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Main articles: Danish language

Contents

Consonants

Vowels

Long and short vowels

Current developments

Accent

Stød

Dania transliteration

Orthography

Text sample

References

See also

Consonants

Danish has 17 to 19 consonants, depending on analysis:

	Bilabial		Labio- dental	Alveolar		(Alveolo-) Palatal	Velar		Uvu- pharyngeal	Glottal
Plosives
Nasals
Fricatives						( )
Approximants
Lateral approximant

Table of allophones

Phoneme	Pronunciation
	Before stress	After stress

are voiceless and aspirated: (some scholars analyse them as voiceless aspirated ''lenis'': ). are voiceless and lenis: . , and are distinguished only in word-initial position or at the beginning of a stressed syllable. Hence ''lappe'' 'patch' = ''labbe'' 'lap' , ''værten'' 'the host' = ''verden'' 'the world' , ''lække'' 'leak' = ''lægge'' 'lay' .
The combination of is realized as , making it possible to postulate a tentative -phoneme in Danish.
may have slight frication, but are usually pronounced as pure approximants, and hence being rendered as .
In the position after a vowel (except before a stressed vowel), and are normally pronounced and . In slow and careful speech is often = ). = forms a diphthong with the preceding vowel: e.g. ''stor'' "big" , ''næring'' "nourishment" . and / coalesce into the long vowels and respectively. , and are all rendered as , e.g. ''læger'' "doctors" = ''lære'' "teach, learn; doctrine" = ''lærer'' "teaches, learns; teacher" .
, and () are normally rendered as the vowels , and . , are pretty close to [o] and [e], e.g. ''leve'' "live" = ''Leo'' . and especially are frequently assimilated to (in the case of normally, but not exclusively, with an indication of a rounding at the outset), e.g. ''meget'' "much, very" , ''Strøget'' "a central shopping street" . Since word-final is normally rendered as in Jutlandic Standard Danish, these words are normally pronounced without assimilation there: , .
The phoneme has been lost from the pronunciation of all but the oldest speakers. After frontvowels (and ), it has normally disappeared altogether, though it may be represented by after the long vowels , , in careful speech, especially word-finally. After backvowels (except ), it has become . NB: ''eg'' and ''øg'' (like ''ej'' and ''øj'') often represent the diphthongs and , as in ''øje'' (eye) .

Vowels

Danish has 16 vowels:

	Front		Central	Back
	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	unrounded	rounded
Close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Open

Phoneme	Pronunciation
	-	Before	After
			/ 1
	/ 2
4	-		-
5		-
# Before labials and alveolars# Before labials and velars# Before .# Only before and perhaps (only ''høne'', ''bøvet'')# Only before

The 16 vowels, of which 15 exist in a short variant and 12 in a long variant, are distributed on 11 short and 10 long phonemes, many of which have a more open allophone in the position before and after .

Long and short vowels

Long vowels occur in syllables which were originally open, i.e. there was not more than one short consonant after the vowel. Since the long consonants have been shortened, vowel quantity has become phonological: ''bane'' "course" ≠ ''bande'' "swear", ''ile'' "hasten" ≠ "ilde" "badly".
There are long vowels in some syllables which were originally closed, especially in neutres of adjective stems ending in and (e.g. ''pænt'' "nice" ) and in the preterits and participles of verb stems ending in , and (e.g. ''spiste'' "ate" , ''fødte'' "gave birth to" ).
The distinction between long and short vowels are neutralised before .

Current developments

This sixteen-vowel system is unstable, and the contemporary language is experiencing a merger of more of these phonemes. Thus, many speakers tend to confuse with , with , with and with (cf. Michael Ejstrup and Gert Foget Hansen 2004 [1]).
Before labials and velars, is in most varieties: in other positions, it is in the conservative speakers and in the younger speakers.
, the regular allophone of after is before labials and alveolars in the language of most younger speakers; before labials, it is often realised as a diphthong ; the difference between ''strække'' "stretch" and ''strejke'' "strike", the only minimal pair, is practically non-existent.
The distinction between and , which is upheld only before nasals, is blurred. One often hears for (e.g. ''bønder'' instead of ) and for (e.g. ''bøtte'' instead of ). However, = <y> is normally pronounced only (one may hear ''pynte'' instead of , though).

Accent

Unlike the neighboring Mainland Scandinavian languages Swedish and Norwegian, the prosody of Danish does not have phonemic pitch. Stress is phonemic and distinguishes words like such as "cheapest" and "car driver". The main rules for the position of the stress are:
# Indigenous words are normally stressed on the first syllable.
# The prefixes ''be-'', ''for-'', ''ge-'' are unstressed, e.g. ''for’stå'' "understand", ''be’tale'' "pay" (NB there is also a stressed ''for-'' in nouns corresponding to the verbal prefix ''fore-'').
# In many compound adjectives, especially those ending in ''-ig'' and ''-lig'', the stress is replaced from the first to the second syllable, e.g. ''vidt’løftig'' "circumstantial", ''u’mulig'' "impossible".
# Words of French origin are stressed on the last syllable (except ), e.g. ''renæ’ssance'', ''mil’jø''.
# Words of Greek and Latin origin are stressed according to the Latin accent rules, i.e. stress on the penultimate if it is long or else on the antepenultimate, e.g. ''Ari’stoteles'', ''Ho’rats''.
# The learned suffixes ''-aner'', ''-ansk'', ''-ance'', ''-a/ens'', ''-a/ent'', ''-ere'', ''-i'', ''-ik'', ''-ion'', ''-itet'', ''-ør'' are stressed, e.g. ''finge’rere'', ''situa’tion'', ''poli’tik'', ''århusi’aner''. The preceding syllable is stressed before the learned suffixes ''-isk'', ''-iker'', ''-or'', e.g. ''po’lemisk'', ''po’litiker'', ''radi’ator''. The suffix ''-or'' is stressed in the plural: ''radia’torer'' (colloquial: ''radi’atorer'').
# Verbs lose their stress (and stød, if any) in certain positions:
:: With an object without a definite or indefinite article: e.g. ''’Jens ’spiser et ’barn'' "Jens eats a child" ~ ''’Jens spiser ’børn'' "Jens eats children".
:: In a fixed phrase with an adverb or an adverbial: ''’Helle ’sov ’længe'' "Helle slept for a long time" ~ ''’Helle sov ’længe'' "Helle slept late".
:: Before the direction adverbs ''af, hen, hjem, ind, indad, ned, nedad, op, opad, over, ud, udad, under'' (but ''not'' the location adverbs ''henne. inde, nede, oppe, ovre, ude''): f.eks. ''han ’går ’ude på ’gaden'' "he walks on the street" ~ ''han går ’ud på ’gaden'' "he walks into the street".

Stød

The original pitch tone has been replaced by an opposition between syllables with and without the stød. The stød is not a separate phoneme, but a suprasegmental feature that may accompany certain syllables; those with a long vowel or that end with a voiced consonant.
The stød is phonemic since many words are kept apart on the basis on the presence or absence of the stød alone, e.g. ''løber'' "runner" ≠ ''løber'' "runs" , ''ånden'' "the breath" ≠ ''ånden'' "the spirit" .
It is impossible to predict the presence or absence of the stød; it has to be learned. However there are some main rules:
#Original monosyllabic words have stød. Words that ended in consonant + ''r'', ''l'', ''n'' in Old Danish have the stød even though an anaptyctic vowel was later developed. The postponed definite article, which has become an inseparable part of the word, does not influence the word.
#All umlauting plurals in ''-er'' (ODan. ''-r'') have the stød, e.g. ''hænder'' "hands".
#Most presents from strong verbs (ODan. ''-r'') have the stød, e.g. ''finder'' "finds". Many of the presents of verbs with a preterite in ''-te'' have the stød as well (but not the presents of verbs with a preterite in ''-ede'').
#Monosyllabic words that originally ended in a 'short' vowel + a single ''n'', ''r'', ''l'', ''v'', ''ð'', ''g'' do not have the stød. However, when the definite article is added, the stød "returns", e.g. ''ven'' ~ ''vennen'' "friend".
#Stød is frequently avoided in words with the combinations ''rp'', ''rt'', ''rk'', ''rs'', e.g. ''vers'' "verse", ''kort'' "card, map"/"short".
#Most (non-derived) words in ''-el'', ''-er'' have the stød. Most words in ''-en'' do not have the stød. Nomina agentis in ''-er'' do not have the stød.
#All words with the unstressed prefixes ''be-'', ''for-'', ''ge-'' have the stød.
#There is stød in most compounds that have a replacement of the stress from first to the second syllable.
#There is frequently the stød in the second part of compound verbs.
#Monosyllables regularly lose the stød when they are the first part of a compound: ''mål'' "target, goal" ~ ''målmand'' "goalkeeper". The vowel is sometimes shortened: ''tag'' "roof" ~ ''tagterrasse'' ”roof terrace”
#Words of Greek or Latin origin have the stød on a stressed antepenultimate syllable or a stressed last syllable. A stressed penultimate syllable has the stød if the word ends in ''-er''.

Dania transliteration

The Danish handbooks (including the pronunciation dictionaries) normally use another transliteration standard known as Dania. It is more similar to the orthography and is to some extent phonological rather than phonetic. E.g. the vowels of ''stræde'' "alley" and ''gade'' "gade", which are pronounced identical in Modern Standard Danish, are transliterated and respectively since they are allophones of different phonemes.

	Bilabial		Labio- dental		Alveolar		Alveolo- palatal		Palatal		Velar		Uvu- pharyngeal		Glottal
Plosives
Nasals
Fricatives
Approximants
Lateral approximant

	Front		Central		Back
	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
Close (high)
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Open (low)

NB Many letters have a different meaning in the two transliteration systems: Dania = IPA , Dania = IPA , Dania = IPA , Dania = IPA , Dania = IPA , Dania = IPA

Orthography

Explanation: "/ ''x'' _" = "after x"; "/ _ ''x''" = "before x"; "#" = "final position"; "V" = "any vowel", "C" = "any consonant"

Letter(s)	Sound (in IPA)
'aa'	= ''å'' (in indigenous names) / ''a'' (in foreign names)
'ae, ä'	= ''æ'' (in names)
'au, aw'	; (in English words); (in French words)
'ai, ay'	; (in English words); (in French words)
'b, bb'	(in some words also / ''V'' _)
'c'	= ''k'' or ''s'' (in foreign words)
'ch'	(in English words); (in French words); or (in German words); (in Greek names)
'cc'	= ''ks'' (in foreign words)
'd, dd'	(/ ''V'' _ ''#, , -ig, -isk'') or [-] (/ ''V'' _ ''t, s''; ''l, n, r'' _ ''e, #'')
'e'	short: or 1; (/ _ ''r''); (/ ''r'' _ ''p, b, f, m, t, d, s, n''); ) (/ ''r'' _ ''k, g, nk, ng'') long: ; (/ ''r'' _) unstressed: ; (/ ''r'' _; _ ''r'')
'ea, ee'	= ''i'' or ''e'' (in English words)
'eg, ei, ej'
'f, ff'	in the preposition ''af'' = or (as the first part of compounds)
'g, gg'	; (in French words); (when = ''gg'') or (/ ''i, e, æ, y, ø, u, (long) a'' _) or (/ ''o, å, (short) a'' _); (in English words); (in French words)
'h'	or (/ _ ''j, v''); (/ V _); cf. also ''ch, ph, th''
'i'	short: or 2; or (/ ''r'' _; _ ''r''); (/ _ ''r'' in English words); (/ ''l, n'' _ ''e''); (/ ''t, s'' _ ''e, on'') open syllable ; (in English words)
'ie'	= ''i'' (in names)
'j'	or ; (/ ''s, t'' _); (in English words); (in French words)
'k, kk'	; (/ ''s'' _; / ''V'' _ ''#, C, , -ig, -isk'')
'l, ll'
'ld'	(/ _ ''#, '') or (elsewhere)
'm, mm'
'n, nn'	; (/ _ ''k, g, x''); (/ _ ''f''); (/ ''V'' _ in French words)
'nd'	(/ _ ''#, '') or (elsewhere)
'ng'
'o'	short: ; (/ _ ''g'', sometimes also / _ ''v, s, n, m'') long:
'oe, ö'	= ''ø'' (in names)
'oo'	= ''u'' (in English words); = ''o'' (in German words);
'ou, ow'	; or (in English words); (in French words)
'p, pp'	; (/ ''s'' _; / ''V'' _ ''#, C, , -ig, -isk'')
'ph'	= ''f'' (in names)
'q'	= ''k'' (in names and foreign words)
'r, rr'	; (/ ''V'' _); (in English words)
'rd'	(/ _ ''#, '') or (elsewhere)
's, ss'	; (/ _ ''ie, ion'')
'sj, sch, sh'
't, tt'	; (/ ''s'' _; / ''V'' _ ''#, C, , -ig, -isk''); (/ _ ''ie, ion'')
'th'	; (/ ''s'' _; / ''V'' _ '', -ig, -isk''); (in English words)
'u'	short: or 2; or (/ _ ''r''); or (/ ''r'' _); (/ ''q'' _) long: ; (/ ''r'' _); or (in English words); (in French words)
'ue, ü'	= ''y'' (in names)
'v'	; (/ ''t, k, s'' _); (/ ''V'' _); (in German and Dutch words)
'w'	= ''v'' (in names and foreign words)
'x'	; (/ ''#, n'' _ ) (in foreign words)
'y'	short: or 2; or (/ ''r'' _; _ ''r'') short: ; or (in English words)
'z, zz'	= ''s'' (in names and foreign words)
'æ'	short: , before ''r'' , after ''r'' = (between ''r'' and ''k'', ''g'', ''nk'', ''ng'' = long: ; (/ ''r'' _; _ ''r'')
'ø'	short: ; (/ _ ''n''); or (/ _ ''r''); (/ ''r'' _); (/ ''r'' _ ''n'') long: ; or (/ ''r'' _; _ ''r'')
'øg, øj'
'å'	short: ; (/ _ ''r'') long: ; (/ _ ''r'')

Notes:
¹ Short ''e'' is normally = ; in a few cases, however, it is = (f.eks.
² Short ''i, y, u'' are either = or ; before , the open variants are almost universal.

Text sample

Johannes V. Jensen, ''Kongens Fald'', 1900-01 (ancient orthography):
:Rakkeren vred Anders Graas Hest om paa Ryggen og begyndte at aabne den. Blodet laa i en stor brun Pøl, der smeltede sig ned i Sneen, den blegrøde Fraade frøs snart til Is. For hvert Snit af Kniven vældede en Farve ud af den dampende Hestekrop, Kødet spillede i dejlige blaa og røde Farver. Og se Trævlerne blev ved at røre sig, fare sammen og skælve mod Frostluften, de overskaarne Muskler krympede sig som Orme i den svirpende Ild. Det lange Luftrør kom for en Dag, Kindtænderne laa synlige som fire Linjer mystiske Bogstaver. Der kom en fin lyserød Hinde frem, den var mønstret med mangfoldige blaa Aarer som et flodrigt Land set højt oppe fra. Da Brystet blev aabnet, var der ligesom en Hule; store hvidblaa Hinder hang ned, brunt og sort Blod kom ud af Smaahuller i de aarede Vægge, det gule Fedt stod fra Loft til Gulv i langelige og drivende Klaser. Leveren var mere brun end alt andet brunt i Verden, Milten kom tilsyne blaa og skimlet som Natten og Mælkevejen Og der var mange flere skære Farver, blaa og grønne Indvolde, teglstenrøde og okkergule Dele. Alle Østerlands frodige, raa Farver; gult som Ægyptens Sand, turkisblaat som Himlen over Evfrat og Tigris; alle Orientens og Indiens ublu Farver blomstrede ud midt i Sneen under Rakkerens skidne Kniv.
Modern orthography (relatively few changes: mainly from ''aa'' to ''å'', and the spelling of nouns with the initial letter in lower-case):
:Rakkeren vred Anders Grås hest om på ryggen og begyndte at åbne den. Blodet lå i en stor brun pøl, der smeltede sig ned i sneen, den blegrøde fråde frøs snart til is. For hvert snit af kniven vældede en farve ud af den dampende hestekrop, kødet spillede i dejlige blå og røde farver. Og se, trævlerne blev ved at røre sig, fare sammen og skælve mod frostluften, de overskårne muskler krympede sig som orme i den svirpende ild. Det lange luftrør kom for en dag, kindtænderne lå synlige som fire linjer mystiske bogstaver. Der kom en fin lyserød hinde frem, den var mønstret med mangfoldige blå årer som et flodrigt land set højt oppefra. Da brystet blev åbnet, var der ligesom en hule; store hvidblå hinder hang ned, brunt og sort blod kom ud af småhuller i de årede vægge, det gule fedt stod fra loft til gulv i langelige og drivende klaser. Leveren var mere brun end alt andet brunt i verden, milten kom tilsyne blå og skimlet som natten og mælkevejen, og der var mange flere skære farver, blå og grønne indvolde, teglstenrøde og okkergule dele. Alle Østerlands frodige, rå farver; gult som Ægyptens sand, turkisblåt som himlen over Eufrat og Tigris; alle Orientens og Indiens ublu farver blomstrede ud midt i sneen under rakkerens skidne kniv.
Modern Danish pronunciation:¹
:
:¹ The phonetic transcription follows the pronunciation of Modern Standard Copenhagen Danish as it is spoken by the younger generation (<40y). The author of the text sample, Johannes V. Jensen, spoke a more archaic dialect with a Jutlandic substratum.
English translation:
:"The butcher turned the horse of Anders Grey on its back and started to open it. The blood lay in a big brown puddle that melted down in the snow, the pink foam soon froze to ice. At every cut of the knife, a colour gushed from the steaming body of the horse, the flesh sparkled in lovely blue and red colours. And look, the shreds kept moving, started and quaked in the frosty air, the cut muscles shrank like worms in the flicking fire. The long windpipe appeared, the molars were visible like four lines of mysterious letters. A fine pink membrane showed, it was figured with various blue veins like a rivery country seen from high above. When the breast was opened, it was like a cave; big white-blue membranes hang down, brown and black blood came out of small holes in the veined walls, the yellow fat extended from the ceiling to the floor in longish and wringing bunches. the liver was more brown than any brown thing in the world. The spleen came forth blue and mouldy like the night and the Milky Way. And there were many more bright colours, blue and green entrails, tile-red and ochre-yellow parts. All the luxuriant, raw colours of the East, yellow like the sand and Egypt, turquoise-blue like the heaven over Euphrat and Tigris; all the impudent colours of the Orient and India blossomed right out in the snow under the filthy knife of the butcher."

References

★ Basbøll, Hans. (1985). Stød in modern Danish. ''Folia Linguistica'', ''19'', 1-50.

★ Basbøll, Hans (2005) ''The Phonology of Danish'' ISBN 0-19-824268-9

★ Garlén, Claes (1988) ''Svenskans fonologi'' ISBN 91-44-28151-X.

★ Grønnum, Nina. (1992). ''The groundworks of Danish intonation''. Copenhagen: Museum Tuscalanum Press.

★ Grønnum, Nina. (1996). Danish vowels: Scratching the recent surface in a phonological experiment. ''Acta Linguistica Hafniensia'', ''28'', 5-63.

★ Grønnum, Nina. (1998a). ''Fonetik og fonologi, Almen og Dansk''. København: Akademisk Forlag. ISBN 87-500-3865-6

★ Grønnum, Nina. (1998b). Illustrations of the IPA: Danish. ''Journal of the International Phonetic Association'', ''28'' (1 & 2), 99-105.

★ Heger, Steffen (2003) ''Sprog & lyd: Elementær dansk fonetik'' ISBN 87-500-3089-2

See also

★ List of phonetics topics