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

of this type as well. Remarkably, therefore, the only systematic difference
in the phonological distribution of preaspiration between Gräsö
speakers and CSw speakers lies in the presence vs. absence of preaspiration
in these contexts.
4.4.3 Lenis stops
ON lenis stops are generally reflected as phonetically voiceless in the
Gräsö dialect. This applies to both word-initial and word-medial lenes, as
well as lenes in clusters. Examples of lenis stops in VC syllables are
given in Figures 4–79 and 4–81 (note that the durational difference
between the stops in the two cases is not phonemic). Note that the
example in Figure 4–79 has some echo at the onset of the stop that may
look like preaspiration at first sight. Figure 4–80 has an example of a
lenis stop in a VC syllable. In all three examples, the stops are voiceless.
j
Figure 4–79. Subj. AM: […och]
gädda [och…] ‘…and pike and…’
– 178 –
v k
Figure 4–80. Subj. JM: […körde]
vägen [och…] ‘…drove along the
road and…’
Stops of this type often have a short voicing lag (see Figures 4–73
and 4–84, for example), and in some cases a lenis stop is voiced throughout,
especially if the stop is short (see Figures 4–68 and 4–82). This occurs
quite commonly for subject FJ. In this respect, the voiceless lenes in
the Gräsö dialect (which reflect ON bb, dd, gg, b, d, g and */v, *ð, *)
are quite similar to the Faroese (and Icelandic) lenes, which reflect ON
bb, dd, gg and p, t, k.