{"id":5599,"date":"2017-10-18T12:28:20","date_gmt":"2017-10-18T12:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/?p=5599"},"modified":"2017-10-18T12:32:46","modified_gmt":"2017-10-18T12:32:46","slug":"me-talk-pretty-one-day-a-few-basics-of-pronunciation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/2017\/10\/18\/me-talk-pretty-one-day-a-few-basics-of-pronunciation\/","title":{"rendered":"Me Talk Pretty One Day: A Few Basics of Pronunciation \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today, lets talk a little about Icelandic phonology and pronunciation. In order to do that, we have to start with one basic assumption: <strong>the letter does not equal the sound<\/strong>. Not always.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, for example, we write two letters, but those two letters comprise one sound. <em>Hj, kj, gj, hn, hr, hl<\/em> are all one sound. <strong><em>Hjarta (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/hjarta\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a>), kj\u00f3ll (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/kj\u00f3ll\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a>), gj\u00f6f (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/gj\u00f6f\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a>), hnerra (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/hnerra\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a>), hringja (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/search\/hringja\/\">pronunciation<\/a> ), hlaupa (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/search\/hlaupa\/\">pronunciation<\/a> )<\/em><\/strong>. Likewise, we sometimes write one letter to represent two sounds: the <em>x<\/em> , for example, makes a<em> ks, <\/em>as in <strong><em>buxur (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/buxur\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a> ). <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>\u00c9 = e + j<\/em><\/strong>, (where <strong><em>j<\/em><\/strong> is pronounced \u2018y\u2019 \u2013 like yes), as in <strong><em>\u00e9ta <\/em><\/strong>(<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/\u00e9ta\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a> ).\u00a0<strong><em>H\u00e9r (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/h\u00e9r\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a> ) <\/em><\/strong>is pronounced <strong><em>hjer<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<div class=\"woo-sc-hr\"><\/div><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes the letter and the sound are completely different, as is the case with question words. <strong><em>Hva\u00f0? Hver? Hvernig? <\/em><\/strong>as <strong><em>hvalur, hver, hvass<\/em><\/strong>. (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/hvass\/#is\">pronunciation: hvass)<\/a>.<br \/>\nBut that\u2019s an easy one.<\/p>\n<div class=\"woo-sc-hr\"><\/div>\n<p>One letter can symbolize multiple sounds, as with <strong><em>g. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-5600\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/10\/G-sounds-1024x416.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"416\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/10\/G-sounds-1024x416.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/10\/G-sounds-350x142.png 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/10\/G-sounds-768x312.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/10\/G-sounds.png 1350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"woo-sc-box  normal   \">Breakdown:<\/p>\n<p>Gaman: [k] = g or k (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/gaman\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a>)<br \/>\nGefa: [kj] = g-ye-v-a (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/gefa\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a>)<br \/>\nSaga: [\u0264] = (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/saga\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a>) (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.paulmeier.com\/consonants\/\">What on earth is that strange letter?<\/a>)<br \/>\nSagt: [x] = k (sakt) [ same goes for \u2018k\u2019: rakt]<br \/>\nSegi: [j] = sort of like a \u2018y\u2019 (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/segi\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a>)<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"woo-sc-hr\"><\/div>\n<p><strong><br \/>\nAn <em>f<\/em> \u00a0before <em>n<\/em> or <em>l<\/em> :<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><em>fl<\/em> is pronounced [pl]<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Keflav\u00edk (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/keflav%C3%ADk\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a>), afl (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/afl\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a> ), kafli (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/kafli\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a> )<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><em>fn <\/em>is pronounced [pn]<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hrefna (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/hrefna\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a> ), sofna (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/sofna\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a> ), ofn (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/ofn\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a> )<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"woo-sc-hr\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s wrap up with <em>ll <\/em>and <em>nn. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong><em>ll <\/em>is pronounced [tl] or [l:]<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>[tl] <\/strong>= hilla (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/hilla\/#is)\">pronunciation)<\/a>, allir, ellefu, fjall<\/p>\n<p><strong>[l:] = <\/strong>Palli (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/palli\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a>), dollari, ball (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/ball\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a> ), grilla *<br \/>\n<em>*This l: typically occurs when the word is a borrow word, or a diminutive\/pet name.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>-nn- is sometimes pronounced [tn] and sometimes [n:]<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Steinn (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/steinn\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a> ), gr\u00e6nn (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/gr\u00e6nn\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a>), \u00fej\u00f3nn (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/\u00fej\u00f3nn\/#is\">pronunciation<\/a> ), einn, br\u00fann<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>[n:] <\/strong>henni (<a href=\"https:\/\/forvo.com\/word\/is\/henni\/#is)\">pronunciation)<\/a>, tennur, vinna<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Next time<\/strong>: Vowel sounds are long before a single consonant, and short before 2 or more.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s all, folks!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"142\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/10\/G-sounds-350x142.png\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/10\/G-sounds-350x142.png 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/10\/G-sounds-768x312.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/10\/G-sounds-1024x416.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/10\/G-sounds.png 1350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>Today, lets talk a little about Icelandic phonology and pronunciation. In order to do that, we have to start with one basic assumption: the letter does not equal the sound. Not always. &nbsp; Sometimes, for example, we write two letters, but those two letters comprise one sound. Hj, kj, gj, hn, hr, hl are all&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/2017\/10\/18\/me-talk-pretty-one-day-a-few-basics-of-pronunciation\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":5600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[91175],"tags":[140871],"class_list":["post-5599","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-icelandic-grammar","tag-icelandic-phonology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5599"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5607,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5599\/revisions\/5607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}