Appendix:Norwegian Nynorsk pronunciation

This is a guide to the pronunciation of and how to transcribe pronunciations on Wiktionary.

There is no centrally mandated pronunciation of Norwegian. In Wiktionary, the pronunciation given for Norwegian Nynorsk generally reflects the pronunciation in the parts of Norway where Nynorsk is mostly used, as well as which has the most phonemes. The phonemic transcriptions will ideally differentiate between phonemes that may have merged in some dialects. Other pronunciations may also be possible.

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

The pronunciation of varies in the various dialects. In eastern dialects the pronunciation is more forward, or  while the pronunciation in south western dialects is further back,. The northernmost dialects use, akin to English and Faroese.

In some dialects merge with  and  into retroflex, or postalveolar. Some dialects further differentiate between and  and pronounce  like  (while  is ), and  like. In some dialects, also merge into.

Eastern Norwegian realisation or + alveolars


Old Norse or  have commonly turned into  and, but some dialects retain  and. Loanwords or literary words with ⟨rs⟩ and ⟨rn⟩ have and  in all dialects.

⟨rd⟩ is usually or  in native words, descending from Old Norse. Most loanwords, however, and some literary words, have.

+ alveolars


Alveolars following retroflexes may also become retroflex, for instance  →,   →  → , and   →.

Vowels
The phoneme is realised as a lowered near-open central vowel, or centralised open back unrounded vowel. In the dialects of and, it’s.

In many Norwegian dialects, and  are different phonemes, such as in     and. In other dialects, may merge with  (compare the spelling  from earlier, ), and leave  as an allophone of. Most Norwegian phonologies, as a result of basing themselves on, don’t treat as a phoneme, despite the presence in the Norwegian spoken language. This has not been the tradition with Nynorsk, and dictionaries like Norsk Ordbog by differenciate between the “open”  and “closed”. This is similar to how one differenciates between e.g. and  in    and.

In some dialects, like the one of, the “closed” y (< Old Norse ý, ȳ) has developed into a diphthong. A word like (< Old Norse ) is therefore pronounced  or. The “open” y (< Old Norse y) is pronounced like or. Example: ON →  ; ON  →. The latter has also become.

The Norwegian and  are commonly realised as protruded  and, while it’s common to write them as  and. Some dialects, in Western Telemark and North Gudbrand Valley, use the non-protruded, or regular, y and. Example:. The distinction is therefore relevant, not only on an international level, but also on a national one.

Short å has commonly the more open pronunciation, so that the neuter of  is  instead of. In Setesdal, the vowel retains its length even before long consonant sounds, and does not change quality. Grått is therefore.

The vowel å (from Old Norse á) has some places become a diphthong, most prominently in, and , with the pronunciations ,  or. The eye dialect spelling of this is commonly ao or åo, such as in sognamaol (sognamål, lit. ‘Sogn language’), the dialect of Sogn.

The diphthong au is pronounced in various ways, most commonly and, but some places also , , , ,  and. In Setesdal,, , and parts of and , it is pronounced ,  and. Setesdal also has and, and  in the southern part.

The diphthong ei has a smaller amount of variations, and is most commonly pronounced or. Other pronunciations are in, , , Hardanger, Voss,  and , and also  in the latter two. Setesdal also has and.

The diphthong øy is almost always, with the most common exception being dialects where it’s merged with ei due to. Parts of, , Inner Nordfjord and Inner Sunnmøre have , and other places have , , , and. In Setesdal, it’s.

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.

fr:Annexe:Prononciation/norvégien