Characteristics of the Icelandic Alphabet

The Icelandic alphabet is derived from the Roman. Unlike in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, Icelandic also has letters with acute accents. Here are a few letters of the Icelandic alphabet:

1) á is pronounced [au].

2) é is pronounced [jɛ]. 

3) í is pronounced [i:].

4) ó is pronounced as the diphthong [ou].

5) ú is pronounced [u:]. (The letter u is usually a high front rounded lax vowel).

6) ö is pronounced as in German

7) ð is usually a voiced interdental fricative

8) þ is pronounced as a voiceless interdental fricative

Though the Icelandic language is a Scandinavian language, a number of letters differ from those of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. The alphabet has letters written with acute accents, and with the exception of ú, the difference between the acute and non-acute letters is not quantitative. The Icelandic alphabet also has separate letters for the voiced and voiceless interdental fricatives.