Editing Old Norse (section)

=== Consonants ===
Old Norse has six plosive phonemes, {{IPA|/p/}} being rare word-initially and {{IPA|/d/}} and {{IPA|/b/}} pronounced as voiced fricative [[allophone]]s between vowels except in compound words (e.g. {{lang|non|veðrabati}}), already in the [[Proto-Germanic language]] (e.g. {{lang|gem-x-proto|*b}} {{IPA|*[β]}} > {{IPA|[v]}} between vowels). The {{IPA|/ɡ/}} phoneme was pronounced as {{IPA|[ɡ]}} after an {{IPA|/n/}} or another {{IPA|/ɡ/}} and as {{IPA|[k]}} before {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/t/}}. Some accounts have it a voiced velar fricative {{IPA|[ɣ]}} in all cases, and others have that realisation only in the middle of words and between vowels (with it otherwise being realised {{IPA|[ɡ]}}).<ref>{{citation| first = Orrin W. |last = Robinson |author-link=Orrin W. Robinson (philologist) | title = Old English and Its Closest Relatives| page =83| year = 1993}}</ref><ref name="Sweet">{{harvnb|Sweet|1895|p=5}}</ref>{{Clarify|date=March 2010}}<!-- reason=Scope of source in regards to {{IPA|/k/}} before {{IPA|/s/}}, {{IPA|/t/}}; In general or in OIC? Date? --> The Old East Norse {{IPA|/ʀ/}} was an [[apical consonant]], with its precise position unknown; it is reconstructed as a palatal [[sibilant]].{{sfn|Bandle|2005|loc = Ch. XVII §202 "The typological development of the Nordic languages I: Phonology" (H. Sandøy) : ''Common Nordic'', p.1855}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schalin |first1=Johan |title=Preliterary Scandinavian Sound Change Viewed From the East |journal=Nordica Helsingiensia |date=2018 |volume=54 |pages=146–147}}</ref> It descended from Proto-Germanic {{IPA|/z/}} and eventually developed into {{IPA|/r/}}, as had already occurred in Old West Norse.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! &nbsp;
! Labial
! Dental
! Alveolar
! Palatal
! Velar
! Labiovelar
! Glottal
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | Plosive
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|p}} {{IPA link|b}}}}
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|t̪|t}} {{IPA link|d̪|d}}}}
|
|
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|k}} {{IPA link|ɡ}}}}
|
|
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | Nasal
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|m}}}}
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|n̪|n}}}}
|
|
| {{IPA|({{IPA link|ŋ}})}}
|
|
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | Fricative
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|f}} ({{IPA link|v}})}}
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|θ}} ({{IPA link|ð}})}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
| {{IPA|ʀ}}{{efn|name=rfromz|Reconstructed as {{IPA|[{{IPA link|ɹ̝}}]}} when part of the stem of a word with a voiceless allophone {{IPA|[{{IPA link|ɹ̝̊}}]}} word-finally when not part of the stem.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}<!--Applies to voiceless allophone-->}}
| {{IPA|({{IPA link|ɣ}})}}
|
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|h}}}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | Trill
|
|
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|r}}}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | Approximant
|
|
|
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|j}}}}
|
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|w}}}}
|
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | Lateral approximant
|
|
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|l}}}}
|
|
|
|
|}
{{notelist}}

The consonant digraphs {{angbr|hl}}, {{angbr|hr}}, and {{angbr|hn}} occurred word-initially. It is unclear whether they were sequences of two consonants (with the first element realised as {{IPA|/h/}} or perhaps {{IPA|/x/}}) or as single voiceless sonorants {{IPA|/l̥/}}, {{IPA|/r̥/}} and {{IPA|/n̥/}} respectively. In Old Norwegian, Old Danish and later Old Swedish, the groups {{angbr|hl}}, {{angbr|hr}}, and {{angbr|hn}} were reduced to plain {{angbr|l}}, {{angbr|r}}, {{angbr|n}}, which suggests that they had most likely already been pronounced as voiceless sonorants by Old Norse times.

The pronunciation of {{angbr|hv}} is unclear, but it may have been {{IPA|/xʷ/}} (the Proto-Germanic pronunciation), {{IPA|/hʷ/}} or the similar phoneme {{IPA|/ʍ/}}. Unlike the three other digraphs, it was retained much longer in all dialects. Without ever developing into a voiceless sonorant in Icelandic, it instead underwent [[fortition]] to a plosive {{IPA|/kv/}}, which suggests that instead of being a voiceless sonorant, it retained a stronger frication. In some Icelandic dialects it is still preserved as {{IPA|/xʷ/}} or {{IPA|/xv/}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Íslenskar mállýskur |trans-title=Icelandic dialects |url=https://ait.arnastofnun.is/grein.php?id=706 |access-date=25 April 2025 |website=Málsgreinar |language=is}}</ref>