# Danish: Stød



## Tjahzi

Greetings everybody.

I've been going through everything I can find online about the Danish stress like phenomenon known as "stød". I have gotten a decent idea of how it works and I've been exposed to it in spoken language as well after having visited Denmark multiple times. However, I still feel there are a few gaps in my knowledge of it, as in, I can't say I fully understand how it works and sounds. Over the fact that it's the main reason to why spoken Danish to Swedes is the least comprehensible way of communicating amongst the continental Scandinavian languages. So, it would be great if a Dane (or anyone elsewho feels qualified enough) could explain it from their own point of view.

Would be very much appreciated.


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## BoTrojan

Twenty views and no replies means that we don't have enough context.  Perhaps you could provide some more context and relevant examples.  That would almost undoubtedly produce some replies for you.

Cheers!


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## Polyglota

Hello Tjahzi
To produce a this sound, the vocal cords are pressed hard together so that air builds up below them, and then released. It is a bit like when we pronounce a "p", but vocal cords instead of lips. Some English dialects have the same instead of (or sometimes at the same time as) a "t", and it is then called "glottal stop", and German has it before a vowel that starts a word and is then called "Kehlkopfverschluss". That bit is the easy part of the question! What words to use it in is a different matter! Over to someone else!


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## duckie

Do you speak any German? The glottal stops are similar I think..


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## Sepia

Tjahzi said:


> Greetings everybody.
> 
> I've been going through everything I can find online about the Danish stress like phenomenon known as "stød". I have gotten a decent idea of how it works and I've been exposed to it in spoken language as well after having visited Denmark multiple times. However, I still feel there are a few gaps in my knowledge of it, as in, I can't say I fully understand how it works and sounds. Over the fact that it's the main reason to why spoken Danish to Swedes is the least comprehensible way of communicating amongst the continental Scandinavian languages. So, it would be great if a Dane (or anyone elsewho feels qualified enough) could explain it from their own point of view.
> 
> Would be very much appreciated.



What you are talking about is probably not only the stops, rather than also the impulse at the beginning of words - the tension in the abdominal muscles which may have a softer or harder impulse, right? Once somebody found out that this impulse being harder actually is the main common denominator of the Jutland dialects. I Copenhagen it is a lot softer and in Swedish - especially in the Southern dialects even softer, I think.

If this is what you mean, I'll try to explain how it works and sounds.


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## duckie

I thought the glottal stop also referred to the beginning, what is that called then?

For instance words that begin with an h-sound, such as 'hus'. That's a fairly strong opening of the word, it also exists in English 'house' and German 'haus', but not as strongly (least so in English)..


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## Sepia

I don't know, but if that is what is meant, ok. At least that is what is usually meant with "stød". How scientific that term is, I don't know either.


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## Tjahzi

Thank you everybody, I appreciate your answers. 

I'll elaborate on what exactly I am asking for once I have some time.

For now, Bornholms (the dialect) lacks stød and Swedes find it much easier to understand. Could stød be considered a kind of stress/intonation or is it just the principle of glottalization?


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## duckie

Here is a link that might help (I found the explanations confusing though): 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_phonology

I consider Bornholmsk to almost be a language of its own. Not only is it pronounced vastly differently from mainstream Danish, it has numerous words of its own, and even some special grammatical rules. I cannot understand it spoken, Swedish is considerably easier for me to understand.


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## Tjahzi

Thanks duckie, however, that article, along with it's French version and the Swedish/English/German/French wiki articles on the Danish language already belong to the "everything I can find online"-category. And yes, as you say, I didn't find the explaination to be top-notch either... 

However, I suppose I will check them all again and in the light of what has been mentioned here, I can hopefully make myself a more complete picture. I'm still not sure if the stød is a special way to pronounce certain sounds or if it is an independent feature.


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## duckie

What do you need to know exactly? Is it for a theoretical linguistic discussion or are you trying to learn to pronounce certain words?


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## Tjahzi

Hehe, I'm just curious, but I was definatly looking for a more theoretical answer. 

As in, what it is really bothering me is the definiton. Sepias explaination sounded really interesting, but I'll look it to this some more and hopefully be able to come up with a more precise way to put my question.


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