Editing Swedish language (section)

==Phonology==
{{Main|Swedish phonology}}
[[File:Swedish monophthongs chart.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.36|The vowel phonemes of Central Standard Swedish<ref>{{Harvnb|Engstrand|1999|p=140}}</ref>]]
Swedish dialects have either 17 or 18 vowel [[phoneme]]s, 9 long and 9 short. As in the other Germanic languages, including English, most long vowels are phonetically paired with one of the short vowels, and the pairs are such that the two vowels are of similar [[vowel quality|quality]], but with the short vowel being slightly lower and slightly centralized. In contrast to e.g. Danish, which has only tense vowels, the short vowels are slightly more lax, but the tense vs. lax contrast is not nearly as pronounced as in English, German or Dutch. In many dialects, the short vowel sound pronounced {{IPA|[ɛ]}} or {{IPA|[æ]}} has merged with the short {{IPA|/e/}} (transcribed {{angbr IPA|ɛ}} in the chart below).<ref name=AndersonEngstrand>{{Harvnb|Andersson|2002|pp=271–312}}; {{Harvnb|Engstrand|1999}}</ref>

There are 18 consonant phonemes, two of which, {{IPAslink|ɧ}} and {{IPA|/r/}}, vary considerably in pronunciation depending on the dialect and social status of the speaker. In many dialects, sequences of {{IPA|/r/}} (pronounced alveolarly) with a dental consonant result in [[retroflex consonant]]s; alveolarity of the pronunciation of {{IPA|/r/}} is a precondition for this retroflexion. {{IPA|/r/}} has a [[guttural R|guttural]] or "French R" pronunciation in the [[South Swedish dialects]]; consequently, these dialects lack [[retroflex consonant]]s.<ref>{{Harvnb|Garlén|1988|pp=73–74}}</ref>

Swedish is a [[stress-timed]] language, where the time intervals between [[Stress (linguistics)|stressed syllables]] are equal. However, when casually spoken, it tends to be [[syllable-timed]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://flov.gu.se/forskning/konferenser/fonetikkonferenser/fonetik2005|title=Fonetik 2005|last1=Eriksson|first1=Anders|last2=Abelin|first2=Åsa|last3=Lindh|first3=Jonas|publisher=[[University of Gothenburg]]|date=May 2005|pages=34–36|access-date=23 March 2020|archive-date=23 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323210622/https://flov.gu.se/forskning/konferenser/fonetikkonferenser/fonetik2005|url-status=live}}</ref> Any stressed syllable carries one of two [[tone (linguistics)|tones]], which gives Swedish much of its characteristic sound. [[Prosody (linguistics)|Prosody]] is often one of the most noticeable differences between dialects.<ref>{{Harvnb|Garlén|1988}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|- 
! colspan="2"| 
! [[Bilabial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]<br>[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
!colspan=2| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n̪|n}}
| {{IPA link|ɳ|(ɳ)}}
| 
| {{IPA link|ŋ}}
| 
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Stop consonant|Plosive]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t̪|t}}
| {{IPA link|ʈ|(ʈ)}}
| 
| {{IPA link|k}}
| 
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d̪|d}}
| {{IPA link|ɖ|(ɖ)}}
| 
| {{IPA link|ɡ}}
| 
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Continuant]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|s̪|s}}
| {{IPA link|ʂ|(ʂ)}}
| {{IPA link|ɕ}}
| {{IPA link|ɧ}}
| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|v}}
| {{IPA link|l̪|l}}
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|-
!colspan=2| [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
| 
| {{IPA link|r}}
| 
| 
| 
|}