Icelandic phonology

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Unlike many languages, Icelandic has only very minor dialectal differences in sounds. The language has
both monophthongs and diphthongs, and many consonants can be voiced or unvoiced.
Icelandic has an aspiration contrast between plosives, rather than a voicing contrast, similar
to Faroese, Danish and Standard Mandarin. Preaspirated voiceless stops are also common.
However, fricative and sonorant consonant phonemes exhibit regular contrasts in voice, including in nasals (rare in
the world's languages). Additionally, length is contrastive for consonants, but not vowels. In Icelandic, the main
stress is always on the first syllable.

Consonants
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or
other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
The number and nature of the consonant phonemes in modern Icelandic is subject to broad disagreement, due to a
complex relationship among consonant allophones.
Major allophones
Even the number of major allophones is subject to some dispute, although less than for phonemes. The following is
a chart of potentially contrastive phones (important phonetic distinctions which minimally contrast in some positions
with known phonemes; not a chart of actual phonemes), according to one analysis (Thráinsson 1994):

Consonant phones

Corona
Labial Palatal Velar Glottal
l

Nasal m̥ m n̥ n ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ

Stop pʰ p tʰ t cʰ c kʰ k

sibilant s

Continuant

non-sibilant f v θ ð ç j x ɣ h

Lateral l̥ l

Rhotic r̥ r

1
 /n̥, n, l̥ , l/ are alveolar [n̥, n, l̥ , l], whereas /tʰ, t/ are dental [t̪ ʰ, t̪ ].[1]
 /s/ is an apical alveolar sibilant fricative,[2][3] whereas /θ, ð/ are alveolar non-sibilant fricatives [θ̠, ð̠]. The
former is laminal, while the latter is usually apical.[3][4] Note that the alveolar non-sibilant fricatives are not
contrastive in any language and so have no dedicated IPA symbols. They are broadly transcribed with /θ,
ð/, which nominally denote dental fricatives.
 Voiceless continuants /f, s, θ, ç, x, h/ are always constrictive [f, s̺, θ̠, ç, x, h], but voiced continuants /v, ð, j,
ɣ/ are not very constrictive and are often closer to approximants [ʋ, ð̠˕, j, ɣ˕] than fricatives [v, ð̠, ʝ, ɣ].
 The rhotic consonants may either be trills [r̥, r] or taps [ɾ̥, ɾ], depending on the speaker.
 Acoustic analysis reveals that the voiceless lateral approximant [l̥ ] is, in practice, usually realized with
considerable frication, especially word-finally or syllable-finally, i. e., essentially as a voiceless alveolar
lateral fricative [ɬ].[5]
Scholten (2000) includes three extra phones, namely the glottal stop [ʔ], voiceless velarized alveolar lateral
approximant [l̥ ˠ] and its voiced counterpart [lˠ].[6]
A large number of competing analyses have been proposed for Icelandic phonemes. The problems stem from
complex but regular alternations and mergers among the above phones in various positions.
Alternations
Examples of alternations across different positions:

 [pʰ], [f]: tæp [ˈtʰaɪːpʰ] ('uncertain' fem), tæpt [ˈtʰaɪft] ('uncertain' neut)
 [p], [f], [v]: grafa [ˈkraːva] ('to dig'); grafta [ˈkrafta] ('of diggings'); grafna [ˈkrapna] ('dug')
 [k], [x], [ɣ], [j]: segi [ˈsɛːjɪ] ('[I] say'), sagt [ˈsaxt] ('[was] said'), sagði [ˈsaɣðɪ] ('[I] said'), sagna [ˈsakna] ('of
stories')
Voiced consonants are devoiced word-finally before a pause, so that dag ('day (acc.)') is
pronounced [ˈta:x], bauð ('bid (1/3 pers. sg. past)') is pronounced [ˈpœːiθ], and gaf ('gave (1/3 pers. sg.)') is
pronounced [ˈkaːf]. Even sonorants can be affected: dagur [ˈta:ɣʏr̥] ('day (nom.sg.)'), ketil [ˈcʰɛ:tɪl̥ ] ('kettle
(acc.)') [7]
Restrictions
Dorsal consonants (velar, palatal, glottal)[edit]
The "glottal fricative" [h] (actually a placeless approximant) only occurs initially before a vowel, and following a
vowel in the sequences [hp ht hk hc]. These latter sequences are sometimes said to be unitary "pre-aspirated"
stops; see below.
The voiceless velar fricative [x] occurs only between a vowel and [s] or [t], and initially as a variant
of [kʰ] before [v]. Because it does not contrast with [kʰ] in either position, it can be seen as an allophone of /kʰ/.
However, it also alternates with [ɣ], occurring before a pause where [ɣ] would be pronounced otherwise.
There are two sets of palatal sounds. "Alternating palatals" [c cʰ j] alternate with the velars [k kʰ x ɣ], while "non-
alternating palatals" [ç j] do not. Note that [j] appears twice here; these two [j]'s behave differently, occur in
different distributions, and are denoted by different letters (g and j). This suggests that they may belong to
different phonemes, and that is indeed a common analysis.
In general, the alternating palatals [c cʰ j] are restricted to appearing before vowels. Velars ([k kʰ x ɣ] are
restricted to appearing everywhere except before front vowels. In other words: Before back vowels and front
rounded vowels, both palatals and velars can appear; before front unrounded vowels only palatals can appear;
before consonants only velars can appear.
For the non-alternating palatals [ç j]: Both can appear at the beginning of a word, followed by a vowel.
Elsewhere, only one can occur, which must occur after a non-velar, non-palatal consonant. [j] occurs before a
vowel, and [ç] occurs in a few words at the end of a word following [p t k s].
The velars and alternating palatals are distributed as follows:

 Initially or at beginning of syllable: Only the four stops [kʰ k cʰ c] can appear.

 After [s] that begins a syllable: only [k c].
 Between vowels: only [k ɣ c j].

2
 After a vowel, finally or before [v] or [r]: only [kʰ ɣ].
 After a vowel, before [ð]: only [ɣ].
 After a vowel, before [l]: only [k].
 After a vowel, before nasals: only [kʰ k].
 After a vowel, before [s t]: only [x].
Although the facts are complex, it can be noticed that [ɣ] only ever contrasts with one of the two velar stops,
never with both, and hence can be taken as an allophone of whichever one doesn't appear in a given context.
Alternatively, following the orthography, [ɣ] can be taken as an allophone of /ɡ/, where [k] is taken as an
allophone of either /k/ or /ɡ/ depending on context, following the orthography.
Alveolar non-sibilant fricatives
In native vocabulary, the fricatives [θ] and [ð] are allophones of a single phoneme /θ/. [θ] is used morpheme-
initially, as in þak [ˈθaːk] ('roof'), and before a voiceless consonant, as in maðkur [ˈmaθkʏr̥] ('worm'). [ð] is used
intervocalically, as in iða [ˈɪːða] ('vortex') and word-finally, as in bað [ˈpaːð] ('bath'), although it is devoiced
to [θ] before pause. Some loanwords (mostly from Classical Greek) have introduced the phone [θ] in
intervocalic environments, as in Aþena [ˈaθɛna] ('Athens').[citation needed]
The phone [θ] is actually a laminal voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative [θ̠]. The corresponding voiced
phone [ð̠] is similar, but is apical rather than laminal (Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996).

Voiceless sonorants
Of the voiceless sonorants [l̥  r̥ n̥ m̥ ɲ̊ ŋ̊], only [l̥ r̥ n̥] occur in word-initial position, for example
in hné [ˈn̥jɛː] ('knee'). Only in initial position do the voiceless sonorants contrast with the corresponding voiced
sonorants. Finally, before aspirated consonants and after voiceless consonants only the voiceless sonorants
appear; elsewhere, only the voiced sonorants appear. This makes it clear that [m̥ ɲ̊ ŋ̊] are non-phonemic.
Recently, there has been an increasing tendency, especially among children, to pronounce initial hn as voiced,
e.g. hnífur [ˈnivʏr̥] ('knife') rather than standard [ˈn̥ivʏr̥].
Palatal and velar nasals
The palatal nasals [ɲ̊ ɲ] appear before palatal stops and the velar nasals [ŋ̊ ŋ] before velar stops; in these
positions, the alveolar nasals [n̥ n] do not occur. [ŋ] appears also before [l], [t] and [s] through the deletion
of [k] in the consonant clusters [ŋkl] [ŋkt] [ŋks], and through the coalescence of the consonants [k] and [n] in the
consonant clusters [knl] [knt] [kns]. The palatal nasals are clearly non-phonemic, although there is some debate
about [ŋ] due to the common deletion and [k] coalescence of [kn].
Aspiration and length contrasts (medial and final)
Modern Icelandic is often said to have a rare kind of stops, the so-called pre-aspirated stops [ʰp ʰt ʰc
ʰk] (e.g. löpp [ˈlœʰp] 'foot'), which occur only after a vowel and do not contrast with sequences [hp ht hc
hk] (which do not occur in Icelandic). Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996) note that phonetically, in Icelandic pre-
aspirated stops the aspiration is longer than in normal post-aspirated stops, and is indistinguishable from
sequences [hp ht hc hk] (or with [x] replacing [h]) occurring in other languages; hence, they prefer to analyze
the pre-aspirated stops as sequences. For example, Icelandic nótt, dóttir correspond to
German Nacht, Tochter.
Following vowels there is a complex alternation among consonant length, vowel length and aspiration. The
following table shows the alternations in medial and final position (Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996):

3
 Aspiration and length contrasts (medial and final)

Bilabial Dental Velar

koppar [ˈkʰɔhpar̥] gættir [ˈcaɪhtɪr̥] sakka [ˈsahka]

'small pot' (nom pl) 'doorway' (nom pl) 'sinkstone'

kobbar [ˈkʰɔppar̥] gæddir [ˈcaɪttɪr̥] sagga [ˈsakka]

'young seal' (nom pl) 'endow' (2nd p. sg past) 'dampness' (obl sg)

kopar [ˈkʰɔːpar̥] gætir [ˈcaɪːtɪr̥] saka [ˈsaːka]

'copper' 'can' (2nd p. sg past subj) 'to blame'

opna [ˈɔhpna] gætnir [ˈcaɪhtnɪr̥] sakna [ˈsahkna]

'open' (vb) 'careful' (masc nom pl) 'to miss'

kapp [ˈkʰahp] vítt [ˈviht] dökk [ˈtœhk]

'zeal' 'wide' (neut sg) 'dark' (fem nom sg)

gabb [ˈkapp] vídd [ˈvitt] dögg [ˈtœkk]

'hoax' 'breadth' 'dew' (nom sg)

gap [ˈkaːp] bít [ˈpiːt] tök [ˈtʰœːk]

'opening' 'bite' (1st p. sg pres) 'grasps' (nom pl)

In most analyses, consonant length is seen as phonemic while vowel length is seen as determined entirely
by environment, with long vowels occurring in stressed syllables before single consonants and before
certain sequences formed of a consonant plus [v r j], and short vowels occurring elsewhere. Note that
diphthongs also occur long and short.
Phonemes
See also:  Icelandic orthography
As discussed above, the phones [m̥ ɲ̊ ŋ̊ ɲ x ð], probably [ɣ], and debatably [ŋ] are non-phonemic. Beyond
this, there is a great deal of debate both about the number and identity of the phonemes in Icelandic and
the mapping between phonemes and allophones.
There are a number of different approaches:
Phonetic vs. orthographic:

1. The "phonetic" approach. This approach tries to stay as close as possible to the phonetics. This
would assume, for example, that [k] and [kʰ] should be consistently analyzed in all contexts as

4
 phonemic /k/ and /kʰ/, respectively (or perhaps as an archiphoneme /K/ in positions where the two
do not contrast), and that [hk] is a phonemic sequence /hk/ (or possibly a unitary pre-
aspirated /ʰk/).
2. The "orthographic" approach (e.g. Thráinsson 1978). This approach takes the orthography (i.e. the
spelling) as approximately indicative of the underlying phonemes. This approach generally
assumes, for example, phonemes /k/ and /ɡ/ which occur in accordance with the orthography
(i.e. /k/ where written k, /ɡ/ where written g), where /k/ has allophones [kʰ], [k] and [x] depending
on the context, and /ɡ/ has allophones [k], [ɣ] and [x]. [hk] is analyzed as /k/ or /kk/, while [kk] is
analyzed as /ɡɡ/, again consistent with the orthography. A variant would assume
that /k/ and /ɡ/ merge into an archiphoneme /K/ in contexts where the two cannot be distinguished,
e.g. before /s/ or /t/, where both would be pronounced [x]. Note that in this approach, a particular
phone will often be an allophone of different phonemes depending on context; e.g. [k] would be
taken as /ɡ/ initially, but /k/ between vowels.
Maximalist vs. minimalist:

1. The "maximalist" approach. This approach generally takes the contrasting phones as unit
phonemes unless there is a good reason not to. This would assume, for example, that the palatal
stops [c cʰ], voiceless sonorants [l̥ r̥ n̥] and perhaps the velar nasal [ŋ] are separate phonemes, at
least in positions where they cannot be analyzed as allophones of other unitary phonemes (e.g.
initially for the voiceless sonorants, before /l/ and /s/ for the velar nasal).
2. The "minimalist" approach. This approach analyzes phones as clusters whenever possible, in
order to reduce the number of phonemes and (in some cases) better account for alternations. This
would assume, for example, that the palatal stops, voiceless sonorants and velar nasal [ŋ] are
phonemic clusters, in accordance with the orthography. In structuralist analyses, which passed out
of vogue starting in the 1960s as generative approaches took off, even more extreme minimalist
approaches were common. An example is (Haugen 1958). Although he presents more than one
analysis, the most minimal analysis not only accepts all the clusters indicated in the orthography,
but also analyzes the aspirates as sequences /bh/, /ɡh/, /dh/ (or /ph/, /kh/, /th/ depending on how
the non-aspirate stops are analyzed) and reduces all vowels and diphthongs down to a set of 6
vowels.
The main advantage of the phonetic approach is its simplicity compared with the orthographic approach. A
major disadvantage, however, is that it results in a large number of unexplained lexical and grammatical
alternations. Under the orthographic approach, for example (especially if a minimalist approach is also
adopted), all words with the root sag-/seg- ('say') have a phonemic /ɡ/, despite the varying phones [k], [x],
[ɣ], [j] occurring in different lexical and inflectional forms, and similarly all words with the root sak- ('blame')
have a phonemic /k/, despite the varying phones [k], [kʰ], [hk]. Under the phonetic approach, however, the
phonemes would vary depending on the context in complicated and seemingly arbitrary ways. Similarly, an
orthographic analysis of three words for "white", hvítur hvít hvítt [ˈkʰviːtʏr] [ˈkʰviːtʰ]
[ˈkʰviht] (masc sg, fem sg, neut sg) as /kvitʏr/ /kvit/ /kvitt/ allows for a simple analysis of the forms as a
root /kvit-/ plus endings /-ʏr/, /-/, /-t/ and successfully explains the surface alternation [iːt] [iːtʰ] [iht], which
would not be possible in a strictly phonetic approach.
Assuming a basically orthographic approach, the set of phonemes in Icelandic is as follows:

Consonant phonemes

Labia
Coronal Palatal Velar Glottal
l

Nasal   m (n̥) n       (ŋ)

5
 (c (ɟ
Stop p b t d k ɡ
) )

sibilant s

Continuant
(ç
non-sibilant f v θ   j     h
)

Lateral (l̥ ) l

Tap or trill (r̥) r

The parentheses indicate phonemes present in a maximalist analysis but not a minimalist analysis.

There is a particular amount of debate over the status of [c] and [cʰ]. A maximalist analysis sees them
as separate phonemes (e.g. /ɟ/ and /c/, respectively), while in a minimalist analysis they
are allophones of /k/ and /ɡ/ before front unrounded vowels, and of the sequences /kj/ and /ɡj/ before
rounded vowels, in accordance with the orthography. The maximalist approach accords with the
presence of minimal pairs like gjóla [ˈcoːula] ('light wind') vs. góla [ˈkoːula] ('howl')
and kjóla [ˈcʰoːula] ('dresses') vs. kóla [ˈkʰoːula] ('cola'), along with general speakers' intuitions.
However, the minimalist approach (e.g. Rögnvaldsson 1993) accounts for some otherwise unexplained
gaps in the system (e.g. the absence of palatal/velar contrasts except before rounded vowels, and the
absence of phonetic [j] after velars and palatals), as well as otherwise unexplained alternations
between palatals and velars in e.g. segi [ˈsɛiːjɪ] ('[I] say') vs. sagði [ˈsaɣðɪ] ('[I] said'; assuming
that [j] and [ɣ] are taken as allophones of palatal and velar stops, respectively). On the other hand, the
number of such alternations is not as great as for stop vs. fricative alternations; most lexical items
consistently have either velars or palatals.
The voiceless sonorants are straightforwardly taken as allophones of voiced sonorants in most
positions, because of lack of any contrast; similarly for /ç/ vs. /j/. On the other hand, [l̥ r̥ n̥ ç] do contrast
with [l r n j] in initial position, suggesting that they may be phonemes in this position, consistent with a
maximalist analysis. A minimalist analysis, however, would note the restricted distribution of these
phonemes, the lack of contrast in this position with sequences [hl hr hn hj] and the fact that similar
sequences [kl kr kn] do occur, and analyze [l̥ r̥ n̥ ç] as /hl hr hn hj/, in accordance with the orthography.
The velar nasal /ŋ/ is clearly an allophone of [n] before a velar stop. When it occurs before [l] or [s] as a
result of deletion of an intervening /k/, however, some scholars analyze it as a phoneme /ŋ/, while
others analyze it as a sequence, e.g. /nɡ/.

Vowels

6
 Vowels of Icelandic, from Volhardt (2011:7)

There is less disagreement over the vowel phonemes in Icelandic than the consonant phonemes.
The Old Icelandic vowel system involving phonemic length was transformed to the modern system
where phonetic length is automatically determined by the syllable structure. In the process of
eliminating vowel length, however, relatively few vowel distinctions have been lost, as the loss of
phonemic length has been offset by an increase in the number of quality distinctions and diphthongs.

Monophthongs

Front

Back

unrounded rounded

Close i u

Near-
ɪ ʏ
close

Mid ɛ œ ɔ

Open a

 /i, u/ are similar to the respective cardinal vowels [i, u].[8]

 /ɪ, ʏ/ are phonetically near-close [ɪ, ʏ].[8]
 /ɛ, œ, ɔ/ are true-mid monophthongs [ɛ̝, œ̝, ɔ̝] when short[8] and opening diphthongs [ɪɛː, ʏœː,
ʊɔː] (also transcribed as [eɛː, øœː, oɔː]) when long. The long allophones are typically
transcribed [ɛː, œː, ɔː], also in this article.[9][10]
 /a/ is central [ä].[8]

Diphthongs

7
 Front Back

Mid to close ei • œi ou

Open to close ai au

/ai/ has a front onset, [a], while /au/ has a back onset, [ɑ].[11]

Vowel length
Vowel length is mostly predictable in Icelandic (Orešnik & Pétursson 1977). Stressed vowels (both
monophthongs and diphthongs) are long:

 In one-syllable words where the vowel is word-final:

o fá [ˈfaːu] ('get')
o nei [ˈneːi] ('no')
o þú [ˈθuː] ('you' singular)
 Before a single consonant:
o fara [ˈfaːra] ('go')
o hás [ˈhaːus] ('hoarse')
o ég [ˈjɛːx] ('I')
o spyr [ˈspɪːr̥] ('I ask')
 Before any of the consonant clusters [pr tr kr sr], [pj tj kj sj], or [tv kv]. This is often shortened
to the rule: If the first of the consonants is one of p, t, k, s and the second is one of j, v, r, then
the vowel is long. This is known as the ptks+jvr-rule.
o lipra [ˈlɪːpra] ('agile' accusative feminine)
o sætra [ˈsaːitra] ('sweet' genitive plural)
o akra [ˈaːkra] ('fields' accusative plural)
o hásra [ˈhaːusra] ('hoarse' genitive plural)
o vepja [ˈvɛːpja] ('lapwing')
o letja [ˈlɛːtja] ('dissuade')
o vekja [ˈvɛːca] ('awaken')
o Esja [ˈɛːsja] ('Esja')
o götva [ˈkœːtva] as in uppgötva ('discover')
o vökva [ˈvœːkva] ('water' verb)
 g shows a peculiar behavior. If we have the combination V+gi, then the vowel V is short and
the gi is then pronounced [jɪ]. In the combinations V+g+V (the second vowel not being i) the
first vowel is long and g is pronounced ɣ. An example: logi [ˈlɔjɪ] (flame, nominative singular)
vs. logar [ˈlɔːɣar̥] (flames, nominative plural)[12]
Before other consonant clusters (including the preaspirated stops [hp ht
hk] and geminate consonants), stressed vowels are short. Unstressed vowels are always short.

 Karl [ˈkʰartl̥ ] ('Carl')
 standa [ˈstanta] ('stand')
 sjálfur [ˈsjaulvʏr̥] ('self')
 kenna [ˈcʰɛnːa] ('teach')
 fínt [ˈfin̥t] ('fine')
 loft [ˈlɔft] ('air')

8
 upp [ˈʏhp] ('up')
 yrði [ˈɪrðɪ] as in nýyrði ('neologism')
 ætla [ˈaihtla] ('will' verb)
 laust [ˈlœist] ('loose')
An exception occurs, if there is a t before the infix k. Examples are e. g. notkun and litka. There
are also additional exceptions like um and fram where the vowel is short in spite of rules and en,
where the vowel length depends on the context.