# Swedish: Pronunciation of the long "i" sound



## katerpudy

Hi friends,

I just wish to know how the long "i" sound in Swedish is pronounced, for example in words like "bil" or "vit".  For me as a German the long "i" in Swedish sounds so different from the long "i" in German, English, French, Spanish or Italian.  Could somebody try to explain to me how this unique Swedish sound is phonetically being produced?

Thanks in advance!


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## etaro

The pronunciation of long "i" in Swedish is pretty close to the common "e" in English. 

Press the blue play button to hear "vit":
http://sv.forvo.com/word/vit/#sv

Press the fourth play button from the top, next to "bil uttal på svenska"to hear "bil" (the ones above are other languages):
http://sv.forvo.com/word/bil/#sv


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## katerpudy

etaro said:


> The pronunciation of long "i" in Swedish is pretty close to the common "e" in English.
> 
> Press the blue play button to hear "vit":
> http://sv.forvo.com/word/vit/#sv
> 
> Press the fourth play button from the top, next to "bil uttal på svenska"to hear "bil" (the ones above are other languages):
> http://sv.forvo.com/word/bil/#sv



I can only repeat my impression that the long "i" sound in Swedish words like _bil _or _vit_is very different from the corresponding sound in my native language (German) or in English or French etc. especially after listening to the sound sample you gave me for the word "vit".
The same sound is produced in the word "bil" not by the fourth speaker you suggested (who is from Denmark, by the way), but by the third speaker (kvinna fran Sverige). Maybe for you as a native speaker of Swedish it is hard to perceive the real sound performed in your own mother tongue. But thanks anyway!


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## etaro

katerpudy said:


> I can only repeat my impression that the long "i" sound in Swedish words like _bil _or _vit_is very different from the corresponding sound in my native language (German) or in English or French etc. especially after listening to the sound sample you gave me for the word "vit".




Oh, I really didn't mean to argue against your statement. You are absolutely right that the our long "i" is different from at least English, Spanish and Italian (only language I know enough about to tell). I interpreted your post as a statement that it is different and a question about how it sounded, wich is why my answer tried to clarify that. Sorry if i misunderstood you! 

Our long "i" sounds pretty much like the long "e" in English (as in "bee" and "eel").




katerpudy said:


> The same sound is produced in the word "bil" not by the fourth speaker you suggested (who is from Denmark, by the way), but by the third speaker (kvinna fran Sverige). Maybe for you as a native speaker of Swedish it is hard to perceive the real sound performed in your own mother tongue. But thanks anyway!



Hmm, for me it is from the top:
Kvinna från Nederländerna
Then the map thing
Man från Storbritannien
Man från Norge
Kvinna från Sverige

Sorry if I missled you!


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## Outsider

The "i" in "bil" sounds like it may be [ɪː] to me. A "long short English i", as it were. The word sounds close to English "bill", except the vowel is longer.

The "i" in "vit" sounds different from the former. I hear it as an ordinary English long e (ee).


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## katerpudy

etaro said:


> Oh, I really didn't mean to argue against your statement. You are absolutely right that the our long "i" is different from at least English, Spanish and Italian (only language I know enough about to tell). I interpreted your post as a statement that it is different and a question about how it sounded, wich is why my answer tried to clarify that. Sorry if i misunderstood you!
> 
> Our long "i" sounds pretty much like the long "e" in English (as in "bee" and "eel").
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm, for me it is from the top:
> Kvinna från Nederländerna
> Then the map thing
> Man från Storbritannien
> Man från Norge
> Kvinna från Sverige
> 
> Sorry if I missled you!



Hi etaro,
I very much appreciate your response to my original question!  I know that you didn't want to mislead me, of course not. It seems however that individuals subjectively perceive different sounds of the objectively very same physical sound in a certain language. I guess I have to accept this fact.  Thanks again for trying to help me!


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## katerpudy

Outsider said:


> The "i" in "bil" sounds like it may be [ɪː] to me. A "long short English i", as it were. The word sounds close to English "bill", except the vowel is longer.
> 
> The "i" in "vit" sounds different from the former. I hear it as an ordinary English long e (ee).



Hi outsider,
Thanks for your response to my question!  It seems that everybody perceives a somewhat different sound while listening to the very same sound source.


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## Dan2

etaro said:


> You are absolutely right that the our long "i" is different  from at least English, Spanish and Italian
> ...
> Our long "i" sounds pretty much like the long "e" in English (as in "bee" and "eel").


Aren't these two statements contradictory?  First you say the vowel is different in Swedish and English, then you say they sound pretty much like each other.
(In the first case, you're not talking about the English "i" of "bite" or "right", are you?  That's a completely different sound (the [a] vowel gliding into an [ɪ]), and I don't think anyone was referring to that. And you certain wouldn't put that together with Span and Ital /i/.)

Since you mention Spanish and Italian: I'd say that English "see" and Italian and Spanish "si" have vowels which are very close to one another, if not identical.  Swedish I believe also has a word "si" (or consider the first syllable of Swedish "sida").  What is your claim about these four words in the four languages? Can you (or anyone else of course) describe objectively what differences there are?  Thanks.



katerpudy said:


> ... It seems however that individuals subjectively perceive different sounds of the objectively very same physical sound in a certain language. I guess I have to accept this fact.


Well said!  It seems like every time I get interested in a new language, I run into this problem!


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## Tjahzi

This is a very delicate issue indeed, and a classic obstacle for Swedish learners. 

The difference between the "common" (found in German, English, Italian, etc) and the Swedish (and Norwegian) close unrounded front vowel is that the latter is more fronted. This might sound a bit contradicative, given the fact that the "common" one is already labeled, and in charts generally described, as "so close to the front as possible". However, just as Swedish and Norwegian takes rounding to another level, this is also the case with the front vowels ([i:] and [y:]). 

The below picture is meant to illustrate the position of the tongue while articulating the front vowels, with my addition of the approximate location of Swedish/Norwegian in yellow.

(While not the most beautiful piece of art nor a scientific masterpiece, I hope it will illustrate the issue.)


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## Lugubert

Tjahzi said:


> This might sound a bit contradicative, given the fact that the "common" one is already labeled, and in charts generally described, as "so close to the front as possible". However, just as Swedish and Norwegian takes rounding to another level, this is also the case with the front vowels ([i:] and [y:]).



The (in)famous "Viby-i" ([i:]) is almost a syllabic [z]. My impression is that this phenomenon in most cases occurs ian he long vowels i and y, but I think that there is also a short [z] for _ in dialects of Bohuslän.

So, try to think of Swedish i as something between your i and a z._


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## JohanIII

The Viby-i is also called the Lidingö-i.
Perhaps, when discussing i-sounds, this is the equivalent of the H*tler argument - whomever mentions it first loses  (joking).

Though a relative of mine, born and bred on Lidingö (40+), vehemently denies any widespread use of it in Lidingö.
Except for reinforcing the stereotype...

 *Lidingö only as this might just be stereotype


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## BlueSuede

What about the Lysekil-i? And a wider part of Bohuslän?
As I gathered both Lysekil-i and Viby-i is original, but the Lidingö-i is of younger date...


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## zyzzy

You can get plenty of long i:s to listen to if you search for "igelkotten ivar" on Youtube, choose the entry starting with "Intro Fem myror" among the search results, and listen to the song at 1:13.


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## alato

I agree with Tjahzi's explanation. The vowel in English 'see' is definitely different from the one in 'vit'. 

In addition to what Tjahzi said, I think the Swedish long i also tends to have a little frication in the end. 'vit' has a tiny hint of [viːʝt] to it.


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