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Swedish has a large vowel inventory, with nine vowels distinguished in quality and to some degree in quantity, making 18 vowel phonemes in most dialects. Another notable feature is the pitch accent, a development which it shares with Norwegian. Swedish pronunciation of most consonants is similar to that of other Germanic languages.
The sj-sound (Swedish: sj-ljudet [ˈɧêːˌjʉːdɛt]) is a voiceless fricative phoneme found in the sound system of most dialects of Swedish. It has a variety of realisations, whose precise phonetic characterisation is a matter of debate, but which usually feature distinct labialization .
Swedish uses än, ännu for "yet", "still" while ände or ända means "the end" (much like slut does). The primary difference in preposition usage in the Danish and Norwegian languages is the use of i / på, (in English in / on). Although the two are generally used similarly in both languages, in certain cases the two languages choose a ...
Swedish is a stress-timed language, where the time intervals between stressed syllables are equal. However, when casually spoken, it tends to be syllable-timed. [54] Any stressed syllable carries one of two tones, which gives Swedish much of its characteristic sound. Prosody is often one of the most noticeable differences between dialects. [55]
The Swedish sound can also be spelled several different ways, including dj , g , gj , hj , j , or lj , similarly to the tj-sound which can be spelled with ch (in some loanwords), k , kj , or tj . Traditional spelling therefore often results in a large difference between written and spoken language (deep orthography).
The Swedish traditional handwritten alphabet is the same as the ordinary Latin cursive alphabet, but the letters ö and ä are written by connecting the dots with a curved line, identical to a tilde ̃ , hence looking like õ and ã .
The Swedish language term svengelska refers not to Swenglish, but to spoken or written Swedish filled with an inordinate amount of English syntax and words, with the latter sometimes respelled according to the norms of Swedish phonetics, or calqued into Swedish. English has become the lingua franca in many Swedish workplaces. [11]
The Sweden pronunciation is based primarily on Central Standard Swedish, and the Finland one on Helsinki pronunciation. Recordings and example transcriptions in this help are in Sweden Swedish, unless otherwise noted. See Swedish phonology and Swedish alphabet § Sound–spelling correspondences for a more thorough look at the sounds of Swedish.