Faroese phonology

The phonology of Faroese has an inventory similar to the closely related Icelandic language, but markedly different processes differentiate the two. Similarities include an aspiration contrast in stop consonants, the retention of front rounded vowels and vowel quality changes instead of vowel length distinctions.

Vowels

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

Faroese vowels

	Front				Central		Back
	unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	ɪ	iː	ʏ	( yː )			ʊ	uː
Mid	ɛ	eː	œ	øː			ɔ	oː
Open					a	( aː )

• /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 vowel alternations ^[2]

Monophthongs
		Long vowel			Short vowel
/i/	i	linur	[ˈliːnʊɹ]	'soft'	lint	[lɪn̥t]	'soft (N.)'
/e/	e	frekur	[ˈfɹeː(ʰ)kʊɹ~ˈfɹeεːkʊɹ]	'greedy'	frekt	[fɹɛʰkt]	'greedy (N.)'
/y/	y	mytisk	[ˈmyːtɪsk]	'mythological'	mystisk	[ˈmʏstɪsk]	'mysterious'
/ø/	ø	høgur	[ˈhøːʋʊɹ~ˈhøœːʋʊɹ]	'high (M.)'	høgt	[hœkt]	'high (N.)'
/u/	u	gulur	[ˈkuːlʊɹ]	'yellow'	gult	[kʊl̥t]	'yellow (N.)'
/o/	o	tola	[ˈtʰoːla~ˈtʰoɔːla]	'to endure'	toldi	[ˈtʰɔltɪ]	'endured'
/a/	a	Kanada	[ˈkʰaːnata]	'Canada'	land	[lant]	'land'
Diphthongs
		Long vowel			Short vowel
/ʊi/	í	hvítur	[ˈkfʊiːtʊɹ]	'white (M.)'	hvítt	[kfʊiʰtː]	'white (N.)'
/ɛi/	ey	deyður	[ˈteiːjʊɹ]	'dead (M.)'	deytt	[tɛʰtː]	'dead (N.)'
/ai/	ei	feitur	[ˈfaiːtʊɹ]	'fat (M.)'	feitt	[faiʰtː~fɔiʰtː]	'fat (N.)'
/ɔi/	oy	gloyma	[ˈklɔiːma]	'to forget'	gloymdi	[ˈklɔimtɪ]	'forgot'
/ɛa/	a	spakur	[ˈspɛaː(ʰ)kʊɹ]	'calm (M.)'	spakt	[spakt]	'calm (N.)'
/ɔa/	á	vátur	[ˈvɔaːtʊɹ]	'wet (M.)'	vátt	[vɔʰtː]	'wet (N.)'
/ʉu/	ú	fúlur	[ˈfʉuːlʊɹ]	'foul (M.)'	fúlt	[fʏl̥t]	'foul (N.)'
/ɔu/	ó	tómur	[ˈtʰɔuːmʊɹ~ˈtʰœuːmʊɹ]	'empty (M.)'	tómt	[tʰœm̥t~tʰɔm̥t]	'empty (N.)'

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. Adapted from Þráinsson, Jacobsen & Hansen (2004 :368), citing the work of Eivind Weyhe

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[tʃɛn̥tʊɹ] ('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.

Unstressed /i/ and /u/ in dialects ^[3]

Word	Borðoy Kunoy Tórshavn	Viðoy Svínoy Fugloy	Suðuroy	Elsewhere (standard)
gulur ('yellow')	[ˈkuːləɹ]	[ˈkuːləɹ]	[ˈkuːløɹ]	[ˈkuːlʊɹ]
gulir ('yellow' PL)	[ˈkuːləɹ]	[ˈkuːləɹ]	[ˈkuːløɹ]	[ˈkuːlɪɹ]
bygdin ('town')	[ˈpɪktɪn]	[ˈpɪktən]	[ˈpɪktøn]	[ˈpɪktɪn]
bygdum ('towns' DAT.PL)	[ˈpɪktʊn]	[ˈpɪktən]	[ˈpɪktøn]	[ˈpɪktʊn]

Consonants

		Labial	Coronal			Post-palatal
			Dental / Alveolar	Retro- flex	Palatal		Velar	Glottal
Plosive / Affricate	Fortis	pʰ	tʰ	( ʈʰ )	tʃʰ		kʰ	( ʔ )
	Lenis	p	t	( ʈ )	tʃ		k
Continuant	Fortis	f	s	( ʂ )	ʃ			h
	Lenis	v		ɹ ( ɻ̊ )	j		( w )
Sonorant
	Lateral		l ( ɬ )	( ɭ )	( ʎ ʎ̥ )
	Nasal	m ( m̥ )	n ( n̥ )	( ɳ )	ɲ ( ɲ̊ )		ŋ ( ŋ̊ )

• /f,v/ are normally labiodental, albeit "not as clearly labiodental as in English" according to Kristján Árnason. Intervocalic /v/ is normally an approximant [ ʋ ], whereas word-initial /v/ varies between an approximant [ ʋ ] and a fricative [ v ]. ^[4]
• /ɹ/ is typically a (post-) alveolar or retroflex approximant but trills have also been reported to occur in elderly speech. ^[5] Taps also occur, e.g. Føroyar [ˈfœɾ.jaɾ] ^ⓘ
• /n/ is dental [ n̪ ], whereas /tʰ,t/ vary between being dental [t̪ʰ, t̪] and (less commonly) alveolar [tʰ, t]. ^[4]
• Initial /l/ is dental [ l̪ ] or alveolar [ l ]. Postvocalic /l/ may be more of a postalveolar lateral [ l̠ ], especially after back vowels. ^[4]
• /l/ assimilates to nearby palatals, resulting in the variants [ʎ̥, ʎ] ([ʎ̥] occurring when [ʎ] is devoiced): kjálki [ˈtʃʰaʎ̥tʃɪ] ('jaw'), telgja [ˈtʰεʎtʃa] ('to carve'). Pronunciation of initial /lj/ varies situationally between the sequence [lj] and a palatal lateral ([ʎ]) or, possibly the most common realisation, a palatal approximant ([j]). ^[4]
• /tʃʰ,tʃ/ are palato-alveolar, and vary between stops [t̠ʲʰ, t̠ʲ] and affricates [tʃʰ, tʃ]. ^[6]
• [w] is the vocalised allophone of /v/ in coda position. Such sequences are treated as diphthongs, as they can be either long or (although marginally and in spurious cases) short. Also, /av/ is the only native source of [au(ː)], e.g. havn [hauːn] ('haven'), javnt [jaun̥t]~[jauːnt] ('even (nt.)'). ^[7] Vocalisation is not the only option as hav [hɛaːʋ] ('sea') and havs[hafs] ~ (Suðuroy) [haʋs] ('sea (gen.)') show it. ^[8]
• [x,ɣ] are highly marginal allophones of /kʰ,k/ only reported to have occurred before another plosive. ^[9]
• /h/ is treated by Árnason as voiced. ^[10]
• [ʔ] frequently occurs in stressed syllable with an "empty" onsets. ^[11] In this position, its most notable feature is its blocing of vowel elision: Okkurt um árið 190'8[ˈʔɔʰkʊɻ̊ʈumˈʔɔɑːɹəˈnʊiːʧɔntɾʊˈʔɔʰta]] ('[Something] around the year 1908').

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, especially /n/. ^[12]
• Velar stop consonants (/k/,/ɡ/) 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 aspiration merges with sonorants, rendering them voiceless: e.g. ⟨nt⟩[n̥t], ⟨kv⟩[kf]

Omissions in consonant clusters

Faroese tends to omit the first or second consonant in clusters of different consonants:

• fjals[fjals] ('mountain's') instead of *[fjatls] from [fjatl] (NOM). Other examples for genitives are: barns[ˈpans] ('child's'), vatns[van̥s] ('water's').
• hjálpti[jɔɬtɪ] ('helped' PASTSG) instead of *[ˈjɔɬptɪ] from hjálpa[ˈjɔɬpa]. Other examples for past forms are: sigldi[ˈsɪltɪ] ('sailed'), yrkti[ˈɪɻ̊ʈɪ] ('wrote poetry').
• homophone are fylgdi ('followed') and fygldi ('caught birds with a net'): [ˈfɪltɪ].
• skt will be:
  1. [st] in words of more than one syllable: føroyskt[ˈføːɹɪst] ('Faroese' N.SG); russiskt[ˈɹʊsːɪst] ('Russian' N.SG); íslendskt[ˈʊʃlɛŋ̊st] ('Icelandic' N.SG).
  2. [kst] in monosyllables: enskt[ɛŋ̊kst] ('English' N.SG); danskt[taŋ̊kst] ('Danish' N.SG); franskt[fɹaŋ̊kst] ('French' N.SG); spanskt[spaŋ̊kst] ('Spanish' N.SG); svenskt[svɛŋ̊kst] ('Swedish' N.SG); týskt[tʰʊikst] ('German' N.SG).
     • However [ʂt] in: írskt[ʊʂt] ('Irish' N.SG), norskt[nɔʂt] ('Norwegian' N.SG)

Phonological history

Vowel mergers

The earliest vowel shifts involved mid and low vowels. Pairs of Old West Scandinavian (OWS) front vowels (mid and open) merged into a single series, with long–short counterparts: /e/ and /ɛ/ became /e/, while /eː/ and /ɛː/ became /æː/. Additionally, /aː/ was subsequently rounded and merged into /ɔː/, but short /ɔ/ was fronted and merged with /œ/ (bǫrn → børn 'children'). There were special developments when adjacent to nasal consonants: /ɔ/ remained as a back vowel (lǫnd → lond 'countries'), but /ɔː/ merged with /oː/ (spónn → spónur 'spoon'). ^[13]

Short			Long
/e/	→	/ɛ/	/eː/	→	/æː/
/ɛ/			/ɛː/
/ø/		/ø/	/øː/		/øː/
/ɔ/			/ɔː/		/ɔː/
/a/		/a/	/aː/

Similar to the Great Vowel Shift in English, Faroese has underwent breaking of long vowels.

Skerping

Skerping

Written	Pronunciation	instead of
-ógv-	[ɛkv]	*[ɔu̯kv] (expected fronting: *[œy̯kv])
-úgv-	[ɪkv]	*[ʉu̯kv] (expected fronting: *[yy̯kv] → *[yːkv])
-eyggj-	[ɛtʃː]	*[ɛi̯tʃː]
-íggj-, -ýggj-	[ʊtʃː]	*[ʊitʃː]
-eiggj-	[atʃː]	*[aitʃː]
-oyggj-	[ɔtʃː]	*[ɔitʃː]

The so-called "skerping" ([ʃɛʂpɪŋk] 'sharpening') ^[14] is a typical phenomenon of fronting back vowels before [kv] and monophthongizing certain diphthongs before long [tʃː]. Skerping is not indicated orthographically.

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

References

1. Árnason (2011), p. 75.
2. Árnason (2011), p. 68.
3. Þráinsson, Jacobsen & Hansen (2004), p. 350.
4. Árnason (2011), p. 115.
5. Árnason (2011), p. 115–6.
6. Árnason (2011), p. 116.
7. Árnason (2011), p. 71.
8. Árnason (2011), p. 120.
9. Árnason (2011), p. 117, 177.
10. Árnason (2011), p. 114.
11. Árnason (2011), p. 117.
12. Árnason (2011), p. 115, 297.
13. Peterson & Voeltzel 2025, p. 81–83.
14. Þráinsson, Jacobsen & Hansen (2004) use the term "Faroese Verschärfung"

Bibliography

• Árnason, Kristján (2011), The Phonology of Icelandic and Faroese, Oxford University Press, ISBN   978-0199229314
• Þráinsson, Høskuldur; Jacobsen, Jógvan í Lon; Hansen, Zakaris Svabo (2004), Faroese: An Overview and Reference Grammar, Tórshavn/Reykjavík: Føroya Fróðskaparfelag, ISBN   978-9991841854
• Peterson, Hjalmar Páll (January 2000). "Mátingar av sjálvljóðum í føroyskum" [Measurement of Faroese vowels](PDF). Málting: Tíðarrit um føroyskt mál og málvísindi (in Faroese). 10 (1): 37–43. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-12-30.

Further reading

• Barnes, Michael P.; Weyhe, Eivind (2013) [First published 1994], "7 Faroese", in van der Auwera, Johan; König, Ekkehard (eds.), The Germanic Languages, Routledge, pp. 190–218, ISBN   978-0-415-05768-4
• Cathey, James (1997), "Variation and reduction in Modern Faroese vowels", in Birkmann, Thomas; Klingenberg, Heinz; Nübling, Damaris; Ronneberger-Sibold, Elke (eds.), Vergleichende germanische Philologie und Skandinavistik: Festschrift für Otmar Werner, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, pp. 91–100, ISBN   978-3484730311
• O'Neil, Wayne A. (1964), "Faroese Vowel Morphophonemics", Language, 40 (3), Linguistic Society of America: 366–371, doi:10.2307/411501, JSTOR   411501
• Peterson, Hjalmar P.; Voeltzel, Laurence (2025). Lahiri, Aditi (ed.). Faroese Phonetics and Phonology. Phonology and Phonetics. Vol. 34. De Gruyter Mouton. p. 376. ISBN   978-3110750553.
• Rischel, Jørgen (1964). "Toward the phonetic description of Faroese vowels". Fróðskaparrit. 13: 99–113. doi: 10.18602/fsj.v13i.347 (inactive 12 July 2025).

External links

Faroese on Omniglot