Islandish phonemes are pronounced similarly to Czech, Slovak and Croatian. Here are notes on some specific aspects of the pronounciation and the romanization.
Vowels
The five short vowels of Islandish are a, e, i, o, u, pronounced clearly and fully as in the above mentioned languages (or as in Spanish). Their long counterparts are á, é, í, ó and ú, which are pronounced twice as long as the short vowels. Vowel length is phonemic.
There are only monophthongs in Islandish (the combination vowel + v before a consonant or at the end of the word, where the v is pronounced [w], is not seen as a diphthong). If there are two vowels next to each other in a word, there is always a syllable boundary between them (hiatus). This happens mostly due to the addition of a prefix, particularly the negative prefix u-.
Eg. u.i.vlá.den - unjust.
Syllabic consonants
The consonants r, l and ľ can form the nucleus of a syllable, as in Czech and Croatian. They can also be the nucleus of a syllable without onset.
Eg. strt (important), prklí (money), lbáti (fight) (l.bá.ti), dľk (wisp)
Glottal stop
A vowel is always preceded by a glottal stop, if the vowel:
follows another vowel, eg. uivláden (unjust) is pronounced ʔuʔivláden
is at the beginning of a word, even after a non-syllabic preposition, eg. ača (family) is pronounced ʔača, z osprši (about a lie) is pronounced zʔosprši
is at the beginning of a root of a word, even if it is preceded by a prefix, eg. vzoľička (building continuation) is pronounced vzʔoľička
Consonants
Most consonants are pronounced as in Czech.
j is the English sound y, and is always pronounced.
h is the sound [x], as Czech ch, Croatian h or in German Bach.
dz and dž are the voiced counterparts of c and č.
ľ is the Slovak ľ, the Croatian lj or the Spanish ll (in a pronounciation without yeísmo)
Palatal consonants ž, š, č are the Czech palatal consonants.
v is pronounced [w] before another consonant and at the end of the word.
Voiced consonants
Voiced consonants are b, d, g, v, z, ž, dz, dž.
Voiceless consonants are p, t, k, f, s, š, c, č, h.
Other consonants are considered either voiced nor voiceless.
The voiceless h doesn't have any voiced counterpart (voiced h doesn't appear in Islandish).
The voiceless f is rare in Islandish and comes only in loan words.
Voiced consonants are pronounced voiced even at the end of a word!
Voicing assimilations
Consonant clusters assimilate in voicing to the last consonant in the cluster. The ortography reflects this - the cluster are spelled as pronounced.
gozbek - a doctor, za gospka - without a doctor
h is a voiceless consonant, which causes assimilation but is not affected by it.
The following consonants do not cause voicing or devoicing of consonant clusters:
v, r, l, ľ, m, n, ň, j. They themselves are not affected by the assimilation and cause the influence of the last consonant to stop at their position, as if they were a vowel.
Eg. in zasrdbeňí (safety), the s is not influenced by the b at the end of the cluster.
Epenthetic e
Epenthetic e is used in Islandish to destroy unpronouncable consonant clusters. Very often, this epenthetic e is included in the citation (dictionary) form of a noun and disappears during inflection. In other cases, it is inserted during inflection.
To make studying Islandish easier, scholars mark this kind of e with an accent, which we transcribe as è. This, however, is not part of the standard orthography.
Eg. gozbèk - a doctor, za strpèl - without wifes.
Stress
Stress in Islandish falls on (the first valid condition applies):
the first long syllable (i.e. a syllable with a long vowel) in a word, if there is one. Eg. jagúrdla (she brought), zardbeňí (safety), vrilkó (child), plešó (lake), za česiríh strplú (without our husbands)
a preposition before the word, if it is monosyllabic. Eg. Jabrdl nám ve mame. (I came from the house of my mother.)
the first syllable otherwise. Eg. Stak nej zešadl i stakarí bárci. (The train stopped in a railway station.)
Monosyllabic short forms of the verb "viti" (niš, nej, vih), "vésti" (vej), and monosyllabic personal pronouns in unaccented position (ne, ni, nom, de, di, dom, to, tih, tom, me, mom, ňe, ňi, ňom, čes, čem, des, dem, šes, šem, vjes, vjem, jes, jem) don't carry any stress in neutral pronounciation and are pronounced in a unit with the preceding word.
Uriknel naj uňe svrktégo. (He didn't see anything suspicious.)
Non-syllabic prepositions
Non-syllabic prepositions are prepositions, which consist only of one non-syllabic consonant (z, s, c, m, g, ž). These prepositions are pronounced together with the following word. If this forms a difficult or unpronouncable consonant cluster, è is inserted between the preposition and the word.
M venka nej plešrí saj. - In the surroundings of the city there are many lakes.
Me mľivičke ňevaju dľci. - Wasps are flying around the flower.
Non-syllabic prepositions undergo voicing assimilation, but the orthography doesn't reflect it!
Ž tige umňe nej izu portlečela. (She couldn't concentrate because of him.) is pronounced š tige... (Note: portlečela is po.r.tle.če.la.)