Orthography
The orthography used in this dictionary oriented towards the Norwegian orthography since the speakers of Norwegian Romani are all speakers of Norwegian and the Norwegian orthography is capable of representing unambiguously the phonology of Norwegian Romani. Inconsistencies in the representations of vowel phonemes, though, are omitted so that one grapheme (or a combination of graphemes) is assigned only one phoneme.
Vowels
| Letter | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a | [ɑ] or [ɑː] | like in "father" (long and short) |
| e | [ɛ] or [eː] | like in "let" (short) or "men" (long) but more closed, also before "r" |
| i | [i] or [iː] | like in "hit" (short) or in "beat" (long) |
| o | [u] or [uː] | like in "good" (short) or in "food" (long) |
| u | [ʉ] or [ʉː] | no English equivalent, like in Norwegian "gutt" (short) or "hus" (long) |
| y | [y] or [yː] | no English equivalent, like in Norwegian "hytte" (short) or "skyte" (long) |
| æ | [æ] or [æː] | like in "trap" (long and short) |
| ø | [œ] or [øː] | like in German "Hölle" (short) or "Höhle" (long) |
| å | [ɔ] or [oː] | like in "fall" but short or German "Sohn" (long) |
Vowel length
Norwegian Romani makes a distinction between long and short vowels in stressed syllables. Long vowels occur before single consonants, e.g. "baro", while vowels before double consonants and consonant clusters as well as "ng", "sj" and "tj" are short, e.g. "barr", "sasto" or "latjo". One exception to this rule is consonant clusters consisting of a consonant + "l", "n" or "r". In this case the preceding vowel can be both short and long. To make a clear distinction, a long vowel is indicated by a following single consonant, e.g. "avri" with long "a", while a short consonant is indicated by a following double consonant, e.g. "bekkna" or "flattran".
Consonants
| Letter | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| b | [b] | like in "bell" |
| d | [d] | like in "down" |
| f | [f] | like in "fox" |
| g | [g] | like in "go" |
| h | [h] | like in "hold" |
| j | [j] | like in "yell" |
| k | [k] | like in "cold" |
| l | [l] | like in "lamp" or alternatively also as retroflex, never as retroflex flap (according to Theil, 2012) |
| m | [m] | like in "mother" |
| n | [n] | like in "nose" |
| p | [p] | like in "pair" |
| r | [ɾ] | no equivalent in English, similar to the Scottish pronunciation of "r" |
| rd | [ɖ] | no equivalent in English, retroflex "d" |
| rl | [ɭ] | no equivalent in English, retroflex "l" |
| rn | [ɳ] | no equivalent in English, retroflex "n" |
| rs | [ʂ] | no equivalent in English, retroflex "s" (according to Iversen, 1944) |
| rsj | [ɽʂ] | no equivalent in English, retroflex "r" + sh (according to Iversen, 1944) |
| rt | [ʈ] | no equivalent in English, retroflex "t" |
| s | [s] | like in "side" |
| sj | [ʂ] | like in "shine" |
| sl | [sl] | like in "slang" |
| t | [t] | like in "turn" |
| tj | [ç], ([tʲ] or [t͡ʃ]) | like in Norwegian "kjær" or German "Milch", like in Norwegian "tjene" (in a few words according to Iversen, 1944) or like in "watch" (according to Sundt, 1850) |
| v | [ʋ] | no equivalent in English, like in German "Wasser" |
Literature
The overview of the pronunctiation given above is only a general orientation. For a more detailed discussion on the phonology of Norwegian as well as Norwegian Romani see:
Kristoffersen, Gjert (2000): The Phonology of Norwegian. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Theil, Rolf (2012): Romani og norsk språkhistorie. In: Røyneland, Unn & Enger, Hans-Olav. Fra holtijaR til holting. Språkhistoriske og språksosiologiske artikler til Arne Torp på 70-årsdagen. Oslo: Novus Forlag.
