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

clear that ON m, n + p, t, k sequences are reflected with a voiced nasal
and a postaspirated stop. The data on other word-medial fortes are less
conclusive, but it is clear that in the Åland dialect there is a much
stronger tendency for the ON word-medial fortes to be reflected as postaspirated
than in CSw.
In Chapter 4, we have looked at stop production in five different
Nordic language communities. The focus of attention has been on the
production of fortis stops in word-medial position. In Faroese, Icelandic
and the Gräsö dialect we find, as we would expect from the literature,
that such stops tend to be preaspirated, although the exact phonological
conditioning of the preaspiration varies. We also find that the corresponding
lenis stops tend to be voiceless or half-voiced.
The findings for Central Standard Swedish (CSw) are more unexpected.
To be sure, the fact that Swedish speakers tend to preaspirate has
been noted previously (Rositzke 1940, Gobl & Ní Chasaide 1988, Fant et
al. 1991). However, the data show that two of the four CSw speakers use
preaspiration consistently as a phonetic correlate in sequences of a vowel
and a fortis stop. Also, a comparison of the durational data for CSw (see
section 4.2.3.2, Figure 4–8) and Faroese (see section 4.3.2.4, Figure 4–
45) shows that, in terms of the timing relations between glottal and
supralaryngeal gestures, the preaspirating CSw speakers do not differ
greatly from the Faroese speakers.
This is not to say that preaspirations in CSw are as auditorily salient
as in Faroese. As we have seen, Faroese speakers tend to enhance the
preaspiration percept by adding supralaryngeal friction (section 4.3.3).
This tendency is not prominent in the CSw data. It should also be added
that the durational tendencies reported here pertain to unscripted (spontaneous)
speech. It is possible that in other stylistic registers, for example
when reading, CSw speakers may not produce preaspirations to the same
degree as in more casual speech styles. In Faroese speakers, however,
preaspiration is less likely to be affected by speaking style.
From the point of view of temporal organisation, then, the difference
in character between preaspiration in CSw and in Faroese is one of degree
rather than of nature. Also, the preaspirations are perceptually salient
in both languages—although probably more salient in Faroese than
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