^ abcdeIn many of the dialects that have an apicalrhotic consonant, a recursive sandhi process of retroflexion occurs, and clusters of /r/ and dental consonants /rd/, /rl/, /rn/, /rs/, /rt/ produce retroflex consonant realisations: [ɖ], [ɭ], [ɳ], [ʂ], [ʈ]. In dialects with a guttural R, such as Southern Swedish, they are [ʁd], [ʁl], [ʁn], [ʁs], [ʁt]. Nevertheless, retroflexion might occur in some varieties of Finland Swedish, especially among young speakers and in fast speech.
^Swedish /ɧ/ varies regionally and is sometimes [xʷ], [ɸˠ], or [ʂ].
^/r/ varies considerably in different dialects: it is pronounced alveolar or similarly (a trilledr when articulated clearly or in slow or formal speech; in normal speech, usually a tappedr or an alveolar approximant) in virtually all dialects (most consistently [r] in Finland), but in South Swedish dialects, it is uvular, similar to the Parisian French r. At the beginning of a syllable, it can also be pronounced as a fricative [ʒ], as in English genre or vision.
^ abcdBefore /r/, the quality of non-high front vowels is changed: the unrounded vowels /ɛ/ and /ɛː/ are lowered to [æ] and [æː], whereas the rounded /œ/ and /øː/ are lowered to open-mid [œ] and [œː]. For simplicity, no distinction is made between the mid [œ˔] and the open-mid [œ], with both being transcribed as ⟨œ⟩. Note that younger speakers use lower allophones [ɶ] and [ɶː].
^ ab[ɵ] and [ʉ] are unstressed allophones of a single phoneme /ɵ/ (stressed /ɵ/ is always realized as [ɵ]):
[ɵ] is used in all closed syllables (as in kultur[kɵlˈtʉːr]) but also in some open syllables, as in musikal[mɵsɪˈkɑːl]. Some cases involve resyllabification caused by retroflexion, which makes the syllable open, as in kurtisan[kɵʈɪˈsɑːn];
[ʉ] appears only in open syllables. In some cases, [ʉ] is the only possible realization, as in känguru[ˈɕɛŋːɡʉrʉ], such as when /ɵ/ appears in hiatus, as in duell[dʉˈɛlː];
In other cases, [ɵ] is in free variation with [ʉ] so musik can be pronounced as [mɵˈsiːk] or [mʉˈsiːk] (Riad (2014:28-29)). For simplicity, only [ɵ] will be used.
^ abThe distinction between compressed [ʉ] and protruded [ʏ] is particularly difficult to hear for non-native speakers:
Swedish compressed [ʉ] sounds very close to German compressed [ʏ] (as in müssen[ˈmʏsn̩]);
Swedish protruded [ʏ] sounds more similar to English unrounded [ɪ] (as in hit) than to German compressed [ʏ], and it is very close to Norwegian protruded [ʏ] (as in nytt[nʏtː]).
^ abThe distinction between compressed [ʉː] and protruded [yː] is particularly difficult to hear for non-native speakers:
Swedish compressed [ʉː] sounds very close to German compressed [yː] (as in üben[ˈyːbn̩]);
Swedish protruded [yː] sounds more similar to English unrounded [iː] (as in leave) than to German compressed [yː], and it is very close to Norwegian protruded [yː] (as in lys[lyːs]).
^ abcPlaced before the stressed syllable. For words with the second toneme, ⟨²⟩ will be used instead of the primary stress mark, and ⟨ˌ⟩ to indicate the secondary stress when more than one syllable follows.
^ abThe variety of Swedish spoken on the Åland Islands usually resembles phonetically speaking the dialects of the Uppland area rather than Finland Swedish, but the pitch accent is largely missing.
^ abFinland Swedish, as well as a few accents of Mainland Sweden, have a simple primary stress rather than a contrastive pitch accent. In such accents, anden meaning 'wild duck' and anden meaning 'spirit' are pronounced identically.
^Consonants tend to geminate after a stressed short vowel.
Bibliography
Engstrand, Olle (1999), "Swedish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 140–142, ISBN 0-521-63751-1
Reuter, Mikael (1971). "Vokalerna i finlandsvenska: En instrumentell analys och ett försök till systematisering enligt särdrag". Studier i nordisk filologi (in Swedish). Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. 46: 240–249.
Riad, Tomas (2014), The Phonology of Swedish, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954357-1
[kɵlˈtʉːr]) but also in some open syllables, as in musikal [mɵsɪˈkɑːl]. Some cases involve resyllabification caused by retroflexion, which makes the syllable open, as in kurtisan [kɵʈɪˈsɑːn];