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

closure, decay time of the glottal signal preceding closure, and burst intensity
following closure.
The list of acoustic parameters relevant for categorical judgements is
bound to be language dependent, since aspiration and voicing are utilised
in different ways in different languages. As for the languages of Scandinavia
and the North Atlantic, one relevant acoustic parameter is the
amount of (glottal) friction present in the acoustic signal on the boundary
of a vowel and a subsequent stop. Such friction occurs when voice offset
is initiated before oral closure for the stop is achieved, and is perceived
as an h-sound on the vowel–stop boundary. This phenomenon is most
commonly referred to as preaspiration.
The presence of such glottal friction in the production of wordmedial
fortis stops in Central Standard Swedish has been noted by Gobl
& Ní Chasaide (1988) as well as Fant et al. (1991). In this work it is
demonstrated that some speakers of Swedish use this type of early voice
offset, i.e. preaspiration, systematically when producing sequences of
vowel and fortis stop, while others tend not to do so, or only do so to a
limited extent. A similar trend has been noted for Trondheim Norwegian
(Moxness 1997; van Dommelen 1998, 1999, 2000). Importantly, van
Dommelen (1998) demonstrates that speakers who do not preaspirate
themselves are still able to use preaspiration to distinguish between stop
categories in Trondheim Norwegian.
Preaspiration has been “generalised” in several languages and dialects
in Northwestern Europe. The term “generalised” implies that early
voice offset (relative to stop closure) has become normative, i.e. obligatory
in the production of the vowel + fortis stop sequence. This phenomenon
is most widely recognised as a feature of Icelandic, but is in
fact found in Faroese and several dialects of both Norwegian and Swedish,
as well as in Scots Gaelic and most Saami languages. The fact that
such diverse language groups are involved has prompted the classification
of preaspiration in Northwestern Europe as an areal phenomenon
(Wagner 1964).
Several different accounts regarding the origin of preaspiration have
been advanced. In this respect there are two central issues. The first concerns
the age of preaspiration: Is preaspiration a relatively late develop-
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