pet [e] | spilå [spI'l\O] (v. 'play') andi [An`de] (n. 'breath') |
| Í, í | [aI:] [i:] | high [aI] feet [i:] | bíða [baI`DA] (v. 'wait') trí [´tri:] (numb. 'three') |
| O, o | [o] | Ger. Sohle [o:] | loðin [l\o'DIn] (adj. 'hairy, dawny') |
| Ó, ó | [UO:] | Fin. Suomi [UO] | brjóta [brIUO:`tA] (v. 'break') |
| U, u | [u] | sew [u:] | um ['um] (prep. 'around, about') |
| Ú, ú | [AU:] [u:] | house [AU] sew [u:] | hús [´AU:s] (n. 'house') sjú [´sIu:] (numb. 'seven') |
| Y, y | [y] | Ger. tür [y] | nykil [ny'tSyl\] (n. 'key') |
| Ý, ý | [OI:] [y:] | boy [OI] Ger. Tür [y] | krýsi [krOI:`se] (n. 'face') kýr [´tSy:r] (n. 'cow') |
| Æ, æ | [{] | pat [{] | bækær [b{'k{r] (v. [pres] 'bakes') |
| Ǽ, ǽ | [{:] | pat [{] | lǽgð [´l\{:gd] (n. 'hollow') |
| Ø, ø | [9] | Ger. Hölle [9] | bjørk [´by9rk] (n. 'birch tree') |
| Ǿ, ǿ | [y9:] | Fin. yöta [y9] | mǿta [my9:`tA] (v. 'meet') |
| Å, å | [O] | cause [O:] | gåmål [gO'mOl\] (adj. 'old') |
- The vowels without acute accent are said to be short, and the vowels with acute accent are said to be long.
- Each vowel has a nasal dual counterpart. The short vowels are nasalized by attaching an ogonek underneath: ą, ę, į etc. are nasal a, nasal e, nasal i etc, respectively. The long vowels are nasalized by replacing the diacritic acute accent to a circumflex instead: â, ê, î etc. are nasal á, nasal é, nasal í etc., respectively. Alternatively - due to the limitations of the computer fonts - one may just add an apostrophe to the right to denote nasalization: a', á', e', é' etc. instead of ą, â, ę, ê etc. respectively.
- Note here that the symbol : denotes long pronunciation of a vowel. In the table I have marked the typical length of each listed vowel. Most vowels may be short or long depending on the word, stress etc in consideration.
- The letter a, å and æ are regarded to be three different manifestations of one and the same letter. In this tutorial we will call them proper a, closed a and open a. The two latter ones only occur in bisyllabic words with short stems (for a definition, see below). Historically, the closed and the open a's have evolved from the proper one.
Diphthongs
| Diphthong | SAMPA | Pronunciation example |
|---|---|---|
| Ei, ei | [IE:] | Sp. bien [IE] |
| Ou, ou | [o:] | Ger. Sohle [o:] |
| Ay, ay | [{:] | pat [{] |
- Note that when writing a nasalized diphthong, only the first vowel gets the ogonek. Example: rąysi [r{~:`se] (n. 'pile of stones').
Consonants
| Consonant | SAMPA | Pronunciation example |
|---|---|---|
| B, b | [b] | bay [b] |
| D, d | [d] | day [d] |
| Ð, ð | [D] | that [D] |
| Þ, þ | [d] [D] | day [d] that [D] |
| F, f | [f] [v] [p] | father [f] vine [v] spoil [p] |
| G, g | [g] [C] [dZ] [G] | good [g] gill [C] gin [dZ] Sp. fuego [G] |
| H, h | [ ] | hour [ ] |
| J, j | [I] [j] | pit [I] you [j] |
| K, k | [k] [c] [tS] | cat [k] kin [c] chin [tS] |
| L, l | [l] [l\] | wall [l] Nor. blå [l\] (alveolar lateral flap) |
| M, m | [m] | man [m] |
| N, n | [n] [N] [n`] | now [n] thing [N] Swe. barn [n`] (retroflex nasal) |
| Ñ, ñ | [~] | Fr. bon [~] |
| P, p | [p] | pick [p] |
| R, r | [r] | Sp. perro [rr] |
| S, s | [s] [l^0] | see [s] Welsh llyfelyn [l^0] |
| T, t | [t] | tick [t] |
| V, v | [w] | win [w] |
- The special Dalecarlian consonants þ and ñ are called þoss [doss] and nef-n, respectively.
- The consonants j and v are said to be semi-vowels, and h and ñ are said to be etymological consonants.
- Long consonants are obviously doubled in the phonetical orthography. Note also that aspiration is not considered here. Generally, Dalecarlian has similar rules for aspiration as English (e.g., 'pa-', 'ta-', 'ka-' are aspirated, but not 'spa-','apa-'; 'sta-', 'ata-'; 'ska-', 'aka-'). The aspiration is much softer in Dalecarlian, though<p>
Stress, pitch and syllable length
Stress
Since Dalecarlian is a Scandinavian language, the first syllable is always stressed, except for some foreign words (mainly French). Dalecarlian basically follows the Old Norse stressing, i.e.:
- Non-compound words. In bisyllabic words, stress always fall on the first syllable. In trisyllabic words the main stress falls on the first syllable, and there is a soft "semistress" falling on the third.<p>
- Compound words. The stress falls on the first syllable in the first word in the compound, and on the first syllable in the second word. The second stress is slightly softer. Example: viðåbúðiñ [wI'DO`bu:´De~] (nom/ack def. sg. of n. 'woodshed').
Pitch
In examples to follow, I use [´] to denote falling pitch (i.e. like in english 'father'), ['] to denote balanced pitch (i.e. like in english 'copy') and [`] to denote rising pitch (doesn't exist in english; roughly it is an "inverted" falling pitch). It will be clear below how to integrate the symbol into the phonetical writing and how the sytem works.
- Words which are written monosyllabically and having a short vowel followed by a single consonant have a balanced pitch, and in the phonetical spelling the ['] isn't printed. Exemple: åf [O:v] (prep. 'of').
- Words which are written monosyllabic but with at least a long vowel or double (triple etc) consonant have a falling pitch. Examples: vatn [wAtt´n] (n. 'water'), regn [raIN´En] (n. 'rain'), sigl [sI´GEl\] (n. 'sail'), sukr [sukk´Er] (n. 'sugar'), vitr [wItt´Er] (n. 'winter').
- Non-compound words which are bisyllabic have a rising pitch. Examples: vatna [wAtt`n] (v. 'water'), regna [raIN`En] (v. 'rain'), sigla [sIG`El\] (v. 'sail'), sukra [sukk`Er] (v. 'sugar'), vitri [wItt`Er] (indef. sg. dat. of n. 'winter').
<p>
Syllable length
We define a syllable to be a formal construction of the type C1+V+C2, where C1 may be of any kind of combination of consonants (or even "empty"). Suppose that C2 is just a single consonant (or empty) and that V is a single, short vowel. Then the combination C1+V+C2 is said to be a short syllable. If it is not a short syllable it is said to be a long syllable. (Exception from the definition: sometimes ó is a vowel in a short syllable.) The syllable in question is most often the stem of a word.
Additionally, a super-long syllable has a C2 which is not a single consonant and a V which is not a single or short vowel.
Some theoretical syllable examples:
- Ex. Short syllables: -kat-, -skat- etc.
- Ex. Long syllables: -kát-, -katt-, -kátt-, -kaytt- etc. (the last two ones are super-long)
Miscellaneous pronunciations
- A, a. The pronunciation [AU] occurs only when a is followed by either ng, nk or gn. Examples: trang [trAUNg] (adj. 'tight'), vagn [wAUN´en] (n. 'wagon').
- Á, á. The difference in pronunciation seems to be quite random, no pattern can be discerned. Examples: smár [smo:r] (adj. 'small') and ár [O:r] (n. 'year').
- E, e. The pronunciation [aI] occurs only when e is followed by either ng, nk or gn. Examples: benk [baINk] (n. 'bench'), gegnum [gaI´num] (prep. 'through').
- I, i. The rule when pronouncing this character is quite general. If i is in the stem of a word or in the beginning of a suffix of a short stem, it is pronunced [I]. Otherwise it is pronunced [e]. Examples vikå [wI'kO] (n. 'week'), hvukin [u'kIn] (pron. 'who'), but kjótli [tSUO`l0le] (n. 'skirt').
- Í, í. The pronunciation [aI:] dominates, but in super-long syllables it must be [i:]. Examples: skína [skaI:`nA] (v. 'shine'), í [i:] (prep. 'in') and níftir [ni:`tter] (adv. 'down').
- Ý, ý. Similar discussion as above for ÿ, í. One has kýta [kOI:`tA] (v. 'trot'), ýr [y:r] (prep. 'out of') and stýdd [sty:dd] (adj. 'supported').
- F, f. Initially in a word, f is pronunced [f], e.g. faðir [fA:`Der] (n. 'father'). Between two vowels or in the end of a word after a vowel, it is pronunced [v], e.g. tjóf [tIUO:v] (n. 'thief'). In the compound ft it is pronunced [p] or [t], e.g. gift [dZIpt] (adj. 'married'), eftir [Ett`er] (prep. 'after').
- G, g. The rules to discern the different pronunciations are quite clear:
- Pronunced [g] before a, á, í, o, ó, u, ú, ý, æ, ǽ, å; ou, ay and when before any consonant except j.
- Pronunced [C] before e, é, ø, ǿ.
- Pronunced [dZ] before i, y; ei.
- Pronunced [G] when it is either between two vowels or in the end of a word after a vowel. (It should be noted though that in this position, g is pronunced [j] or [ ] in some situations).
- K, k. Quite clear rules here as well:
- Pronunced [k] before a, á, í, o, ó, u, ú, ý, æ, ǽ, å; ou, ay and when before any consonant except j.
- Pronunced [c] before e, é, ø, ǿ.
- Pronunced [tS] before i, y; ei.
- L, l. When it is long, before d or is following an s - i.e. ll, ld or sl, respectively - it is pronunced [l]. In all other situations the pronunciation is a flap: [l\].
- N, n. The pronunciation is [N] when it is in front of g or k, except when they are pronunced [dZ] and [tS], respectively. The pronunciation is [n`] when following l, i.e. in ln. In all other situations, the pronunciation is [n].
- S, s. In front of l, i.e. sl, the pronunciation is an unvoiced 'l': [l0]. Furthermore, note that unlike other modern Scandinavian languages, the combination sj is most often pronunced without any trace of assimilation. Example: sjâ [sIo~:] (v. 'see').
- Some special combinations
- gj, kj. These combinations are pronunced [dZ] and [tS], respectively. Examples: hengja [aIn`dZA] (v. 'hang'), skjáfa [stSO:`vA] (v. 'tremble').
- -r, -ð, (-g). If a word begins with a consonant, the preceeding word's final consonant is silent if it is either -r or -ð. For some words, a final -g is silent in the same way. Example: rað veg [rA'wEG] ('straight ahead').
- þ-. Sometimes an initial þ- is mutated (or rather, historically, restored) into a [D] sound. This mutation occurs if the preceeding word ends with a vowel (both graphically and with respect to the actual pronunciation - see -r, -ð, (-g) above). Examples: Han sér þig. [an si: DIG] ('He can see you.'), Þeir mǿtti þǿ. [dIE:r my9:`tte Dy9:] ('They encountered it.'). Exception: If the preceeding word ends with -ð no mutation occurs ("-ð þ-" [-dd-]).
- vá, vo, vu, vei. The combinations vá and vo are pronunced [UO(:)]. Examples: vâr [UO~:r] (pron. 'our'), vott [UOtt] (n. 'glove'). The combination vu is pronunced [u]. Example: hvur [ur] (adv. 'how'). Finally, the combination vei is pronunced [wE:] or [UE:]. Examples: veit [wE:t] (pres. sg. of v. 'know'), tveir [tUE:r] (masc. nom. of numb. 'two').
- consonant cluster + r. If a cluster of consonants is followed by an r which is either the final character of the word in consideration, or followed by a consonant, there is always a "svarabakti" [E] inserted in the pronunciation, even if the final consonant in the cluster is -r-. Examples: bǿndrr [by9n´drEr] (indef. nom. pl. of n. 'farmer'), áþrni [o:´DEr'ne] (def. dat. sg. of n. 'vein, artery').
- vowel + gi + consonant; ági. The combination vowel + gi + consonant - except for ñ as a consonant - is often pronunced as an prolonged version of the vowel + the consonant (i.e., the gi is dropped, causing a prolonging of the preceeding vowel). If the consonant is -n, it is often prolonged as well. Examples: segir [sE:r] (pres. sg. of v. 'say'), dagin [dA:nn] (def. nom. sg. of n. 'day'). The combination ági is pronunced [o:´we], e.g. ságiñ [so:´we~] (def. dat. sg. of n. 'saw').
- tl. The combination tl is pronunced [l0l].
- jø. The combination jø is pronunced [y9], e.g. kjørkja [tSy9r`tSA] (n. 'church').
- añe, iñe, uñe; aña, iña, uña; iñu, añu. In the pronunciation, the combinations añe, iñe, uñe; aña, iña, uña; iñu and añu are assimilated and into [{], [I], [u]; [A~], [I~]/[e~], [u~]; [I~]/[e~] and [A~], respectively. Examples: knjóklañer [knIUO`kl\{r] (def. plur. nom. of n. 'knuckle'), kviþiñer [kwI'DIr] (def. plur. nom. of n. 'belly'), sniþuñer [snI'Dur] (def. plur. nom/ack of n. 'crooked ploughed furrow'); hestaña [Est`A~] (def. ack. pl. of n. 'horse'), sóliña [sUO:l`\e~] (def. ack. sg. of n. 'sun'), kulluña [kull`u~] (def. ack. sg. of n. 'girl'); røfiñum [r9v'Im] (def. dat. sg. of n. 'fox'), hjartañu [j{rt`A~] (def. dat. sg. of n. 'heart'). Note here that it is the -r ending in the first three clusters which causes the de-nasalisation.
