Faroese orthography is the method employed to write the
Faroese language
Faroese ( ; ''føroyskt mál'' ) is a North Germanic language spoken as a first language by about 72,000 Faroe Islanders, around 53,000 of whom reside on the Faroe Islands and 23,000 in other areas, mainly Denmark.
It is one of five languages de ...
, using a 29-letter Latin alphabet.
Alphabet
The Faroese
alphabet
An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syll ...
consists of 29 letters derived from the
Latin script
The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...
:
*
Eth
(colloquially)
, former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule
, image = ETHZ.JPG
, image_size =
, established =
, type = Public
, budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021)
, rector = Günther Dissertori
, president = Joël Mesot
, a ...
(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
Saksun is a village near the northwest coast of the Faroese island of Streymoy, in Sunda Municipality.
Geography
Saksun lies in the bottom of what used to be an inlet of the sea, surrounded by high mountains.
The inlet formed a good deep natur ...
.
* 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
Hiatus may refer to:
*Hiatus (anatomy), a natural fissure in a structure
* Hiatus (stratigraphy), a discontinuity in the age of strata in stratigraphy
*''Hiatus'', a genus of picture-winged flies with sole member species '' Hiatus fulvipes''
* Gl ...
between two vowels by inserting a
glide
Glide may refer to:
* Gliding flight, to fly without thrust
Computing
*Glide API, a 3D graphics interface
*Glide OS, a web desktop
*Glide (software), an instant video messenger
*Glide, a molecular docking software by Schrödinger (company), Schrà ...
. 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 participle
In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
s 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 ( ; ''føroyskt mál'' ) is a North Germanic language spoken as a first language by about 72,000 Faroe Islanders, around 53,000 of whom reside on the Faroe Islands and 23,000 in other areas, mainly Denmark.
It is one of five languages de ...
*
Faroese Braille
Faroese Braille is the braille alphabet of the Faroese language. It has the same basic letter assignments as the Scandinavian Braille
Scandinavian Braille is a braille alphabet used, with differences in orthography and punctuation, for the la ...
*
Icelandic orthography
Icelandic orthography is the way in which Icelandic words are spelled and how their spelling corresponds with their pronunciation.
Alphabet
The Icelandic alphabet is a Latin-script alphabet including some letters duplicated with acute accen ...
*
Danish orthography
Danish orthography is the system and norms used for writing the Danish language, including spelling and punctuation.
Officially, the norms are set by the Danish language council through the publication of Retskrivningsordbogen.
Danish curre ...
*
Norwegian orthography
Norwegian orthography is the method of writing the Norwegian language, of which there are two written standards: Bokmål and Nynorsk. While Bokmål has for the most part derived its forms from the written Danish language and Danish-Norwegian ...
References
Bibliography
*
{{refend
Faroese language
Indo-European Latin-script orthographies