Help:IPA/Icelandic

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Icelandic 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.

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Icelandic on Wikipedia. It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Icelandic 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.

Shortcut H:IPA-IS

See Icelandic phonology and Icelandic orthography § Function of symbols for a more thorough look at the sounds of Icelandic.

Consonants IPA Examples English approximation c gys skew cʰ kær cute cː baggi, seggja American backgammon ç hjá hue ð veður weather f fyrir, dýpka fun fː kaffi offfield ɣ laga Spanish trigo h hús hop ʰc ekki skew (with an h sound before it) ʰk þakka sky (with an h sound before it) ʰp tappi spy (with an h sound before it) ʰt stutt sty (with an h sound before it) j jú, lagi yes k göng, líka sky kʰ koma kite kː hryggur stockgirl l líf leap l̥ stelpa, jökull same as above but voiceless, like hl lː bolla Italian bella m miði moon m̥ lampi same as above but voiceless, like hm mː hlemmur roommate n níu noon n̥ hnífur same as above but voiceless, like hn nː brenna unknown ɲ lengi canyon ɲ̊ banki same as above but voiceless, like hny ŋ ungs sing ŋ̊ þungt same as above but voiceless, like hng p böl, hjálpa, nafni spy pʰ páfi pie pː kobbi flipbook r rós ring, but trilled r̥ hreinn same as above but voiceless, like hr rː marra Italian terra s saga between sip and ship (retracted) sː messa between this sip and trash ship (retracted) t dagur, út, jökull sty tʰ tala tie tː oddur outdo θ það think v verk, afi very x sjúkt, sagt Scottish loch xʷ hver[note 1] why (without the wine–whine merger)

Vowels[note 2] IPA Examples English approximation Monophthongs a karl art aː raka father ɛ kenna bet ɛː nema[note 3] roughly like yes i fínt, sýndi leaf iː líf, hlýt leave ɪ yrði kit ɪː yfir, vita kid ɔ loft RP or Australian hot ɔː von[note 3] roughly like water œ dökk nurse œː öl[note 3] French actuel, but with lips rounded from start to end u full pull uː núna fool ʏ upp German Mütter; like kit with lips rounded ʏː kul German schön; like kid with lips rounded Diphthongs ai ætla RP right aiː æfing pie au sjálfur mouth auː páfi allow ei engi pace eiː heim pay ɔi bogi choice ou hóll goal (short) ouː kópur goal (long) œy laust Scottish or Canadian rite œyː auga ʏi hugi No English equivalent, similar to gooey Other symbols IPA Explanation ˈ◌ primary stress (placed before the stressed syllable, e.g. langur [ˈlauŋkʏr̥]) ˌ◌ secondary stress (placed before the stressed syllable, e.g. afmælisdagur [ˈamailɪsˌtaːɣʏr̥])

Notes

1. Hver is usually pronounced as if spelled kver. [xʷ] is a part of a dialect from the Southern Region and is rare nowadays.
2. Vowels are usually long if they are stressed and followed by no more than one consonant, double consonants counting as more than one. Vowel length is not phonemic.
3. Long [ɛː, ɔː, œː] are most typically realized as smooth transitions from [ɪ, ʊ, ʏ] to [ɛː, ɔː, œː]. Thus, they are monophthongs phonologically and diphthongs phonetically (Árnason 2011:60, Gussmann 2011:71, 88).

Bibliography

• Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur (2013). Hljóðkerfi og orðhlutakerfi íslensku (PDF) (in Icelandic). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-06.
• Árnason, Kristján (2011). The Phonology of Icelandic and Faroese. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-922931-4.
• Gussmann, Edmund (2011). "Getting your head around: the vowel system of Modern Icelandic" (PDF). Folia Scandinavica Posnaniensia. 12: 71–90. ISBN 978-83-232-2296-5.
• Haugen, Einar (1958). "The Phonemics of Modern Icelandic". Language. 34 (1): 55–88. doi:10.2307/411276. JSTOR 411276.
• Volhardt, Marc Daniel Skibsted (2011). Islændinges udtale af dansk. En sammenlignende analyse af lydsystemerne i islandsk og dansk, og islandske studerendes danskudtale (Bachelor's degree essay) (in Danish). Reykjavík: University of Iceland.

See also

• Category:Pages with Icelandic IPA (1,247)