Swedish alphabet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Swedish alphabet consists of the following 29 letters:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, Å, Ä, Ö

In addition to the commonly occurring letters of the Latin alphabet, A-Z, the Swedish alphabet has the three letters, "Å", "Ä" and "Ö". The letters "Å", "Ä" and "Ö" are considered distinct letters in Swedish and are sorted after Z as shown above (unlike the German umlauts in the German alphabet).

Since the additional letters do not mark grammatical variation, as in tense or mood, or syllable modification (diaeresis), they are not in function instances of diacritical marking. It is therefore not correct to refer to these characters as umlauts, despite the lack of a better term in English. The umlauted "Ü" is recognised, but is only used in names of German origin. It is otherwise treated as a variant of "Y" and is called a "German Y". In Swedish "Y" is a vowel, and is pronounced as a consonant only in certain loanwords.

Until recently the letter "W" was treated as a variant form of "V" and this practice is still commonly encountered. However, in 2005 the Swedish Academy separated the two letters in conformity with international lexicographic practice. They appear under separate headings in the 13th edition of Svenska Akademiens Ordlista, released on 10 April 2006.

The characters "à" (which is used only in the loanword à, from French) and "é" are regarded simply as variants of "a" and "e".

The above text relates to the formal status of the letters. Regarding actual usage, "q", "w" and "z" are used for names only, "z" also for very few rare loan words. "é" is used for well integrated loan words like idé and armé. "á" is a Swedish (old-fashoned) word, while à is used for a few rare non-integrated loan words. For Swedish native personal names are also "ü" and "è" and more used. For foreign names might "ë", "í", "õ", "ñ" and more be used, but usually only "e", "i" etc.

[edit] Spellings for the sj-phoneme /ɧ/

As a consequence of the fact that several phonetic combinations all have resulted in the Swedish sje-sound, the spelling of the sound is very disparate. Some estimations claim that there are over 50 different spellings of the sound, though this figure is disputed. Garlén (1988) gives a list of 22 spellings (ch, che, g, ge, gi, ige, j, je, sc, sch, sh, shi, si, sj, sk, skj, ssi, ssj, stg, sti, stj, ti), but many of them are confined to only a few words, often loan words, and most of them (ch, che, g, ge, gi, ige, j, je, sc, sh, shi, si, sk, stg, sti, ti) can correspond to other sounds or sound sequences as well. Some spellings of the sje-sound are:

sj in native Swedish words, before both front (e, i, y, ä, ö) and back vowels (a, o, u, å).
sk in native Swedish words before front vowels (e, i, y, ä, ö)
stj in five words only, all enumerated in the word game "Det är lättare att STJÄLA en STJÄLK än att STJÄLPA en STJÄRNA med STJÄRTEN" (= It is easier to STEAL a STALK than to OVERTURN a STAR with the BEHIND.)
skj in five words only, of which four enumerated in the word game "I bara SKJORTAN SKJUTER han SKJUTSEN in i SKJULET." (= In just his SHIRT he PUSHES the VEHICLE into the SHED.) The fifth word is skjuvning (for example skjuvspänning = shear stress and skjuvtöjning = shear strain).
stg in three words only: västgöte, östgöte, gästgiveri
sch in a large number of German (in all positions) loan words
sh in a large number of English (in all positions) loan words
ch in most French loan words (in final position though often -sch); note that English loan words with this spelling usually use the "tje"-sound
-tion, -sion, -ssion in a large number of words with Latin origin; these words are spelt the same way in English; in a few of these words, the sje-sound is preceded by a t (e.g. nation, rationell)
xj for the sequence /kɧ/ occurs only in the place-name Växjö
rs is very common in the end of words. Sometimes pronounced "rs", often "sj".