Pronunciation – Prosody
Intro
In Norway you find several dialects that are quite different. When it comes to pronunciation the differences are related to consonant inventory and intonation.
There is no standard spoken Norwegian. It is common in teaching Norwegian as a second language to approach the Bokmål writing system, but the teacher often retains the intonation of her/his everyday speech, that is; dialect.
In the description below you find a general overview over Norwegian prosody.
Long or short vowels
Norwegian vowels may be long or short:
Click on this audio to hear the pronunciation.
| vin | /’viːn/ | wine |
| vinn | /’vin/ | win |
| vind | /’vin/ | wind |
| vink | /’viŋk/ | hand signal, hint |
In general, the duration is indicated through the orthography.
If a vowel is followed by one consonant, it is long, if it is followed by double consonants or a consonant cluster, it is short.
Stress
| Norge | /’norge/ | Norway |
| spise | /’spiːse/ | eat |
| telle | /’tele/ | count |
| fortelle | /fo’ʈele/ | tell |
| studere | /stʉ’deːre/ | study |
| spandere | /spɑn’deːre/ | treat, stand treat |
| repetere | /repe’teːre/ | repeat |
| student | /stʉ’dent/ | student |
| produsent | /prudʉ’sent/ | producer |
| prosent | /pru’sent/ | percent |
However, there are some rules for stress placement in loanwords:
- Norwegian verbs ending in «-ere» are stressed on the penultimate syllable:
| studere | /stʉ’deːre/ | study |
| spandere | /spɑn’deːre/ | treat, stand treat |
| repetere | /repe’teːre/ | repeat |
- Nouns ending in «-ent» are stressed on the ultimate syllable
| student | /stʉ’dent/ | student |
| produsent | /prudʉ’sent/ | producer |
| prosent | /pru’sent/ | percent |
Compounds
The primary stress is found in the first part of the compound, the secondary stress is found in the second part.
Click on this audio if you want to hear the pronunciation of the following compounds:
| engelsk | /’eŋelsk/ | English |
| lærer | /’læːrer/ | teacher |
| en engelsk lærer | /’eŋelsk ‘læːrer/ | English teacher (teacher from England) |
| engelsklærer | /’eŋelskˌlæːrer/ | teacher of English |
Do you want to give it a try?
On CALST you can find good prosody exercises in your dialect of choice…why not try Bergen or Trondheim for a change?
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