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

Kökar, in the Åboland archipelago, preaspiration occurs in the villages
on Utö and Jurmo (or Söderjurmo) south of the island of Korpo, and in
the parishes of Hitis and Finby (due east of Kökar). However, Hultman
has no detailed descriptions of the phonological distribution of preaspiration
in these dialects.
Hultman’s comments concerning preaspiration in Kumlinge are supported
by examples given in two word lists compiled in the latter part of
the 19 th century. The lists are reviewed in Sundberg (1993:40ff). The first
of these 1 was compiled in 1873 by a local priest, Jakob Nordqvist. This
list is a compilation of words specific to the Kumlinge dialect. Among
the words Nordqvist noted one can see examples such as skht ‘to
shovel’ and strehk ‘to run.’ The second list 2 was compiled in 1880 by
a Petter Solstrand, a teacher from the neighbouring island of Brändö.
This list pertains mainly to the Brändö dialect, but contains comments on
the dialect of Kumlinge. Among these is the statement that older speakers
of the Kumlinge dialect insert an h into words where Standard
Swedish has none, “for example tohke instead of tokke, foht instead of
fått, smoht instead of smått, fehk instead of fick, etc.” (my translation).
The picture that emerges is that preaspiration was likely more widespread
in earlier times and already in the late 19 th century was losing
ground in the eastern Åland archipelago as well as in the Åboland archipelago.
In terms of the phonological distribution of preaspiration, we can
infer from Karsten’s detailed study that preaspiration in the Kökar dialect
has much in common with the dialects of Härjedalen, especially Vemdalen
and Hede (see section 3.5.1).
3.5.5 Central Standard Swedish (CSw)
Preaspiration in Central Standard Swedish 3 (henceforth CSw) is not
regarded as a normative feature of the dialect. However, as early as 1911
Millardet studied (using a kymograph) what he described as epenthetic
1 Collection SLS 168 of the Finnish ‘Svenska Litteratursällskapet.’
2 Collection SLS 175 of the Finnish ‘Svenska Litteratursällskapet.’
3 Central Standard Swedish is the Standard variety of Swedish spoken in Central
Sweden, including Stockholm.
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