Accents in the Scandinavian languages
Most Norwegian and Swedish dialects (and standard languages), as well as some Danish dialects, have two different pitches. These are also called accent 1 and accent 2 . These two accents cause a difference in the meaning of the word concerned. Accent 1 and Accent 2 usually only appear on words with multiple syllables. Example from Norwegian :
- lusen - with accent 1: "the louse"
- lusen - with accent 2: "pathetic"
Because these two accents phoneme status, they have also Toneme called ( toners 1 and toners 2 ).
In linguistic Norwegian texts, the two accents are indicated by acute ´ and grave accents ` . The two accents are not reproduced in normal texts.
In Imperial Danish there is the shock tone (stød), which corresponds to accent 1. The tonal accent has only been retained in a few dialects in southern Denmark.
Regional distribution
Accent 1 and Accent 2 occur in most of the Norwegian and Swedish language areas. There is also a small area in the south of Denmark where both accents occur: most of the island of Funen and a smaller area southeast of Aabenraa .
In some parts of the Norwegian, Swedish and Danish language area, there is only one accent, which is usually accent 1:
- in western Norway: a narrow area around Bergen , from the Hardangerfjord in the south to the Fensfjord in the north (on the border with Sogn og Fjordane ), but excluding the city of Bergen itself, as well as parts of northern Troms and Finnmark ;
- in the Swedish-speaking area: parts of Uppland , the Swedish of Finland and Estonia ;
- in Denmark: the islands of Bornholm , Lolland , Langeland , Møn and the southern tip of Zealand (to Næstved ). However, the Angel Danish in fishing and swans had the tonal accent.
- Iceland and the Faroe Islands also have only one accent.
In most of the Danish language area, the accent 1 has been glottalized, i.e. it has become a glottal burst tone (stød) . This applies to all Danish areas that are not mentioned above, i.e. most of Jutland and most of the island of Zealand.
The lack of accent 2 in Northern Norway, Finland and Estonia is interpreted as an astrate effect of the neighboring Finno-Ugric .
realization
The exact implementation of the two accents (accent 1 and accent 2) differs from area to area. It mainly depends on the standard pitch of the stressed syllable.
- In eastern Norway , Trøndelag and western Sweden , the stressed syllable has a low tone, while unstressed syllables have a high tone (similar to southern German).
- In western Norway , northern Norway , central Sweden, northern Sweden, Jutland, Gotland and southern Sweden, the stressed syllable is high, while unstressed syllables have a low tone (similar to northern German or English and similar to the Scandinavian regions, where there is no contrast between two accents gives).
Bergen and Oslo
Example:
- In Bergen (Western Norway) the stressed syllable has a high tone.
- A two-syllable word with a stress on the first syllable has an accent 1 first high tone, then a low tone.
- With accent 2, the word first has a rising tone, then a deep one.
- In Oslo (Eastern Norway) the stressed syllable has a low tone.
- A two-syllable word with an accent on the first syllable first has a low tone, then a high tone.
- With accent 2, the word first has a falling tone, then a high one.
Akzent 1 in Bergen is realized in a similar way to Akzent 2 in Oslo.
Central Sweden
The first word is the specific form of and (“duck”) and has an accent 1. The second word is the specific form of ande (“spirit”) and has an accent 2.
Linguistic background
Words that were monosyllabic in common Scandinavian now have accent 1. Words that were polysyllabic in common Scandinavian now have accent 2.
Examples:
-
Old Norse kastit ( kastit "the union")> modern Norwegian ka ' stet [kastə] accented 1
- Note: the -it is an attached specific article that does not belong to the actual word, so the actual word kast is monosyllabic
- Note: the t at the end of the modern word is dumb
- Old Norse kasta ("to throw")> ka ` ste [kastə] with an accent 2
In some cases, words that are polysyllabic today have an accent 1 because they were monosyllabic in Old Norse times. Examples:
- Old Norse sólin ( sól-in "the sun")> Norwegian so ´ len, with accent 1; the -in is an attached specific article that does not belong to the actual word; So sól ("sun") is monosyllabic
- Old Norse vatn ("water")> Swedish va ´ tten, with an accent 1; recently an e was inserted between t and n , while the Old Norse word vatn was monosyllabic
- Old Norse bítr ("he / she / it bites")> Norwegian (Bokmål) bi ´ ter, with an accent 1
Stød
The stød ( shock tone ) in Danish is roughly distributed across the words as accent 1 in Norwegian and Swedish.
| Accent 1 or stød | Accent 2 | |
| meaning | "Farmers" | "Beans" |
| Old Norse | bœndr | baunir |
| Danish | bønder [bønʔəʀ] | bønner [bønəʀ] |
| Norwegian | bø ´ nder | bø ` nner |
| Swedish | bö ´ nder | bö ` nor |
See also
literature
- Budal, Jostein: Fem tonar. Unipub AS, Oslo 2002. ISBN 82-996588-0-2 .
- Budal, Jostein: Tonar i scandinaviske språk norsk - svensk - dansk i nordisk samtale. Unipub AS, Oslo 2007. ISBN 978-82-996588-4-3 .
Web links
- with Norwegian sound samples to download (in Norwegian)
- Examples of the two Norwegian accents (in Norwegian)
- with Norwegian phonetic examples and spectrograms (in Norwegian)
- Accentuation and toning (in Norwegian) from page 37
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Einar Haugen: The Scandinavian languages. An introduction to their history. Helmut Buske Verlag, Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-87118-551-5 ; § 11.3.22-11.3.23 = pp. 353-358
- ↑ Københavns Universitet: Dialekttræk ( Memento from May 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Helge Sandøy: Talemål. Oslo 1993, Novus Forlag, ISBN 82-7099-206-2 ; Pp. 125-126
- ↑ Odd Einar Haugen : Grunnbok i norrønt språk. Ad Notam Gyldendal, Oslo, 2. utgåve 1995, ISBN 82-417-0506-9 ; P. 35