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

work on my part since glosses appear haphazardly in the sources. I encourage
the reader to consult the original before citing the examples
given here.
In transcription I adhere to the current IPA standard with only minor
idiosyncrasies. I should first explain my use of the four-spoked asterisk
before transcribed examples. Transcriptions that reflect actual instances
from my data are simply transcribed within brackets. However, I often
find it useful to give examples using words that do not appear in the data.
Such examples are transcribed using a phonetic standardisation of sorts
for the language in question and the transcription is preceded by a fourspoked
asterisk. The four-spoked asterisk thus makes it clear that an
example is not from the recorded data, and provides a way to distinguish
between attested examples and such “putative” examples. Note, though,
that I apply this distinction only to my own data and not to examples provided
by other authors.
My use of double brackets also bears explanation. When a transcription
is enclosed in double brackets (e.g., vhn or hp), this
indicates that the example in question is being cited from another source,
and that I have not had the opportunity to listen to the data myself. Thus
one may find, for example, that all examples given for the dialects of
Jæren, Gudbrandsdalen, Härjedalen and Kökar are enclosed in double
brackets, since I have no data of my own for these dialects. Through the
use of the four-spoked asterisk and the double brackets, I hope that the
source of the examples given will always be clear.
My use of the IPA tie bar requires some explanation as well. In
my examples, two consecutive vowels are often connected by a tie bar.
The reason for this is that in the vowel systems of some of the dialects
discussed, monophthongs and diphthongs can occur in both VC and VC
syllables. The tie bar provides a way to mark that, even though we are
dealing with a diphthong, it should be regarded as any other vowel in
terms of quantity. Thus in the Icelandic word pair [s] ‘hurry (obl.)’
and [sk] ‘ash’ we have the same difference in quantity as in the pair
[s] ‘to agitate’ and [sk] ‘youth’—the diphthong [] in the latter
word is short.
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