Faroese Preaspiration: A Nucleus/Onset Interaction Analysis

Abstract

This paper focuses on Faroese preaspiration, a phenomenon observed in Western Nordic and in some Eastern Nordic dialects, where fortis stops are preceded by a glottal frication noise in specific contexts. After observing all environments where the mechanism is triggered, I provide phonological representations of the phenomena based on Government Phonology 2.0. In this model, the segmental structures contain melody but also space, which allows for intersegmental relations such as lengthening, even without adding new morphological material. As preaspiration depends on the vowel preceding the fortis stop—more precisely, on its vocalic quality and length—I propose analyzing preaspiration as a spreading of the fortis consonant toward the vowel on the left. In doing so, I provide a unified analysis of all environments in which preaspiration occurs.*