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

in VC syllables in their speech, just like in the Southern Icelandic dialect
(cf. preceding section).
Now, let us turn to preaspiration in clusters. ON postvocalic p, t, k +
n as well as tl are reflected as preaspirated clusters in Faroese, and they
always yield VCC syllables: e.g., [vh] vatn ‘water’ and [shkn]
sakna ‘to miss’ and [h] ætla ‘to intend to.’
However, a vowel followed by p, k + l yields a VC syllable in Faroese;
this applies to p, t, k + r, j, v as well. Whether or not these clusters
are preaspirated seems to depend on the same factors as for the intervocalic
stops in VC syllables (in, e.g., eta ‘to eat’) discussed above.
Speakers who do not preaspirate intervocalic stops in VC syllables (like
EI and MS) produce these clusters without preaspiration, for example:
[pl] epli ‘potato, apple’ [pe] betri ‘better’ and [flø] fløkju ‘tangle
(obl.)’ Speakers who do preaspirate intervocalic stops in VC syllables,
according to the pattern discussed earlier (like SG and BJ) do so also in
clusters. Thus, for SG and BJ we find [elh] skellilátri ‘roaring
laughter’ and [fløh] fløkju ‘tangle.’
In the speech of all four subjects, ON x/ks is usually reflected as
either [hks] or [xs], and the syllable always has a VCC structure. For example,
we find [shksn] sekstan ‘sixteen’ (subject MS), [vxslbu]
vekslibúð ‘exchange bureau’ (EI), [hks] akstur ‘driving’ (BJ),
[shks] seks ‘six’ and [buxsnæ] buksurnar ‘the trousers’ (SG).
The same is true for the clusters kt and pt. All subjects tend to
produce either [hk] / [hp] or sequences of [x] / [f]. Thus we find, for
example, [hp] keypt ‘bought’ (MS), [vhxkn] vektreglurnar
‘weight rules’ (EI), [luhk] lukta ‘smell’ (BJ) and [fhks] faktiskt
‘actually’ (SG).
Let us now summarise the facts regarding the phonological distribution
of preaspiration for these four speakers of Tórshavn Faroese. For
two of the speakers (EI and MS), only the syllable type is relevant for describing
the distribution. Reflexes of ON p, t, k / pp, tt, kk are only preaspirated
when they occur in VC or VCC syllables, e.g., [kh]
køttur ‘cat,’ [ph] botn ‘bottom’ and [vhks] vaksa ‘grow.’ When
they occur in VC or VCC syllables, there is no preaspiration, e.g.
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