Old Norse/Grammar/Alphabet and Pronunciation

The Old Norse Alphabet
The Old Norse alphabet consisted of the following lettersː a b c d ð e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z þ æ ǫ ø œ

This is based on the more modern 'standardized' spelling, as older texts in most every language lacked unified spelling standards, meaning the same word could appear in several different ways within the same text. The above Latin alphabet will be used in this page for all words in Old Norse.

Diphthongs
Examplesː
 * baugr (bäʊ̯ɣʀ)
 * heitir (heɪ̯tiʀ) (hay-tir)

̈Similar to other Germanic languages, the vowel change, or umlaut, operates in Old Norse. There are two kinds: i-umlaut, and u-umlaut.

The i-umlaut appears thus:

This is the fronting of a back vowel (a, o, u) to its frontal version, similar to how German has (a, o, u) become (ä, ö, ü).

In certain circumstances, the presence of a 'u' in the endings of adjectives or nouns causes what is called 'u-umlaut' or 'back mutation' to the stem vowel. This is how that change presents itself: