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 == /yː/ and /aː/ appear only in loanwords.
The long mid vowels /eː, øː, oː/ tend to be diphthongized to [eɛː ~ eəː, øœː
~ øəː, oɔː ~ oəː].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. Árnason (2011) provides the following alternations:
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.
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.
== Skerping == The so-called "skerping" ([ʃɛʂpɪŋk] 'sharpening')
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.]')
== Consonants == /f, v/ are normally labiodental.Intervocalic
/v/ is normally an approximant [ʋ], whereas word-initial /v/ varies between an approximant
[ʋ] and a fricative [v]. /n/ is dental [n̪], whereas /tʰ, t/ vary
between being dental [t̪ʰ, t̪] and (less commonly) alveolar [tʰ, t].
Initial /l/ is dental [l̪] or alveolar [l]. Postvocalic /l/ may be more of a postalveolar
lateral [l̠], especially after back vowels. /tʃʰ, tʃ/ are palato-alveolar, and vary
between stops [t̠ʲʰ, t̠ʲ] and affricates [tʃʰ, tʃ].
/ŋ, kʰ, k/ are velar, whereas /h/ is glottal.There are several phonological processes involved
in Faroese, including:
Liquids are devoiced before voiceless consonants Nasals generally assume the place of articulation
and laryngeal settings of following consonants. Velar stops palatalize to postalveolar affricates
before /iː, ɪ, eː, ɛ, ɛi, j/. /v/ becomes /f/ before voiceless consonants
/s/ before another consonant becomes /ʃ/ after /ɛi, ai, ɔi/
/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]
=== 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') past sg. instead of *[ˈjɔɬpta] 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:
[st] in words of more than one syllable: føroyskt [ˈføːɹɪst] ('Faroese' n. sg.;) russiskt
[ˈɹʊsːɪst] ('Russian' n. sg.), íslendskt [ˈʊʃlɛŋ̊st] ('Icelandic' n. sg.).
[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 [tʰʊkst] ('German' n. sg.).
However [ʂt] in: írskt [ʊʂt] ('Irish' n. sg.), norskt [nɔʂt] ('Norwegian' n. sg