Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1964, Blaðsíða 95

Toward the phonetic description of Faroese wovels
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ø, o as in seg, løg, so. But it is difficult to discuss in a
fruitful way whether the short vowels are sometimes slightly
more lax than at other times. The concept of “laxness” still
needs much clarification.
As for the long vowels, Faroese possesses a number of
obviously diphthongal units with a second component
resembling a, i, or u (cp. [oa, oi, ou) in tá, doyð, ló). The
phonetic problems associated with these diphthongs can
to some extent be separated from those of the other vowels,
and they will not be treated in this paper. As for the
remaining long units, the vowels in seg, løg, so are rende*
red by Jakobsen as diphthongs with a centralized second
component: [ea, øa, oa]; Naert considers the first one to
be more adequately symbolized as [ee[, whereas he does not
express disagreement on the other two. Lockwood, on the
other hand, renders them all as monophthongs: [e:, ø:, o:].
The close vowels in sig, suð are invariably rendered as
monophthongs: [I, 0] or [i:, u:], but Jakobsen was aware
of a tendency toward diphthongization even in these vowels
(especially in word*final position or before a vowel). In a
recent outline of Faroese pronunciation the present author1)
described all long vowels (except the sporadic [a:], which
is not considered in this paper) as slightly diphthongized
in accordance with Jakobsen’s findings, [i:, u:] being slightly
closing, and the others opening.2) The auditory impression
of glide in these vowels is, however, not very strong; in
many instances there is no perceptible change in quality,
and it is certainly appropriate to classify all these vowels
as monophthongs with a tendency of glide in one or the
other direction rather than diphthongs on a par with [oa, oi]
etc. (the diphthongization is by no means stronger than the
diphthongization of [e:] which may be heard in Eastern
Norwegian, for example). Nevertheless, when pronounced
*) Føroysk-donsk orðabók2 p. XIX (1961).
2) Unfortunately, the terminology used (“stigende”, “faldende”) is
rather confusing, since it is mostly used about sonority.