The Kven language consists of 31 alphabets; 9 vowels, and 22 consonants. The orthography of Kven is slightly different from that of Finnish. In Kven, an additional letter "Ð" replaces the letter "D" found in many Finnish words. "Ð"; however, is almost always present in the Porsanger-variant and absent elsewhere.
Let’s first learn how to
read the names of each Kven letter:
Aa
[a:] Bb [be:] Cc [se:] Dd [de:] Ðđ [đe:] Ee [e:] Ff [æf] Gg [ge:]
Hh
[ho:] Ii [i:] Jj [jii:] Kk [ko:] Ll [æl] Mm [æm] Nn [æn] Oo [o:]
Pp
[pe:] Qq
[ku:] Rr [ær] Ss [æs] Šš [æš] Tt [te:] Uu [u:] Vv [ve:]
Ww [ve:] Xx [æks] Yy [y:] Zz [tset] Ää [æ:] Öö [ø:] Åå [o:]
When spelling a word, it’s important to use the names of each alphabet instead of their English names.
Pronunciation
Kven is a phonetic
language, meaning words are pronounced the same way as they are spelled. This
makes Kven extremely easy to spell regardless of the length of a word. Most
sounds in the Kven language exist in English as well, but it is important to
nail the long and short vowels and consonants correctly to remove ambiguity.
Kven consonants are almost always unaspirated as opposed to English. This means that consonants like "p", "t" and "k" are pronounced as "b", "d", and "g".
|
Alphabet |
Pronunciation (IPA) |
English Equivalence |
Examples |
|
Aa |
[ɑ:] |
as in father (British) |
kala (fish) |
|
Bb |
[b] |
as in bed |
bachelor-graadi (Bachelor’s
degree) |
|
Cc |
[s] or [k] |
as in sad or cat; usually in loanwords |
C-vitamiini (Vitamin C) |
|
Dd |
[d] |
as in daughter |
dialekti (dialect) |
|
Ðđ |
[ð] |
as in this |
eđessä (in front of) |
|
Ee |
[e] |
as in met |
eli (our) |
|
Ff |
[f] |
as in fence |
färi (color) |
|
Gg |
[k] |
as in good |
graadi (temperature,
degree C/F, diploma) |
|
Hh |
[h] |
as in hill |
hyvvää (good) |
|
Ii |
[i] |
as in bee |
kieli (language) |
|
Jj |
[j] |
as in yes |
joukko (team) |
|
Kk |
[k] |
as in good |
koulu (school) |
|
Ll |
[l] |
as in lamp |
liitto (association,
federation) |
|
Mm |
[m] |
as in moon |
meiđän (our) |
|
Nn |
[n] |
as in noon |
neula (needle) |
|
Oo |
[o] |
as in mold |
oma (own) |
|
Pp |
[p] |
as in boat |
päivä (day) |
|
Qq |
[k] |
as in case |
|
|
Rr |
[r] |
doesn’t exist in English;
trilling sound like the Spanish "r" |
Ruija (Norway) |
|
Ss |
[s] |
as in soon |
sanat (words) |
|
Šš |
[ʃ] |
as in share |
internašunaali/internasjunaali
(international) |
|
Tt |
[t̪] |
as in did |
tee (tea) |
|
Uu |
[u] |
as in zoom |
fisku (fishery) |
|
Vv |
[v] |
as in vet |
viisi (five) |
|
Ww |
[v] |
as in vet |
Tawianissa (in Taiwan) |
|
Xx; often replaced with "ks" |
[ks] |
as in fax; usually in loanword |
taksi (taxi) |
|
Yy |
[y] |
doesn’t exist in English;
round "u" like the German "ü" |
yksi (one) |
|
Zz |
[tset] |
as in Tsar; usually in loanword |
pizza (pizza) |
|
Ää |
[æ] |
as in matter |
kesä (summer) |
|
Öö |
[ø] |
doesn’t exist in English;
round "o" like the German "ö" |
yö (night) |
|
Åå |
[o:] |
as in Swedish "å" |
Åse (Åse, a Norwegian
name) |
Listen carefully to the audio:
For double consonants, it is important to stress the double letters instead of just pronouncing one letter. Make a very brief stop between the double consonants to lengthen the sounds. Double consonants, vowels and diphthongs
For instance:
• kaikki
is pronounced as /kaik/./ki/
• mulla
is pronounced as /mul/./la/
Pay close attention to
double consonants as some words may sound very similar but have very different
meanings.
For instance:
• mato
/mat̪o/ means a worm
• matto /mat̪.t̪o/ means a carpet
|
Letters |
Pronunciation
(IPA) |
English
Equivalence |
Examples |
|
kk |
[kk] |
as in cake |
kaikki (all, everyone) |
|
ll |
[ll] |
as in illustrate |
mulla (on me) |
|
mm |
[mm] |
as in mommy |
ymmärttäät (to understand) |
|
nn |
[nn] |
as in nanny |
kiinnostunnu (interested) |
|
pp |
[pp] |
as in abbreviation |
pappi (priest) |
|
ss |
[ss] |
as in assertive |
Tromssa (Tromsø, a city
in Norway) |
|
tt |
[t̪t̪] |
as in odd |
katto (ceiling) |
|
aa |
[a:] |
lengthened "a"
as in father (British) |
maa (world) |
|
ää |
[æ:] |
lengthened "a"
as in matter |
pää (head) |
|
ee |
[e:] |
lengthened "e"
as in met |
tee (tea) |
|
ii |
[i:] |
lengthened "ee"
as in bee |
kiitoksii (thank you) |
|
oo |
[o:] |
lengthened "o"
as in mold |
mooli (goal) |
|
öö |
[ö:] |
lengthened "ö"
as in Köln (German) |
kööki (kitchen) |
|
uu |
[u:] |
lengthened "oo"
as in zoom |
uusi (new) |
|
yy |
[y:] |
lengthened "ü"
as in über (German) |
tyyny (pillow, quilt) |
|
sj = š |
[ʃ] |
as in shirt |
internasjunaali/internašunaali
(international) |
|
rs |
[ʃ] or [rs] |
as in shirt or trilled "r"
plus "s" |
universiteetti
(university) |
|
ng |
[ŋ] |
as in doing |
Helsingin (of Helsinki) |
Listen carefully to the audio:
Vowel Combinations
Vowel combinations involve
placing two vowels together. They remain two seperate sounds but try to
pronounce them in a single flow.
|
Vowel
combinations |
Pronunciation
(IPA) |
Examples |
|
ai |
[ai] |
maito (milk) |
|
au |
[au] |
aurinko (Sun) |
|
äi |
[æi] |
näin (just like) |
|
äy |
[æy] |
täyttyyt (to be full) |
|
ei |
[ei] |
ei (is not) |
|
eu |
[eu] |
neula (needle) |
|
ey |
[ey] |
tervheys (health) |
|
ie |
[ie] |
mie (I, pronoun) |
|
iu |
[iu] |
liukas (slippery) |
|
oi |
[oi] |
koira (dog) |
|
ou |
[ou] |
koulu (school) |
|
öi |
[øi] |
öinen (night-) |
|
öy |
[øy] |
pöytä (table) |
|
ui |
[ui] |
muistela (to tell) |
|
uo |
[uo] |
Puola (Poland) |
|
yi |
[yi] |
häytyi (one had to) |
|
yö |
[yø] |
työtelä (to work) |
Listen carefully to the audio:
Stress and intonation
Kven words almost always have the stress at the first syllable and a falling tone towards the end of a sentence.
• Se oon ↑paha↓ ette ↑varastaat↓.
• Mie ↑lujen↓ Bibliaa↓.
• Mie olen ↑Ruijasta↓ pois↓.
• Sen ↑tieđethään↓ ette ↑kainun kieli↓ oon ↑vaikkee↓ ↑opetella↓.
Syllable (very important)
In Kven, a syllable has a single sound or a diphthong in the center, and possibly a consonant sound before and after it. Luckily, it is super easy to ascertain how many syllables a word has.
We will be looking at some
examples according to how many syllables they have:
1. One syllable:
maa
oon
2. Two syllables
pit •
kä
kie •
li
lop •
puu
koi • ra
3. Three syllables
sem •
moi • nen
he •
vo • nen
ha • ra • va
4. Four syllables
e • si • mer • kki
kir •
jai • lii • ja
re •
jee • rin • ki
ly • hy • käi • nen
Once you have mastered the Kven pronunciation, you can read an entire text with ease and confidence. Here is a sample text from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Ihmisoikkeusdeklarasjuuni
“Kaikki ihmiset synnythään vaphaina, ja heilä kaikila oon sama ihmisarvo ja
samat ihmisoikkeuđet. Het oon saanheet järjen ja omatunnon, ja het piđethään
elläät toinen toisen kans niin ko veljet keskenhään.”
Listen carefully to the audio: