any exact equivalent in English. It comes nearest to the English u in “full” or “put.” In pronouncing the Norwegian u the back of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate and the point remains behind the lower incisors, while the lips are considerably protruding. Ex. long: Gud God, Ur watch, hul (adj.) hollow, Brud bride; short: Brud breach, Gut boy, Hul hole (also pronounced Hol).
Note. For u being the orthographic sign of o see § 89.
91. y has the tongue position of i, the lip rounding of u. It sounds like German ü, French u in “lune,” only still thinner, nearer to i. It may be short or long. Phonetic sign y. Ex. long: By town, syv seven, yde yield; short: yppe to raise, yste to make cheese, bygge to build.
Note. For y being sometimes pronounced as ö see § 92 note.
92. ø ö.
ø is a rounded e and has a sound like French eu in “peu”; it only occurs long, but is never found before radical r; Ex.: Ø island, dø die, (Hunden) gjør (the dog) barks. ö is a rounded œ and has a sound like French eu in “peuple,” German ö in “Götter.” It occurs both short and long, long only before radical r. In this latter position, however, the dialect of Christiania has a still lower (more open) sound œ. Ex. ö: sö(d)t sweet (neut.), grön green; ö or œ: Börn or Bœrn children, gjör or gjœr does, hörlig or hœrlig audible.
Note. The orthographic sign of all three sounds, ø, ö and œ is in print as a rule ø, in writing ö.
In a few words the sign y represents the sound of ö: sytten (ö) 17, sytti (ö) 70, fyrti (ö, œ) 40. Also in some other words y may be pronounced as ö: Lykke luck, Stykke piece, Bryst breast, flytte to move. But the pronunciation as y is regularly heard among educated people.
