--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Ragnarr Alfordson"
<viking_warlord2000@...> wrote:
>
> Hello every one I am wondering if any of you would be able to tell me
> how to pronouce the word "hvítabiôrn" I know it means white bear I am
> just trying to figure out how to pronounce it.
>
> Thank you all for your time.
> Ragnarr Alfordson


Here is a chart of phonetic symbols [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-
SAMPA ]. But I'll try to explain all the ones I have to use. The
brackets [] show pronunciation. The brackets <> show spelling.

hvítabjörn

In the 12th or early 13th century, maybe something like ["x_wi:ta%
bjOrn].

" primary stress
% secondary stress

Both stressed like an English compound word such as <taxi-stand>.

[x_w] is like the <ch> in the Scottish word <loch> except pronounced
with lip rounding as you would for [w].
[i:] the vowel in English <see>. The semicolon is used in phonetic
transcriptions to show that a vowel is long.
[a] as in French, Spanish, German and some varieties of English. In
English unstressed vowels often become less distinct, e.g. <arena>
[@"r`i:n@]. But in Old Norse, this vowel keeps its quality in
unstressed syllables.
[j] is the <y> in English <yes>.
[O] as in British English <thought> [TO:t], except short in <björn>.
Books on Old Norse often spell this as an <o> with a little hook under
it. Online texts often use <ö> in these words, as in Modern
Icelandic, where it's pronounced [9] (not found in standard varieties
of English). You can hear it in the first word of this recording, in
both old and modern pronunciations [
http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/sounds/vellekla.html ]. The change
is supposed to have happened around the middle of the 13th century.

Old Norse also had a pitch accent, but I'm not sure how exactly that
would have sounded. Maybe someone else can help there.

Llama Nom