This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Icelandic on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Icelandic in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Icelandic language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Icelandic phonology and Icelandic orthography § Function of symbols for a more thorough look at the sounds of Icelandic.

Consonants
IPA	Examples	English approximation
c	gys	skew
cʰ	kær	cute
cː	baggi, seggja	American backgammon
ç	hjá	hue
ð	veður	weather
f	fyrir, dýpka	fun
fː	kaffi	offfield
ɣ	laga	Spanish trigo
h	hús	hop
ʰc	ekki	skew (with an h sound before it)
ʰk	þakka	sky (with an h sound before it)
ʰp	tappi	spy (with an h sound before it)
ʰt	stutt	sty (with an h sound before it)
j	jú, lagi	yes
k	göng, líka	sky
kʰ	koma	kite
kː	hryggur	stockgirl
l	líf	leap
l̥	stelpa, jökull	same as above but voiceless, like hl
lː	bolla	Italian bella
m	miði	moon
m̥	lampi	same as above but voiceless, like hm
mː	hlemmur	roommate
n	níu	noon
n̥	hnífur	same as above but voiceless, like hn
nː	brenna	unknown
ɲ	lengi	canyon
ɲ̊	banki	same as above but voiceless, like hny
ŋ	ungs	sing
ŋ̊	þungt	same as above but voiceless, like hng
p	böl, hjálpa, nafni	spy
pʰ	páfi	pie
pː	kobbi	flipbook
r	rós	ring, but trilled
r̥	hreinn	same as above but voiceless, like hr
rː	marra	Italian terra
s	saga	between sip and ship (retracted)
sː	messa	between this sip and trash ship (retracted)
t	dagur, út, jökull	sty
tʰ	tala	tie
tː	oddur	outdo
θ	það	think
v	verk, afi	very
x	sjúkt, sagt	Scottish loch
xʷ	hver^{[note 1]}	why (without the wine–whine* merger)*

Vowels^{[note 2]}
IPA	Examples	English approximation
Monophthongs
a	karl	art
aː	raka	father
ɛ	kenna	bet
ɛː	nema^{[note 3]}	roughly like yes
i	fínt, sýndi	leaf
iː	líf, hlýt	leave
ɪ	yrði	kit
ɪː	yfir, vita	kid
ɔ	loft	RP or Australian hot
ɔː	von^{[note 3]}	roughly like water
œ	dökk	nurse
œː	öl^{[note 3]}	French actuel, but with lips rounded from start to end
u	full	Like pig, but with lips rounded.
uː	núna	food
ʏ	upp	German Mütter; like kit with lips rounded
ʏː	kul	German schön; like kid with lips rounded
Diphthongs
ai	ætla	RP right
aiː	æfing	pie
au	sjálfur	mouth
auː	páfi	allow
ei	engi	pace
eiː	heim	pay
ɔi	bogi	choice
ou	hóll	goat
ouː	kópur	goal
œy	laust	Scottish or Canadian rite
œyː	auga	Scottish or Canadian rite
ʏi	hugi	No English equivalent

Other symbols
IPA	Explanation
ˈ◌	primary stress (placed before the stressed syllable, e.g. langur [ˈlauŋkʏr̥])
ˌ◌	secondary stress (placed before the stressed syllable, e.g. afmælisdagur [ˈamailɪsˌtaːɣʏr̥])

Notes[edit]

^ Hver is usually pronounced as if spelled kver. [xʷ] is a part of a dialect from the Southern Region and is rare nowadays.
^ Vowels are usually long if they are stressed and followed by no more than one consonant, double consonants counting as more than one. Vowel length is not phonemic.
^ ^a ^b ^c Long [ɛː, ɔː, œː] are most typically realized as smooth transitions from [ɪ, ʊ, ʏ] to [ɛː, ɔː, œː]. Thus, they are monophthongs phonologically and diphthongs phonetically (Árnason 2011:60, Gussmann 2011:71, 88).

Bibliography[edit]

Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur (2013). Hljóðkerfi og orðhlutakerfi íslensku (PDF) (in Icelandic). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-06.
Árnason, Kristján (2011). The Phonology of Icelandic and Faroese. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-922931-4.
Gussmann, Edmund (2011). "Getting your head around: the vowel system of Modern Icelandic" (PDF). Folia Scandinavica Posnaniensia. 12: 71–90. ISBN 978-83-232-2296-5.
Haugen, Einar (1958). "The Phonemics of Modern Icelandic". Language. 34 (1): 55–88. doi:10.2307/411276. JSTOR 411276.
Volhardt, Marc Daniel Skibsted (2011). Islændinges udtale af dansk. En sammenlignende analyse af lydsystemerne i islandsk og dansk, og islandske studerendes danskudtale (Bachelor's degree essay) (in Danish). Reykjavík: University of Iceland.

External links[edit]

Icelandic Pronunciation Dictionary (Note: The dataset has multiple minor errors, it is often missing aspiration signs and some entries use a non-standard transcription of diphthongs)

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Comparisons	IPA conventions for English English dialects Wikipedia pronunciation respelling Other English pronunciation respellings
Introductory guides	Symbols For English speakers Manual of Style: Pronunciation

Notes[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

See also[edit]

External links[edit]