Appendix:Norwegian pronunciation

This is a guide to pronunciation of Norwegian. There is no centrally mandated pronunciation of Norwegian. In Wiktionary, the pronunciation given for Norwegian Bokmål generally reflects the pronunciation of Central Eastern Norway, in and around Oslo. The pronunciation given for Norwegian Nynorsk generally reflects the pronunciation in the parts of Norway where Nynorsk is mostly used. Other pronunciations may also be possible.

Consonants

Plosives

Phoneme	Transcription, example and translation
p	par, [pʰɑːr], "pair; couple"
b	bok, [buːk], "book"
t	tam, [tʰɑmː], "tame"
d	dam, [dɑmː], "pond"
k	katt, [kʰɑtː], "cat"
ɡ	god, [ɡuː], "good"

/p, t, k/ are all aspirated and pronounced almost identical to the equivalent English sounds. /b, d, ɡ/ are distinctly voiced, moreso than the English equivalents of most dialects.

Fricatives

Phoneme	Transcription, example and translation
f	fot, [fuːt], "foot"
ʋ	våt, [ʋoːt], "wet"
s	sol, [suːl], "sun"
ʂ	sju, [ʂʉː], "seven"
ç	kjapp, [çɑpː], "fast"
j	jord, [juːr], "soil"
h	han, [hɑnː], "he"

/r/

Phoneme	Transcription, example and translation
r	rød, [ɾøː], [ʁøː], "red"

The pronunciation of /r/ varies in the various dialects. In eastern dialects the pronunciation is more forward, [ɾ] or [r] while the pronunciation in western dialects is further back, [ʁ] [χ].

In some dialects /s, t, d, n, l/ merge with /r/ into retroflex assimilations [ʂ, ɖ, ʈ, ɳ, ɭ].

Laterals

Phoneme	Transcription, example and translation
l	land, [lɑnː], "country"

Nasals

Phoneme	Transcription, example and translation
m	mann, [mɑnː], "man"
n	nese, [ˈneːsə], "nose"
ŋ	lang, [lɑŋː], "long"

Vowels

Long vowels

Phoneme	Transcription, example and translation
iː	ti, [tʰiː], "ten"
yː	ny, [nyː], "new"
ʉː	hus, [hʉːs], "house"
eː	ser, [seːr], "see"
æː	være, [ˈʋæːrə], "to be"
ɑː	har, [hɑːr], "have"
øː	brød, [brøː], "bread"
uː	god, [ɡuː], "good"
oː	nå, [noː], "now"

Short vowels

Phoneme	Transcription, example and translation
ɪ	litt, [lɪtː], "a little, a bit"
ʏ	hytte, [ˈhʏtːə], "cabin"
ʉ	munn, [ˈmʉnː], "mouth"
ɛ	redd, [rɛdː], "afraid, scared"
æ	vært, [ʋæʈː], "been (past ptcpl.)"
ɑ	mann, [mɑnː], "man"
œ	brønn, [brœnː], "well"
ʊ	tok, [tʊkː], "took (simple past)"
ɔ	toll, [tɔlː], "customs"
ə	påle, [poːlə], "pole"

Diphthongs

Phoneme	Transcription, example and translation
æʉ	sau, [sæʉ], "sheep"
æɪ	jeg, [jæɪ], "I"
œʏ	gøy, [gœʏ], "fun"

Stress and tonemes

Most dialects of Norwegian separate between two distinct tonemes. The way they are realised differs considerably between different dialects. The table gives only a few examples.

Stress and tone
IPA	Examples	Examples of realisation
[ˈ]	bønder [ˈbønːər] [ˈbønːəʁ]	Tone 1 / acute accent: low-rising tone in Oslo and Trondheim: [ˈbø̀nːə̌r] falling-low tone in Bergen: [ˈbø̂nːə̀ʁ] rising-falling tone in Stavanger: [ˈbø̌nːɔ̂ʁ] simple primary stress in certain accents: [ˈbønːər]
[²]	bønner [²bønːər] [²bønːəʁ]	Tone 2 / grave accent: falling-rising tone in Oslo and Trondheim: [ˈbø̂nːə̌r] rising-falling tone in Bergen: [ˈbø̌nːə̂ʁ] falling-falling tone in Stavanger: [ˈbø̂nːɔ̂ʁ] simple primary stress in certain accents: [ˈbønːər]