Faroese language

Faroese
føroyskt
Pronunciation	IPA: [ˈføːɹɪst]]
Native to	Faroe Islands, Denmark
Native speakers	around 70,000-75,000  (date missing)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic North Germanic West Scandinavian Faroese
Writing system	Latin (Faroese alphabet)
Official status
Official language in	Faroe Islands
Recognised minority language in	Denmark
Regulated by	Faroese Language Board Føroyska málnevndin
Language codes
ISO 639-1	fo
ISO 639-2	fao
ISO 639-3	fao
Linguasphere	52-AAA-ab
Faroese keyboard layout
This page contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Faroese^[1] (in Faroese: føroyskt, pronounced [ˈføːɹɪst]) is an Insular Nordic language spoken as a native language by about 70,000–75,000 people, 45,000 of which reside on the Faroe Islands and 25,000–30,000^{[citation needed]} in other areas, mainly mainland Denmark. It is one of four languages descended from the Old West Norse language spoken in the Middle Ages, the others being Icelandic, Norwegian and the extinct Norn, which is thought to have been mutually intelligible with Faroese.^{[citation needed]} Faroese and Icelandic, its closest extant relative, are not mutually intelligible in speech, but the written languages resemble each other quite closely, largely owing to Faroese's etymological orthography.^[2]

History [edit]

The approximate extent of Old Norse and related languages in the early 10th century:

  Old West Norse dialect

  Old East Norse dialect

  Old Gutnish

  Old English

  Crimean Gothic

   Other Germanic languages with which Old Norse still retained some mutual intelligibility

Around AD 900, the language spoken in the Faroes was Old Norse, which Norse settlers had brought with them during the time of the settlement of Faroe Islands (landnám) that began in AD 825. However, many of the settlers were not from Scandinavia, but descendants of Norse settlers in the Irish Sea. In addition, native Scandinavian settlers often married women from Norse Ireland, Orkney, or Shetland before settling in the Faroe Islands and Iceland. As a result, the Irish language influenced both Faroese and Icelandic. There is some debatable evidence of Irish language place names in the Faroes: for example, the names of Mykines, Stóra Dímun and Lítla Dímun have been hypothesized to contain Celtic roots. Other examples of early-introduced words of Celtic origin are: "blak/blaðak" (buttermilk), cf. Middle Irish bláthach; "drunnur" (tail-piece of an animal), cf. Middle Irish dronn; "grúkur" (head, headhair), cf. Middle Irish gruaig; "lámur" (hand, paw), cf. Middle Irish lámh; "tarvur" (bull), cf. Middle Irish tarbh; and "ærgi" (pasture in the outfield), cf. Middle Irish áirge.^[3]

Between the 9th and the 15th centuries, a distinct Faroese language evolved, although it was probably still mutually intelligible with the Old West Norse language, and remained similar to the Norn language of Orkney and Shetland during Norn's earlier phase.

Until the 15th century Faroese had an orthography similar to Icelandic and Norwegian, but after the Reformation in 1536 the ruling Danes outlawed its use in schools, churches and official documents. The islanders continued to use the language in ballads, folktales, and everyday life. This maintained a rich spoken tradition, but for 300 years the language was not used in written form.

This changed when Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb and the Icelandic grammarian and politician, Jón Sigurðsson, published a written standard for Modern Faroese in 1854, which is still in existence. They set a standard for the orthography of the language, based on its Old Norse roots and similar to that of Icelandic. This had the advantage of being etymologically clear, as well as keeping the kinship with the Icelandic written language. The actual pronunciation, however, often differs from the written rendering. The letter ð, for example, has no specific phoneme attached to it.

Jakob Jakobsen devised a rival system of orthography, based on his wish for a phonetic spelling, but this system was never taken up by the speakers.^{[citation needed]}

In 1937, Faroese replaced Danish as the official school language, in 1938 as the church language, and in 1948 as the national language by the Home Rule Act of the Faroes. However, Faroese did not become the common language of media and advertising until the 1980s.^{[citation needed]} Today Danish is considered a foreign language, though around 5% of residents on the Faroes learn it as a first language, and it is a required subject for students in third grade^[4] and up.

Learning Faroese [edit]

It is unusual for Faroese to be taught at universities outside the Faroes, although it is occasionally included in Scandinavian studies. The University College London and the University of Copenhagen have course options in Faroese for students reading Scandinavian Studies.^[5] Most students, therefore, learn it autodidactically from books, by listening to Faroese on radio,^[6] and through correspondence with Faroese people. A good opportunity for learning Faroese is also by visiting websites.

The University of the Faroe Islands offers an annual three-week Summer Institute which includes:

• Forty-five lessons of Faroese grammar and language exercises.
• Fifteen lectures on linguistics, culture (oral poetry and modern literature), society and nature.
• Two excursions to places of historical and geographical interest.

Alphabet [edit]

Some Faroese isoglosses

An example of Faroese ő

The Faroese alphabet consists of 29 letters derived from the Latin script:

Notes:

• Edd (ð) can never come at the beginning of a word, but can occur in capital letters in logos or on maps, such as SUÐUROY (Southern Isle).
• Ø, ø can also be written Ö, ö in poetic language, such as Föroyar (the Faroes) (cf. Swedish-Icelandic typographic/orthographic tradition vs. Norwegian-Danish). In handwriting Ő, ő is sometimes used. Originally both Ö and Ø were used: Ö was used for the vowel resulting from I-mutation of O, while Ø was used for the vowel resulting from U-mutation of A. The practice of differentiating the two has fallen out of use though, and now only Ø is used.
• While C, Q, W, X, and Z are not found in the Faroese language, X was known in earlier versions of Hammershaimb's orthography, such as Saxun for Saksun.
• While the Faroese keyboard layout allows one to write in Latin, English, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, etc., the Old Norse and Modern Icelandic letter þ is missing. In related Faroese words it is written as ⟨t⟩ or as ⟨h⟩, and if an Icelandic name has to be transcribed, ⟨th⟩ is common.

Phonology [edit]

Vowels [edit]

As in several other Germanic languages, stressed vowels in Faroese are long when not followed by two or more consonants. Two consonants or a consonant cluster usually indicates a short vowel. Exceptions may be short vowels in particles, pronouns, adverbs, and prepositions in unstressed positions, consisting of just one syllable.

As may be seen on the table to the left, Faroese (like English) has a very atypical pronunciation of its vowels, with odd offglides and other features. For example, long í and ý sound almost like a long Hiberno-English i, and long ó like an American English long o.

Short vowels in endings [edit]

While in other Germanic languages a short /e/ is common for inflectional endings, Faroese uses /a, i, u/. This means that there are no unstressed short vowels except for these three. Even if a short unstressed /e/ is seen in writing, it will be pronounced like /i/: áðrenn [ˈɔaːʐɪnː] (before). Very typical are endings like -ur, -ir, -ar. The dative is often indicated by -um which is always pronounced [ʊn].

• [a] – bátar [ˈbɔaːtaɹ] (boats), kallar [ˈkadlaɹ] ((you) call, (he) calls)

• [ɪ] – gestir [ˈdʒɛstɪɹ] (guests), dugir [ˈduːɪɹ] ((you, he) can)
• [ʊ] – bátur [ˈbɔaːtʊɹ] (boat), gentur [dʒɛntʊɹ] (girls), rennur [ˈʐenːʊɹ] ((you) run, (he) runs).

In some dialects, unstressed /ʊ/ is realized as [ø] or is reduced further to [ə]. /ɪ/ goes under a similar reduction pattern so unstressed /ʊ/ and /ɪ/ can rhyme. This can cause spelling mistakes related to these two vowels. The table to the right displays the different realizations in different dialects.

Glide insertion [edit]

Faroese avoids having a hiatus between two vowels by inserting a glide. Orthographically, this is shown in three ways:

1. vowel + ð + vowel
2. vowel + g + vowel
3. vowel + vowel

Typically, the first vowel is long and in words with two syllables always stressed, while the second vowel is short and unstressed. In Faroese, short and unstressed vowels can only be /a/, /i/, /u/.

Ð and G as glides [edit]

<Ð> and <G> are used in Faroese orthography to indicate one of a number of glides rather than any one phoneme. This can be:

1. [j]
   • "I-surrounding, type 1" – after /i, y, í, ý, ei, ey, oy/: bíða [ˈbʊija] (to wait), deyður [ˈdɛijʊɹ] (dead), seyður [ˈsɛijʊɹ] (sheep)
   • "I-surrounding, type 2" – between any vowel (except "u-vowels" /ó, u, ú/) and /i/: kvæði [ˈkvɛajɛ] (ballad), øði [ˈøːjɛ] (rage).
2. [w] "U-surrounding, type 1" – after /ó, u, ú/: Óðin [ˈɔʊwɪn] (Odin), góðan morgun! [ˌɡɔʊwan ˈmɔɹɡʊn] (good morning!), suður [ˈsuːwʊɹ] (south), slóða [ˈslɔʊwa] (to make a trace).
3. [v]
   • "U-surrounding, type 2" – between /a, á, e, æ, ø/ and /u/: áður [ˈɔavʊɹ] (before), leður [ˈleːvʊɹ] (leather), í klæðum [ʊɪˈklɛavʊn] (in clothes), í bløðum [ʊɪˈbløːvʊn] (in newspapers).
   • "A-surrounding, type 2"
     • These are exceptions (there is also a regular pronunciation): æða [ˈɛava] (eider-duck).
     • The past participles always have [j]: elskaðar [ˈɛlskajaɹ] (beloved, nom., acc. fem. pl.)
4. Silent
   • "A-surrounding, type 1" – between /a, á, e, o/ and /a/ and in some words between <æ, ø> and <a>: ráða [ˈʐɔːa] (to advise), gleða [ˈɡ̊leːa] (to gladden, please), boða [ˈboːa] (to forebode), kvøða [ˈkvøːa] (to chant), røða [ˈʐøːa] (to make a speech)

Skerping [edit]

The so-called "skerping" (Thráinsson et al. use the term "Faroese Verschärfung" – in Faroese, skerping /ʃɛʂpɪŋɡ/ means "sharpening") is a typical phenomenon of fronting back vowels before [ɡv] and monophthongizing certain diphthongs before [dʒː]. Skerping is not indicated orthographically. These consonants occur often after /ó, ú/ (ógv, úgv) and /ey, í, ý, ei, oy/ when no other consonant is following.

• [ɛɡv]: Jógvan [ˈjɛɡvan] (a form of the name John), Gjógv [dʒɛɡv] (cleft)
• [ɪɡv]: kúgv [kɪɡv] (cow), trúgva [ˈtʂɪɡva] (believe), but: trúleysur [ˈtʂʉuːlɛisʊɹ] (faithless)
• [ɛdʒː]: heyggjur [ˈhɛdʒːʊɹ] (high, burial mound), but heygnum [ˈhɛiːnʊn] (dat. sg. with suffix article)
• [ʊdʒː]: nýggjur [ˈnʊdʒːʊɹ] (new m.), but nýtt [nʊiʰtː] (n.)
• [adʒː]: beiggi [ˈbadʒːɪ] (brother)
• [ɔdʒː]: oyggj [ɔdʒː] (island), but oynna [ˈɔidnːa] (acc. sg. with suffix article)

Consonants [edit]

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 /j/ /e/ /ɪ/ /y/ and /ɛi/
• /v/ becomes /f/ before voiceless consonants
• /s/ becomes /ʃ/ after /ɛi, ai, ɔi/ and before /j/ and may assimilate the retroflexion of a preceding /r/ to become [ʂ].
• Pre-occlusion of original <ll> to [dl] and <nn> to [dn].

Omissions in consonant clusters [edit]

Faroese tends to omit the first or second consonant in clusters of different consonants:

• fjals [fjals] (mountain's gen.) instead of *[fjadls] from [fjadl] (nom.). Other examples for genitives are: barns [ˈbans] (child's), vatns [van̥s] (lake's, water's).
• hjálpti [jɔɬtɛ] (helped) past sg. instead of *[ˈjɔɬpta] from hjálpa [ˈjɔɬpa]. Other examples for past forms are: sigldi [ˈsɪldɛ] (sailed), yrkti [ˈɪʂtɛ] (wrote poetry).
• homophone are fylgdi (followed) and fygldi (caught birds with net): [ˈfɪldɛ].
• skt will be:
  1. [st] in words of more than one syllable: føroyskt [ˈføːʐɪst] (Faroese n. sg.;) russiskt [ˈʐʊsːɪst] (Russian n. sg.), íslendskt [ˈʊʃlɛŋ̊st] (Icelandic n. sg.).
  2. [kst] in monosyllables: enskt [ɛŋ̊kst] (English n. sg.), danskt [daŋ̊kst] (Danish n. sg.), franskt [fʂaŋ̊kst] (French n. sg.), spanskt [spaŋ̊kst] (Spanish n. sg.), svenskt [svɛŋ̊kst] (Swedish n. sg.), týskt [tʊkst] (German n. sg.).
     • However [ʂt] in: írskt [ʊʂt] (Irish n. sg.), norskt [nɔʂt] (Norwegian n. sg.)

Faroese Words and Phrases in comparison to other Germanic languages [edit]

Grammar [edit]

Faroese grammar is related and very similar to that of modern Icelandic and Old Norse. Faroese is an inflected language with three grammatical genders and four cases: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive.

Faroese numbers [edit]

See also [edit]

• Gøtudanskt
• Faroese language conflict
• Old Norwegian

Further reading [edit]

This is a list of books about Faroese ordered by qualitive categories.

To learn Faroese as a language.

• Adams, Jonathan & Hjalmar P. Petersen. Faroese: A Language Course for beginners Grammar & Textbook. Tórshavn, 2009: Stiðin (704 p.) ISBN 978-99918-42-54-7
• W.B. Lockwood: An Introduction to Modern Faroese. Tórshavn, 1977. (no ISBN, 244 pages, 4th printing 2002)
• Michael Barnes: Faroese Language Studies Studia Nordica 5, Supplementum 30. Tórshavn, 2002. (239 pages) ISBN 99918-41-30-X
• Höskuldur Thráinsson (Þráinsson), Hjalmar P. Petersen, Jógvan í Lon Jacobsen, Zakaris Svabo Hansen: Faroese. An Overview and Reference Grammar. Tórshavn, 2004. (500 pages) ISBN 99918-41-85-7
• Richard Kölbl: Färöisch Wort für Wort. Bielefeld 2004 (in German)

Dictionaries.

• Johan Hendrik W. Poulsen: Føroysk orðabók. Tórshavn, 1998. (1483 pages) ISBN 99918-41-52-0 (in Faroese)
• Annfinnur í Skála / Jonhard Mikkelsen: Føroyskt / enskt – enskt / føroyskt, Vestmanna: Sprotin 2008. (Faroese–English / English–Faroese dictionary, 2 volumes)
• Annfinnur í Skála: Donsk-føroysk orðabók. Tórshavn 1998. (1369 pages) ISBN 99918-42-22-5 (Danish–Faroese dictionary)
• M.A. Jacobsen, Chr. Matras: Føroysk–donsk orðabók. Tórshavn, 1961. (no ISBN, 521 pages, Faroese–Danish dictionary)
• Hjalmar Petersen, Marius Staksberg: Donsk–Føroysk orðabók. Tórshavn, 1995. (879 p.) ISBN 99918-41-51-2 (Danish–Faroese dictionary)
• Eigil Lehmann: Føroysk–norsk orðabók. Tórshavn, 1987 (no ISBN, 388 p.) (Faroese–Norwegian dictionary)
• Jón Hilmar Magnússon: Íslensk-færeysk orðabók. Reykjavík, 2005. (877 p.) ISBN 9979-66-179-8 (Icelandic–Faroese dictionary)
• Gianfranco Contri: Dizionario faroese-italiano = Føroysk-italsk orðabók. Tórshavn, 2004. (627 p.) ISBN 99918-41-58-X (Faroese–Italian dictionary)

Faroese Litteratur and Research.

• V.U. Hammershaimb: Færøsk Anthologi. Copenhagen 1891 (no ISBN, 2 volumes, 4th printing, Tórshavn 1991) (editorial comments in Danish)
• Tórður Jóansson: English loanwords in Faroese. Tórshavn, 1997. (243 pages) ISBN 99918-49-14-9
• Petersen, Hjalmar P. 2009. Gender Assignment in Modern Faroese. Hamborg. Kovac
• Petersen, Hjalmar P. 2010. The Dynamics of Faroese-Danish Language Contact. Heidelberg. Winter
• Faroese/German anthology “From Djurhuus to Poulsen – Faroese Poetry during 100 Years”, academic advice: Turið Sigurðardóttir, lineartranslation: Inga Meincke (2007), ed. by Paul Alfred Kleinert

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Faroese language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For a list of words relating to Faroese language, see the Faroese language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Faroese edition of Wikisource, the free library

• Føroysk orðabók (the Faroese–Faroese dictionary of 1998 online)
• Sprotin (complete English-Faroese/Faroese-English and Danish–Faroese online dictionary – requires a subscription)
• Faroese online syntactic analyser and morphological analyser/generator
• FMN.fo – Faroese Language Committee (Official site with further links)
• 'Hover & Hear' Faroese pronunciations, and compare with equivalents in English and other Germanic languages.
• Ethnologue report on Faroese
• Useful Faroese Words & Phrases for Travelers
• How to count in Faroese