Faroese alphabet

Faroese orthography is the method employed to write the Faroese language, using a 29-letter Latin alphabet.

Alphabet

The Faroese alphabet consists of 29 letters derived from the Latin script:

* Eth (Faroese ') never appears at the beginning of a word, which means its majuscule form rarely occurs except in situations where all-capital letters are used, such as on maps.
* can also be written in poetic language, such as ' ('the Faroes'). This has to do with different orthographic traditions (Danish-Norwegian for and Icelandic for ). Originally, both forms were used, depending on the historical form of the word; was used when the vowel resulted from I-mutation of while was used when the vowel resulted from U-mutation of . In handwriting, is sometimes used.
* While , , , , and are not found in the Faroese language, was known in earlier versions of Hammershaimb's orthography, such as for Saksun.
* While the Faroese keyboard layout allows one to write in Latin, English, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, etc., the Old Norse and Modern Icelandic letter is missing. In related Faroese words, it is written as either or . If an Icelandic name has to be transcribed, is common.

Spelling system

Glide insertion

Faroese avoids having a hiatus between two vowels by inserting a glide. Orthographically, this is shown in three ways:
# vowel + ð + vowel
# vowel + g + vowel
# vowel + vowel

Typically, the first vowel is long and in words with two syllables always stressed, while the second vowel is short and unstressed. In Faroese, short unstressed vowels can only be .

The value of the glide is determined by the surrounding vowels:
#
#* "I-surrounding, type 1" – after : ' (to wait), ' (dead), ' (sheep)
#* "I-surrounding, type 2" – between any vowel (except "u-vowels" ) and : ' (ballad), ' (rage).
#
#* "U-surrounding, type 1" – after : ' (Odin), ' (good morning!), ' (south), ' (to make a trace).
#
#* "U-surrounding, type 2" – between and : ' (before), ' (leather), ' (in clothes), ' (in newspapers).
#* "A-surrounding, type 2"
#** These are exceptions (''there is also a regular pronunciation''): ' (eider-duck).
#** The past participles always have : ' (beloved, ''nom., acc. fem. pl.'')
# ''Silent''
#* "A-surrounding, type 1" – between and and in some words between and : ' (to advise), ' (to gladden, please), ' (to forebode), ' (to chant), ' (to make a speech)

See also

* Faroese language
* Faroese Braille
* Icelandic orthography
* Danish orthography
* Norwegian orthography

References

Bibliography

*
{{refend

Faroese language
Indo-European Latin-script orthographies