Faroese phonology

Monophthongs of Faroese, based on formant values in Peterson (2000), cited in Árnason (2011:76)

• /yː/ and /aː/ appear only in loanwords.[1]
• The long mid vowels /eː, øː, oː/ tend to be diphthongized to [eɛː ~ eəː, øœː ~ øəː, oɔː ~ oəː].[1]
• According to the mean formant values of the native vowels (so excluding /yː/ and /aː/) in Peterson (2000), cited in Árnason (2011:76):
  • /ɪ, ʏ, ʊ/ are more open than the corresponding tense vowels, with /ɪ/ being the most open of the three ([ɪ̞]) and having the same F1 value as the back /oː/. The F2 value of /ʏ/ is closer to that of /ɪ/, which means that it is a front vowel.
  • /øː/ and especially /eː/ are more open than the phonetically close-mid /oː/ ([oː], often diphthongized to [oɔː ~ oəː]). Both /øː/ and /eː/ are more open than the corresponding short vowels; in addition, /øː/ is more central than any of the mid front vowels, including /œ/, whereas /eː/ is the most front of the mid vowels. This suggests that they are best transcribed [ɞː] and [ɛː] in narrow transcription, at least in the case of the monophthongal variants (Árnason reports opening diphthongs [øœː] and [eɛː] as one common type of realization of /øː/ and /eː/. Those diphthongs have considerably more close starting points).
  • The F1 value of /a/ is just slightly higher than that of /eː/, suggesting that it is a near-open vowel. In addition, its F2 value is closer to /ɔ/ than /œ/, which suggests that it is a near-open near-back vowel [ɑ̽].
  • /œ/ is considerably more close than /a/ but not as close as /oː/. It is more front than /øː/, which suggests that it is a mid front vowel [œ̝].
  • /ɔ/ has the same F1 value as /œ/, which suggests that it is also true-mid [ɔ̝]. The remaining short mid /ɛ/ is more open than those two, suggesting [ɛ] as the best narrow transcription.

As with other Germanic languages, Faroese has a large number of vowel phonemes; by one analysis, long and short vowels may be considered separate phonemes, with 26 in total. Vowel distribution is similar to other North Germanic languages in that short vowels appear in closed syllables (those ending in consonant clusters or long consonants) and long vowels appearing in open syllables.

Faroese avoids having a hiatus between two vowels by inserting a glide between them.

There is considerable variation among dialects in the pronunciation of vowels.

Map showing major Faroese isoglosses

The only unstressed vowels in Faroese are short [a, ɪ, ʊ]; these appear in inflectional endings: áðrenn (e.g. [ˈɔaːɹɪnː] 'before'). Very typical are endings like -ur, -ir, -ar. The dative is often indicated by [ʊn].

• [a] – bátar [ˈpɔaːtaɹ] ('boats'), kallar [ˈkʰatlaɹ] ('[you] call')
• [ɪ] – gestir [ˈtʃɛstɪɹ] ('guests'), dugir [ˈtuːɪɹ] ('[you] can')
• [ʊ] – bátur [ˈpɔaːtʊɹ] ('boat'), gentur [tʃɛntʊɹ] ('girls'), rennur [ˈɹɛnːʊɹ] ('[you] run').

In some dialects, unstressed short /ʊ/ is realized as [ø] or is reduced further to [ə]. /ɪ/ goes under a similar reduction pattern as it varies between [ɪ ~ ɛ ~ ə] so unstressed /ʊ/ and /ɪ/ can rhyme. This can cause spelling mistakes related to these two vowels. The following table displays the different realizations in different dialects.

The so-called "skerping" ([ʃɛʂpɪŋk] 'sharpening')[4] is a typical phenomenon of fronting back vowels before [kv] and monophthongizing certain diphthongs before long [tʃː]. Skerping is not indicated orthographically.

• [ɛɡv]: Jógvan [ˈjɛkvan] (a form of the name John), gjógv [tʃɛkv] ('cleft')
• [ɪɡv]: kúgv [kʰɪkv] ('cow'), trúgva [ˈtʂɪkva] ('believe'), but: trúleysur [ˈtʂʉuːlɛisʊɹ] ('faithless')
• [ɛtʃː]: heyggjur [ˈhɛtʃːʊɹ] ('high'), but heygnum [ˈhɛiːnʊn] ('high [dat. sg.]')
• [ʊtʃː]: nýggjur [ˈnʊtʃːʊɹ] ('new [M.]'), but nýtt [nʊiʰtː] ('New [Nn.]')
• [atʃː]: beiggi [ˈpatʃːɪ] ('brother')
• [ɔtʃː]: oyggj [ɔtʃː] ('island'), but oynna [ˈɔitnːa] ('island [acc. sg.]')

• /f, v/ are normally labiodental, but may sometimes be bilabial ([ɸ, β ~ β̞]). Intervocalic /v/ is normally an approximant [ʋ], whereas word-initial /v/ varies between an approximant [ʋ] and a fricative [v].[5]
• /n/ is dental [n̪], whereas /tʰ, t/ vary between being dental [t̪ʰ, t̪] and (less commonly) alveolar [tʰ, t].[5]
• Initial /l/ is dental [l̪] or alveolar [l]. Postvocalic /l/ may be more of a postalveolar lateral [l̠], especially after back vowels.[5]
• /tʃʰ, tʃ/ are palato-alveolar, and vary between stops [t̠ʲʰ, t̠ʲ] and affricates [tʃʰ, tʃ].[6]
• /ŋ, kʰ, k/ are velar, whereas /h/ is glottal.[7]

There are several phonological processes involved in Faroese, including:

• Liquid consonants are devoiced before voiceless consonants
• Nasal consonants generally assume the place of articulation and laryngeal settings of following consonants.
• Velar stop consonants (/k/, /g/) palatalize to postalveolar affricates before /iː, ɪ, eː, ɛ, ɛi, j/.
• /v/ becomes devoiced to /f/ before voiceless consonants
• /s/ before another consonant becomes /ʃ/ after /ɛi, ai, ɔi, ʊi/
• /sk/ becomes /ʃ/ before /iː, ɪ, eː, ɛ, ɛi, j/ (but in morphological forms often /stʃ/ word internally, i.e. elski [ɛɬstʃɪ] 'I love')
• /ɹ/ retroflexes itself as well as following consonants in consonant clusters, yielding the allophones [ʂ, ɭ, ʈ, ɳ] while /ɹ/ itself becomes [ɻ], example: ⟨rd⟩ [ɻʈ]; preaspirated consonants devoice the rhotic: example: ⟨rt⟩ [ɻ̊ʈ]; ⟨rs⟩ is usually [ʂː] (only in some loanwords [ɻ̊ʂ]). Voiceless [ɻ̊] is usually realised as [ʂ].
• Pre-stopping of original ⟨ll⟩ to [tl] and ⟨nn⟩ to [tn].
• Intervocalically the aspirated consonants become pre-aspirated unless followed by a closed vowel. In clusters, the preaspiration merges with a preceding nasal or apical approximant, rendering them voiceless, example: ⟨nt⟩ [n̥t]