Voiced Consonants of Southern Norwegian Dialects

In the dialects of the southern part of Norway, intervocalic and word-final consonants following a vowel become voiced. The plosives /p/, /t/ and /k/ become /b/, /d/ and /g/. Intervocalic voicing also occurs in Danish, but in word-final position, Danish does not voice as in the dialects of southern Norway.

In most of Norway, the following words have voiceless plosives:

ape (monkey)
kake (cake)
pute (pillow)

bok (book)
mat (food)
skip (ship)

In the south of Norway, i.e., Stavanger and Kristiansand, speakers have voiced plosives intervocalically and word-finally. This can be viewed as both a voicing assimilation and neutralization. The intervocalic plosive becomes voiced like the vowels that precede and follow and like the vowels that precede word-finally. This is also neutralization because the distinction between voiced and voiceless plosives is lost.

Word-final plosives only voice when they are preceded by a vowel. If they are preceded by a consonant, no voicing occurs. Examples include melk (milk), urt (herb) and damp (steam).

Most Norwegians preserve the distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants in all positions. However, in the dialects of southern Norway, only voiced consonants occur intervocalically and word-finally following a vowel. This can be classified as both assimilation and neutralization.