Danish

• stød
• blødt d
• Vowels
• Other useful pronunciation features

Standard Danish is commonly analyzed as having 26 vowel phonemes (14 short and 12 long), although the exact inventory can vary somewhat by analysis and variety.

stød

Stød is a phonemic prosodic feature involving laryngealization (often described acoustically as creaky voice). It is commonly transcribed in IPA with [ˀ]. It occurs in particular stressed syllables, especially those containing a long vowel or a short vowel followed by a sonorant. Its acoustic realization can vary and may affect both phonation and pitch; it is not simply a universal two-phase fall in intensity and pitch.

Danish is not the only language with a feature called stød; related glottal or laryngeal phenomena occur in several languages, although they are not necessarily phonetically or phonologically identical.

blødt d

Blødt d (“soft d”) is conventionally associated with the phoneme /ð/. In Standard Danish it is typically realized as a velarized laminal alveolar approximant, often narrowly transcribed around [ð̠˕ˠ], rather than as the dental fricative [ð] of English this.

Vowels

A common analysis distinguishes 26 vowel phonemes: 14 short and 12 long. Danish vowel quality is also strongly affected by surrounding consonants, especially /r/, and vowel inventories differ somewhat between varieties.

Vowel length is phonemic, and long vowels can combine with stød in environments where stød is licensed.

Other useful pronunciation features

• Danish has extensive lenition of plosives.
• The phoneme /v/ is often realized as an approximant [ʋ], and can have a syllable-final realization closer to [w].
• The “soft d” /ð/ is an approximant-like sound and does not correspond directly to English /ð/.
• /r/ is commonly realized as a uvular consonant in Standard Danish and may also influence neighboring vowels.