Faroese phonology

Faroese has a phoneme inventory similar to closely related Icelandic 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

Faroese vowels
	Front				Central		Back
	unrounded		rounded		Central		Back
	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]

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 vowel alternations^[2]
Monophthongs
/i/	linur	[ˈliːnʊɹ]	'soft'	lint	[lɪn̥t]	'soft (N.)'
/e/	frekur	[ˈfɹeː(ʰ)kʊɹ ~ 'fɹeεːkʊɹ]	'greedy'	frekt	[fɹɛʰkt]	'greedy (N.)'
/y/	mytisk	[ˈmyːtɪsk]	'mythological'	mystisk	[ˈmʏstɪsk]	'mysterious'
/ø/	høgur	[ˈhøːʋʊɹ ~ ˈhøœːʋʊɹ]	'high (M.)'	høgt	[hœkt]	'high (N.)'
/u/	gulur	[ˈkuːlʊɹ]	'yellow'	gult	[kʊlt]	'yellow (N.)'
/o/	tola	[ˈtʰoːla ~ ˈtʰoɔːla]	'to endure'	toldi	[ˈtʰɔltɪ]	'endured'
/a/	Kanada	[ˈkʰaːnata]	'Canada'	land	[lant]	'land'
Diphthongs
/ʊi/	hvítur	[ˈkfʊiːtʊɹ]	'white (M.)'	hvítt	[kfʊiʰtː]	'white (N.)'
/ɛi/	deyður	[ˈteiːjʊɹ]	'dead (M.)'	deytt	[tɛʰtː]	'dead (N.)'
/ai/	feitur	[ˈfaiːtʊɹ]	'fat (M.)'	feitt	[faiʰtː ~ fɔiʰtː]	'fat (N.)'
/ɔi/	gloyma	[ˈklɔiːma]	'to forget'	gloymdi	[ˈklɔimtɪ]	'forgot'
/ɛa/	spakur	[ˈspɛaː(ʰ)kʊɹ]	'calm (M.)'	spakt	[spakt]	'calm (N.)'
/ɔa/	vátur	[ˈvɔaːtʊɹ]	'wet (M.)'	vátt	[vɔʰtː]	'wet (N.)'
/ʉu/	fúlur	[ˈfʉuːlʊɹ]	'foul (M.)'	fúlt	[fʏl̥t]	'foul (N.)'
/ɔu/	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

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.

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]

Skerping

Skerping
Written	Pronunciation	instead of
-ógv-	[ɛkv]	*[ɔukv]
-úgv-	[ɪkv]	*[ʉukv]
-eyggj-	[ɛtʃː]	*[ɛitʃː]
-íggj-, -ýggj-	[ʊtʃː]	*[ʊitʃː]
-eiggj-	[atʃː]	*[aitʃː]
-oyggj-	[ɔtʃː]	*[ɔitʃː]

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.]')

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/Alveolar		Retroflex	Palatal	Velar/ Glottal
		Labial	central	lateral	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar/ Glottal
Nasal		m	n			ɲ	ŋ
Stop	plain	p	t			tʃ	k
Stop	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ			tʃʰ	kʰ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ɬ	ʂ	ʃ	h
Fricative	voiced	v
Approximant		v	ɹ	l		j

/f, v/ are normally labiodental.^[5]
- 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:

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:
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 [tʰʊkst] ('German' n. sg.).
  - However [ʂt] in: írskt [ʊʂt] ('Irish' n. sg.), norskt [nɔʂt] ('Norwegian' n. sg.)

References

1 2 Árnason (2011), p. 75.
↑ Árnason (2011), p. 68.
↑ Þráinsson (2004), p. 350.
↑ Þráinsson et al. use the term "Faroese Verschärfung"
1 2 3 4 Árnason (2011), p. 115.
↑ Árnason (2011), p. 116.
↑ Árnason (2011), p. 114.

Bibliography

Árnason, Kristján (2011), The Phonology of Icelandic and Faroese, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0199229317
Þráinsson, Höskuldur (2004), Faroese: An Overview and Reference Grammar, Føroya Fróðskaparfelag, ISBN 978-9991841854