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  • 1
    • A Alex
    • B Ben
    • C Cecilie
    • D Dina
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  • 2
    • A Fra Paris til Oslo
    • B På Gardermoen
    • C Passkontroll
    • D Hei, pappa!
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  • 3
    • A Alex våkner i Fjordvik
    • B Flyttebilen kommer
    • C Hjemme
    • D Dinas rom
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  • 4
    • A Hos mormor og morfar
    • B Bens morgen
    • C Cecilie sender en pakke
    • D Veien til skolen
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  • 5
    • A Katten
    • B Fotball
    • C I butikken
    • D To nye venninner
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  • 6
    • A Frokost
    • B I byen
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  • 7
    • A Alex våkner tidlig
    • B På kontoret
    • C Om barnehagen
    • D Første dag på skolen
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  • 8
    • A Dina henter Alex
    • B På norskkurs
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  • 9
    • A Barnehagen drar på tur
    • B Et nytt prosjekt
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  • 10
    • A Alex har feber
    • B Hjemme med sykt barn
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    • D Dina spiller håndball
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  • 11
    • A Skomakerdokka
    • B På hyttetur
    • C En invitasjon til Oslo
    • D Justin Bieber-konsert
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  • 12
    • A Lek i snøen
    • B Ben tar imot gjester
    • C Julemiddag
    • D Julegaveåpning
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  1. LearnNoW
  2. 11
  3. Pronunciation

Språkvelger

11 Pronunciation LearnNoW

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11 Pronunciation

11 Pronunciation


Speech rhythm

The pronunciation of Norwegian is characterized by a certain speech rhythm which often is labelled stress timing. The rhythm is related to the relation between stressed and unstressed syllables.

In general, one can say that in connected speech there is a tendency that stressed syllables occur with equal intervals. The letters ABCD constitute an utterance. The boxes into which the letters are put, indicate that they should be delivered with equal intervals.

Imagine that you are pronouncing the letters of the alphabet. Speak with a loud voice and deliver the letters as described above. (Here and below, capital letters indicate that the syllables are stressed).

A  B  C  D 


If you for instance point at some coloured squares, you could say:

RØD  BLÅ  GUL  GRØNN 


Here, all words are stressed and pronounced with the same patterns as the letters.

You could try the same with numbers. Here we use < FIR' > which is a monosyllabic version of fire (four):

EN  TO  TRE  FIR' 


This goes for names as well:

ANN  TOR  LEIF  BRITT 


Or cities:

BONN  YORK  HULL  NICE 


Or music:

POP  JAZZ  ROCK  SWING 

Unstressed syllables

If there are unstressed syllables in the utterance, the pattern above is maintained. That means that unstressed syllables will be compressed in order to maintain equal intervals between the stressed syllables. The more unstressed syllables there are, the more compression will occur. The compression of syllables is achieved by speaking faster. Non-capital letters indicate unstressed syllables:

RØD BLÅ GUL GRØNN
RØD og BLÅ og GUL og GRØNN
RØD og så BLÅ og så GUL og så GRØNN
RØD og så en BLÅ og så en GUL og så en GRØNN
RØD og så er det BLÅ og så er det GUL og så er det GRØNN


Consequently, one characteristic feature of spoken Norwegian is the change of speed while speaking. Sometimes the speed is slow (few syllables between two stressed syllables, sometimes it is high (several syllables between two stressed syllables).

Below you find possible answers to the question «Hva slags musikk liker du?» (What kind of music do you like?). You can answer:

POP JAZZ ROCK SWING
POP og JAZZ og ROCK og SWING
POP og så JAZZ og så ROCK og så SWING
POP og så litt JAZZ og så litt ROCK og så litt SWING

Rhythm unit: The foot

A foot  is a unit that starts with a stressed syllable and ends before the next stressed syllable. If one apply this concept on what is said above, one can say that in Norwegian there is a tendency that all feet should have equal duration independent of how many syllables there are in each foot.

The utterance «OS, NES, BØ, DAL» below could be a list of places along a railway line, or it could be the answer to questions like: «Name the municipalities in X county». The second, third and fourth could be answer to «Where did you go this summer?». The two last utterances could be the answer to «Where will you go next summer?».

FOOT FOOT FOOT FOOT
OS  NES  BØ  DAL 
OSlo  BERgen  HAmar  BOdø 
OSlo og  BERgen og  HAmar og  BOdø 
OSlo og så  BERgen og så  HAmar og så  BOdø 
OSlo og kanskje  BERgen og kanskje  HAmar og kanskje  BOdø 
OSlo og så kanskje  BERgen og så kanskje  HAmar og så kanskje  BOdø 


It is not so common to find utterances made up of feet with an equal number of syllables, like the ones above. You will most likely find this pattern in poems.

In everyday speech there is a variation when it comes to the number of syllables in the feet of an utterance. Minimally, there will be one syllable in a foot (which according to our definition must be stressed); maximally, there will be six or seven. In general, there are no more than four or maybe five. This implies that feet contain one stressed syllable and 3-4 unstressed ones.

KEN skal til (3) OSlo og (3) BERgen (2)
 
ANNa kan (3) SNAKKe (2) ENGelsk (2)  
LIKer du ikke (4) KAFFe med (3) SUKKer og (3) MELK (1)
VET du når (3) BUSSen går til (4) BØ (1)  


Observe that feet may start in the middle of a word. This will occur when any syllable in the word except for the first is stressed:

Stavanger   →  staVANGer 
Paris   →  paRIS 
studere   →  stuDERe 

 

PETer REISer fra sta- VANGer til OS
ANNa bor i pa RIS    
KEN og ma- RIa stu- DERer NORSK


What is typical for unstressed syllables is that they are spoken with a rather flat tone. You will make the major tonal changes in the stressed syllables, and in the end of clauses.

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