Preaspiration in the Nordic Languages: Synchronic and Diachronic ...
Preaspiration in the Nordic Languages: Synchronic and Diachronic ...
Preaspiration in the Nordic Languages: Synchronic and Diachronic ...
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whe<strong>the</strong>r she th<strong>in</strong>ks that leav<strong>in</strong>g out preaspiration <strong>in</strong> VC syllables <strong>in</strong><br />
Trønder Norwegian leads to a pronunciation that Trønder speakers would<br />
consider “un-Trønderish.” Thus as far as <strong>the</strong> Trønder dialect is concerned,<br />
this question is left open.<br />
3.4.4 Senja<br />
In his account of <strong>the</strong> dialect spoken on <strong>the</strong> isl<strong>and</strong> Senja, which lies to<br />
<strong>the</strong> southwest of Tromsø <strong>in</strong> Nor<strong>the</strong>rn Norway, Iversen (1913) describes<br />
what appears to be preaspiration. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Iversen (ibid:8), an<br />
h-sound occurs before stops, especially “k(k)” <strong>in</strong> words like tahkk<br />
‘thanks.’ He also comments that this is especially noticeable <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
speech of children. Later, Iversen (ibid:24f) gives an impressionistic<br />
account of <strong>the</strong> way <strong>in</strong> which stress is realised before voiceless stops.<br />
What he describes seems to be preaspiration:<br />
The Senja dialect differs from <strong>the</strong> neighbour<strong>in</strong>g dialects <strong>in</strong> this<br />
respect, <strong>in</strong> that it can place <strong>the</strong> syllable peak <strong>in</strong> a voiced aspirate or<br />
even <strong>in</strong> — or more strictly speak<strong>in</strong>g: immediately before — a<br />
voiceless plosive.<br />
(Iversen, 1913: 24–5; my translation)<br />
Iversen claims that <strong>the</strong>re is ano<strong>the</strong>r type of realisation found only <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> speech of <strong>the</strong> “older generation”:<br />
[…] <strong>in</strong> a word like bak`ken <strong>the</strong> syllable-accent can actually have two<br />
peaks, such that first <strong>the</strong>re is a rise <strong>in</strong> stress to a place <strong>in</strong>side <strong>the</strong> a,<br />
followed by a decrease <strong>in</strong> expiration strength, concomitant with a<br />
voiceless vowel glide; <strong>the</strong>n aga<strong>in</strong> an <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> air stream, as a<br />
rule with a postaspirated k […]<br />
(Iversen, 1913: 25; my translation)<br />
While it is difficult to know to what degree this impressionistic<br />
portrayal is reliable, it does seem that what Iversen is describ<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> this<br />
account of how stress is realised is a stop that is both preaspirated <strong>and</strong><br />
postaspirated simultaneously. Data from one of <strong>the</strong> Ål<strong>and</strong> dialect subjects<br />
(reviewed <strong>in</strong> Ch. 4, section 4.5.3.6) show that this type of realisation<br />
is possible.<br />
Beyond this, <strong>the</strong>re is no first-h<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>formation on preaspiration <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
Senja dialect. And s<strong>in</strong>ce Iversen’s comments give no clear <strong>in</strong>dication that<br />
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