Um herðingarveiku sjálvljóðini i og u í føroyskum máli nú á døgum

Abstract

The weak*stressed vowels i and u are often confused in modern Faroese. This has been observed many times, first by Rasmus Rask in 1811. In the present article this problem is discussed mainly from purely phonetic and phonemic points of view, but also geographica), historical, and sociological points of view have been taken into consideration.

By means of a tape recorder the author has investigated the pronunciation of a large number of Faroese. The pronunciation of í and u varies very much. The aim is to describe these varieties and, to some extent, explain their occurrence. It is very important to consider the degree of stress of the weaksstressed syllables. A difference is observed between »levis« (traditionally weak»stressed syllable in a dissyllabic word, or the more stressed syllable among the weaksstressed ones in
longer words) and »levissimus« (totally unstressed syllable). There is often a difference also between open syllables and closed syllables in the pronunciation of weaksstressed / and u. 

The m.iin part of the article is a presentation of the result of a phonemic investigation made in 1961. Faroese school teachers asked people in 34 villages about their pronunciation and filled out a questionnaire, containing a large number of words with the most common endings, =ir, sur, =i'n, *um, Á \ , =U\, -i, and =u. There was no need to describe the finer shades of sound used for i and u of the written language; the only important point was to decide, whether the vowel pronunced was to be interpreted as an issound or an u=sound.

In three different areas weaksstressed i and u are pronounced alike in most endings. These areas are: l) Tórshavn and the neighbouring villages; 2) the villages in Viðoy and Borðoy; perhaps should also a few other villages in the Norðuroyar be included here; 3) Suðuroy. In these areas as a rule no difference in pronunciation is made between -ir and ■■uv, --il and -u\, etc. In areas l) and 2) a weakstressed i or u is usually pronounced as a kind of i'»sound, in area 3) as a kind of u-sound.

In the main part of the Faroe Isles the letters i' and u in »levis« are treated as different phonemes. However, the dialects do not maintain the same distribution of isendings and u=endings as the written language, the spelling of which is based on historical principles. Thus, for instance, the endings --irl-.ur are pronounced Ar in the plural of nouns, but sur in the present tense of verbs in the dialects of Sandoy and Vágar.

In totallý unstressed syllables (»levissimus«) no difference in pro; nunciation is made between i' and u in the dialects. Forms like hestinum and hestunum are pronounced alike, and it is only from the context that we can conclude, whether the word is in the singular or in the plural.