Preaspiration in the Nordic Languages: Synchronic and Diachronic ...

same data as the results presented in the preceding section, the durations
of vowel, preaspiration and occlusion are very similar to those in Table
4–5. These durations will not be discussed further here.
From Table 4–7 it appears that postaspiration duration is much more
constant than is preaspiration duration (i.e., has lower standard deviations)
and is also less variable between word types. For båten type
words, mean postaspiration duration for the different informants ranges
from 23 to 32 ms, and for vatten type words from 20 to 29 ms. The corresponding
figures for preaspiration are 6–30 ms and 12–37 ms. Also, differences
in mean postaspiration duration between subjects are fairly
small in comparison to preaspiration duration.
4.2.3.4 Phonetic variation in word-medial fortis stops
In previous sections, we have seen that various types of friction are
associated with the production of preaspiration. In Faroese, for example
(see section 4.3.3), beyond glottal friction, both place of stop articulation
and maximal vowel constriction constitute potential sources of friction in
the production of preaspiration. This friction seems to be an active enhancement
of the preaspiration noise, rather than a fortuitous effect or
by-product of speech production.
In the CSw data, the subjects who preaspirate also tend to produce
friction that can be associated with the place of the stop closure. However,
these subjects do not seem to produce the type of friction that can
be associated with maximal dorsal constriction in the vowel, as in Faroese.
Also, the friction produced by the CSw subjects does not seem to be
enhanced or prolonged in the same way as in the speech of the Faroese
subjects.
In the CSw data, preaspirations that occur after open and mid vowels
are characterised by mostly glottal friction, with only slight friction originating
at the place of articulation for the stop. This is exemplified by the
production of FS (Figure 4–9) and CK (Figure 4–10) of the word vattnet
‘the water.’ In FS’s case, modal voice offset occurs approximately 45 ms
before full voice offset. Noise spreads gradually down through the vowel
spectrum, indicating that the glottis is spreading fairly slowly as it opens.
The time lag between full voice offset and onset of stop closure is approximately
30 ms. The total preaspiration duration is therefore approxi-
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