# Faroese language

Faroese (/ˌfɛəroʊˈiːz, ˌfær-/ FAIR-oh-EEZ, FARR-; endonym: føroyskt) is a North Germanic language spoken as a first language by about 69,000 Faroe Islanders, of whom 21,000 reside mainly in Denmark and elsewhere.
It is one of five languages descended from Old West Norse spoken in the Middle Ages; the others include Norwegian, Icelandic, and the extinct Norn and Greenlandic Norse. Faroese and Icelandic, its closest extant relative, are not easily mutually intelligible in speech, but the written languages resemble each other quite closely, largely owing to Faroese's etymological orthography.

## History

Proto-Germanic
East Germanic languages
West Germanic languages
Proto-Norse →
Old Norse
Old West Norse
Icelandic
Faroese
Norwegian
Old East Norse
Danish
Swedish :
Around 900 AD, the language spoken in the Faroes was Old Norse, which Norse settlers had brought with them during the time of the settlement of Faroe Islands (landnám) that began in 825. However, many of the settlers were not from Scandinavia, but descendants of Norse settlers in the Irish Sea region. In addition, women from Norse Ireland, Orkney, or Shetland often married native Scandinavian men before settling in the Faroe Islands and Iceland. As a result, the Irish language has had some influence on both Faroese and Icelandic.
There is speculation about Irish language place names in the Faroes: for example, the names of Mykines, Stóra Dímun, Lítla Dímun and Argir have been hypothesized to contain Celtic roots. Other examples of early-introduced words of Celtic origin are: blak/blaðak (buttermilk), cf. Middle Irish bláthach; drunnur (tail-piece of an animal), cf. Middle Irish dronn; grúkur (head, headhair), cf. Middle Irish gruaig; lámur (hand, paw), cf. Middle Irish lámh; tarvur (bull), cf. Middle Irish tarbh; and ærgi (pasture in the outfield), cf. Middle Irish áirge.
Between the 9th and the 15th centuries, a distinct Faroese language evolved, although it was probably still mutually intelligible with Old West Norse, and remained similar to the Norn language of Orkney and Shetland during Norn's earlier phase.
Faroese ceased to be a written language after the Danish–Norwegian Reformation of the early 16th century, with Danish replacing Faroese as the language of administration and education. The islanders continued to use the language in ballads, folktales, and everyday life. This maintained a rich spoken tradition, but for 300 years the language was not used in written form.
In 1823, the Danish Bible Society published a diglot of the Gospel of Matthew, with Faroese on the left and Danish on the right.
Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb and the Icelandic grammarian and politician Jón Sigurðsson published a written standard for Modern Faroese in 1854, which still exists. They set a standard for the orthography of the language, based on its Old Norse roots and similar to that of Icelandic. The main purpose of this was for the spelling to represent the diverse dialects of Faroese in equal measure. Additionally, it had the advantages of being etymologically clear and keeping the kinship with the Icelandic written language. The actual pronunciation, however, often differs considerably from the written rendering. The letter ð, for example, has no specific phoneme attached to it.
Jakob Jakobsen devised a rival system of orthography, based on his wish for a phonetic spelling, but this system was never taken up by the speakers.
In 1908, Scripture Gift Mission published the Gospel of John in Faroese.
In 1937, Faroese replaced Danish as the official school language, in 1938, as the church language, and in 1948, as the national language by the Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands. The first complete translation of the Bible was completed in 1948.
Up until the 1980s public radio broadcasts were primarily conducted in Norwegian and Danish. This helps to explain why older generations can speak Norwegian in addition to Danish and Faroese. Faroese broadcasts quickly replaced earlier programs and now all radio content is transmitted in the language, alongside all local newspapers. Today, Danish is considered a foreign language, although around 5% of residents on the Faroes learn it as a first language. Both Danish and English are obligatory at the primary and secondary school levels, with fluency in English becoming increasingly valued particularly among the younger generations. Films and television are frequently shown in English with Danish subtitles.
In 2017, the tourist board Visit Faroe Islands launched a website entitled Faroe Islands Translate. Text can be entered in thirteen languages, including English, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Instead of an instant machine translation being given, the text goes to a volunteer who will provide a live video translation, or else a recorded one later. The aim of this project was to get Faroese featured on Google Translate.

## Old Faroese

Old Faroese (miðaldarføroyskt, ca. mid-14th to mid-16th centuries) is a form of Old Norse spoken in medieval times in the Faroe Islands. The most crucial aspects of the development of Faroese are diphthongisation and palatalisation.
There is not enough data available to establish an accurate chronology of Faroese, but a rough one may be developed through comparison to the chronologies of Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian. In the 12th/13th centuries, á and ǫ́ merged as /ɔː/; later on at the beginning of the 14th century, delabialization took place: y, øy, au > /i, ɔi, ɛi/; í and ý merged in addition to i and y, but in the case of í and ý, it appears that labialisation took place instead as is documented by later development to /ʊi/. Further, the language underwent a palatalisation of k, g and sk before Old Norse e, i, y, ø, au > /kʲ, ɡʲ, skʲ/ > /cᶜ̧, ɟᶨ, ɕcᶜ̧/ > /tʃʰ, tʃ, ʃ/. Before the palatalisation é and ǽ merged as /ɛː/ and approximately in the same period epenthetic u is inserted into word-final /Cr/ and /CrC/ clusters.
A massive quantity shift also operated in Middle Faroese. In the case of skerping, it took place after delabialization but before loss of post-vocalic ð and g /ɣ/. The shift of hv /hw/ to /kw/, the deletion of /h/ in (remaining) word-initial /h/–sonorant clusters (hr, hl, hn > r, l, n), and the dissolution of þ (þ > t; þ > h in demonstrative pronouns and adverbs) appeared before the end of the 13th century. Another undated change is the merger of ǫ, ø and ǿ into /ø/; pre-nasal ǫ, ǫ́ > o, ó. enk, eng probably became eing, eink in the 14th century; the development of a to /ɛ/ before ng, nk appeared after the palatalisation of k, g, and sk had been completed, such a change is quite a recent development, as well as change Cve > Cvø.
Development of vowels from Old Norse to Modern Faroese :
| 9th century (Old Norse) | 9th century (Old Norse) | 9th century (Old Norse) | 9th century (Old Norse) | up to 14th century (Early Faroese) | 14th–16th centuries (Old Faroese) | 14th–16th centuries (Old Faroese) | 17th century (Late Old Faroese) | 17th century (Late Old Faroese) | 17th century (Late Old Faroese) | 17th century (Late Old Faroese) | 20th century (New Faroese) | 20th century (New Faroese) | 20th century (New Faroese) | 20th century (New Faroese) | |
| | | | | | North | South | North | North | South | South | North | North | South | South | |
| | | | | | North | South | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | short | |
| i and y | i and y | i and y | i and y | /i/ | /iː/ | /iː/ | /iː/ | /ɪ/ | /iː/ | /ɪ/ | [iː] | [ɪ] | [iː] | [ɪ] | i, y |
| e and æ | e and æ | e and æ | e and æ | /e/ | /eː/ | /eː/ | /eː/ | /ɛ/ | /e/ | /ɛ/ | [eː] | [ɛ] | [eː] | [ɛ] | e |
| ø | ø | ø | ø | /ø/ | /øː/ | /ø/ | /øː/ | /œ/ | /øː/ | /œ/ | [øː] | [œ] | [øː] | [ʏ] | ø |
| ǫ | ǫ | ǫ | ǫ | /ɔ͔/ | /ɔ͔ː/ | /ɔ͔ː/ | /øː/ | /œ/ | /øː/ | /œ/ | [øː] | [œ] | [øː] | [ʏ] | ø |
| u | u | u | u | /u/ | /uː/ | /uː/ | /uː/ | /ʊ/ | /uː/ | /ʊ/ | [uː] | [ʊ] | [uː] | [ʊ] | u |
| o | o | o | o | /o/ | /oː/ | /o/ | /oː/ | /ɔ/ | /oː/ | /ɔ/ | [oː] | [ɔ] | [oː] | [ɔ] | o |
| a | a | a | a | /a/ | /ɛː/ | /ɛː/ | /ɛː/ | /æ/ | /ɛː/ | /æ/ | [ɛa] | [a] | [ɛa] | [a] | a |
| Long vowel -> Diphthong ||||||||||||||||
| í and ý | í and ý | í and ý | í and ý | /yː/ | /ʊi/ | /ʊi/ | /ʊi/ | /ʊi/ | /ʊi/ | /ʊi/ | [ui] | [ʊi] | [ui] | [ʊi] | í, ý |
| é and ǽ | é and ǽ | é and ǽ | é and ǽ | /ɛː/ | /ɛː/ | /eː/ | /ɛəː/ | /ɛə/ | /eː/ | /ɛ/ | [ɛa] | [a] | [eː] | [ɛ] | æ |
| ǿ | ǿ | ǿ | ǿ | /œː/ | /œː/ | /œː/ | /øː/ | /œ/ | /øː/ | /œ/ | [øː] | [œ] | [øː] | [ʏ] | ø |
| ú | ú | ú | ú | /uː/ | /ʉu/ | /ʉu/ | /ʉu/ | /ʉʏ/ | /ʉu/ | /ʉʏ/ | [ʉu] | [ʏ] | [ʉu] | [ʏ] | ú |
| ó | ó | ó | ó | /oː/ | /ɜu/ | /ɔu/ | /ɜu/ | /ɜ/ | /ɔu/ | /ɔ/ | [œu, ɛu] | [œ] | [ɔu] | [ɔ] | ó |
| á and ǫ́ | á and ǫ́ | á and ǫ́ | á and ǫ́ | /ɔː/ | /ɔː/ | /ɔː/ | /ɔː/ | /ɔ/ | /ɔː/ | /ɔ/ | [ɔa] | [ɔ] | [ɔa] | [ɔ] | á |
| True diphthongs ||||||||||||||||
| au | au | au | au | /ɶu/ | /ɛi/ | /ɛi/ | /ɛi/ | /ɛi/ | /ɛi/ | /ɛi/ | [ɛi] | [ɛ] | [ɛi] | [ɛ] | ey |
| øy | øy | øy | øy | /œy/ | /ɔi/ | /ɔi/ | /ɔi/ | /ɔi/ | /ɔi/ | /ɔi/ | [ɔi] | [ɔ] | [ɔi] | [ɔ] | oy |
| ei | ei | ei | ei | /æi/ | /ai/ | /ai/ | /ai/ | /ai/ | /ai/ | /ai/ | [ɔi] | [ɔ] | [ai] | [ai] | ei |

## Dialects

Faroese is a highly variable language with many dialects actively used across the islands’ approximately 120 communities. While the dialect of Tórshavn is the most prominent due to the city's outstanding size, there is no official spoken standard variety, and little evidence that the Tórshavn dialect has developed prestige status. Faroese speech communities are tightly knit and the use of dialectal speech is widely encouraged.
The study of Faroese dialectology began hundreds of years ago, with the scholar Lucas Debes noting a north–south distinction as early as 1673. In the 18th century linguist Jens Christian Svabo made further distinctions, such as identifying the Tórshavn dialect, though his categorization lacked thorough justification. In 1891 Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb would write a more definitive study of the language's variation, noting distinguishing characteristics of the north–south divide such as the northern aspiration of unvoiced plosives after long vowels and the pronunciation of ⟨ó⟩ as /œ/ in most of the north compared to /ɔ/ in the south.
The most recent and detailed classification by Hjalmar P. Petersen divides the language into four major varieties including North-Western Faroese, Central Faroese, Northern Faroese, and Southern Faroese. Additional sub-dialects of particular islands and villages have also been identified. Most of the analysis by Petersen and earlier authors is based on phonological evidence.
The southern variety of Faroese is very distinct, possibly due to geographic distance exacerbated by the lack of underwater tunnels which have connected most other islands north of Sandur. The dialect of these islands is characterized by a unique form of certain personal pronouns, alongside phonological features such as the intervocalic voicing of non-geminate stops. The fortis consonants /p/, /t/, and /k/ are aspirated following long vowels.
The central dialect area centered around Suðurstreymoy features a merging of ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ in unstressed ending syllables. The fortis consonants are neither aspirated nor weakened. The island of Nólsoy is a notable transitional area due to its unique realization of long ⟨ó⟩ as [au:] and short ⟨ó⟩ as [ɔ] compared to the [ɔu:] and [œ] found in Tórshavn and elsewhere.
The northern dialect is characterized by weakened fortis consonants and a monophthongal pronunciation of ⟨á⟩ in ending syllables, i.e., /aː/. The realization of ⟨ei⟩ as [ɔi:] dominates in this region, although small parts of the central and northwestern regions use this pronunciation as well.
The northwestern dialect features aspirated fortis consonants after long vowels. The ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ vowels remain unmerged in unstressed ending syllables. Long ⟨ó⟩ is pronounced [ɔu] and short ⟨ó⟩ is pronounced [œ].

## Alphabet

The Faroese alphabet consists of 29 letters derived from the Latin script:
Majuscule forms (also called uppercase or capital letters) :
| A | Á | B | D | Ð | E | F | G | H | I | Í | J | K | L | M | N | O | Ó | P | R | S | T | U | Ú | V | Y | Ý | Æ | Ø |
| Minuscule forms (also called lowercase or small letters) |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | á | b | d | ð | e | f | g | h | i | í | j | k | l | m | n | o | ó | p | r | s | t | u | ú | v | y | ý | æ | ø |

## Phonology

Faroese vowels :
| | Front | Front | Front | Front | Central | Central | Back | Back |
| | unrounded | unrounded | rounded | rounded | | Central | Central | Back | Back |
| | short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long |
| Close | ɪ | iː | ʏ | yː | | | ʊ | uː |
| Mid | ɛ | eː | œ | øː | | | ɔ | oː |
| Open | | | | | a | aː | | |
As with most other Germanic languages, Faroese has a large number of vowels, with 26 in total. Vowel distribution is similar to other North Germanic languages in that short vowels appear in closed syllables (those ending in consonant clusters or long consonants) and long vowels appearing in open syllables.
Faroese vowel alternations :
| Monophthongs |||||||
| Long vowel | Long vowel | Long vowel | Long vowel | Short vowel | Short vowel | Short vowel |
| /i/ | linur | [ˈliːnʊɹ] | 'soft' | lint | [lɪn̥t] | 'soft (N.)' |
| /e/ | frekur | [ˈfɹeː(ʰ)kʊɹ] | 'greedy' | frekt | [fɹɛʰkt] | 'greedy (N.)' |
| /y/ | mytisk | [ˈmyːtɪsk] | 'mythological' | mystisk | [ˈmʏstɪsk] | 'mysterious' |
| /ø/ | høgur | [ˈhøːʋʊɹ~ˈhøœʋʊɹ] | 'high (M.)' | høgt | [hœkt] | 'high (N.)' |
| /u/ | gulur | [ˈkuːlʊɹ] | 'yellow' | gult | [kʊl̥t] | 'yellow (N.)' |
| /o/ | tola | [ˈtʰoːla] | 'to endure' | toldi | [ˈtʰɔltɪ] | 'endured' |
| /a/ | Kanada | [ˈkʰaːnata] | 'Canada' | land | [lant] | 'land' |
| Diphthongs |||||||
| Long vowel | Long vowel | Long vowel | Long vowel | Short vowel | Short vowel | Short vowel |
| /ʊi/ | hvítur | [ˈkvʊiːtʊɹ] | 'white (M.)' | hvítt | [kvʊiʰtː] | 'white (N.)' |
| /ɛi/ | deyður | [ˈteiːjʊɹ] | 'dead (M.)' | deytt | [tɛʰtː] | 'dead (N.)' |
| /ai/ | feitur | [ˈfaiːtʊɹ] | 'fat (M.)' | feitt | [faiʰtː~fɔiʰtː] | 'fat (N.)' |
| /ɔi/ | gloyma | [ˈklɔiːma] | 'to forget' | gloymdi | [ˈklɔimtɪ] | 'forgot' |
| /ɛa/ | spakur | [ˈspɛaː(ʰ)kʊɹ] | 'calm (M.)' | spakt | [spakt] | 'calm (N.)' |
| /ɔa/ | vátur | [ˈvɔaːtʊɹ] | 'wet (M.)' | vátt | [vɔʰtː] | 'wet (N.)' |
| /ʉu/ | fúlur | [ˈfʉuːlʊɹ] | 'foul (M.)' | fúlt | [fʏl̥t] | 'foul (N.)' |
| /ɔu/ | tómur | [ˈtʰɔuːmʊɹ~ˈtʰœuːmʊɹ] | 'empty (M.)' | tómt | [tʰœm̥t~tʰɔm̥t] | 'empty (N.)' |
Faroese shares with Icelandic and Danish the feature of maintaining a contrast between stops based exclusively on aspiration, not voicing. Geminated stops may be pre-aspirated in intervocalic and word-final position. Intervocalically the aspirated consonants become pre-aspirated unless followed by a closed vowel. In clusters, the preaspiration merges with a preceding nasal or apical approximant, rendering them voiceless.
Faroese consonants :
| | | Labial | Labial | Alveolar | Alveolar | Retroflex | Retroflex | Palatal | Palatal | Velar | Velar | Glottal |
| | | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m̥ | m | n̥ | n | (ɳ̊) | (ɳ) | ɲ̊ | ɲ | ŋ̊ | ŋ | |
| Stop | plain | p | | t | | (ʈ) | | tʃ | | k | | |
| Stop | aspirated | pʰ | | tʰ | | | | tʃʰ | | kʰ | | |
| Fricative | central | f | v | s | | (ʂ) | | ʃ | | | | h |
| Fricative | lateral | | | ɬ | | | | | | | | |
| Approximant | central | | | | ɹ | | (ɻ) | | j | | w | |
| Approximant | lateral | | | | l | | (ɭ) | | | | | |
There are several phonological processes involved in Faroese, including:
* Nasals generally assume the place of articulation and laryngeal settings of following consonants.
* Velar stops palatalize to postalveolar affricates before /j/ /eː/ /ɛ/ /iː/ /ɪ/ and /ɛi/
* /v/ becomes [f] before voiceless consonants
* /sk/ becomes [ʃ] after /ɛi, ai, ɔi/ and before /j/
* /ɹ/ becomes retroflex before consonants in consonant clusters, yielding the allophones [ʂ ɭ ʈ ɳ] while /ɹ/ itself becomes [ɻ], example: /rt/ is realized as [ɻ̊ʈ].
* Pre-occlusion of original /ll/ to [tl] and /nn/ to [tn].
* Pre-aspiration of original voiceless stops [ʰp ʰt ʰk ʰtʃ] after non-high long vowels and diphthongs /ɛaː/ /ɔaː/ /eː/ /oː/ /øː/ or when a voiceless stop is followed by /n, l, r/. All long voiceless stops are pre-aspirated when doubled or in clusters [ʰpː ʰtː ʰkː ʰtʃː].

## Grammar

Faroese grammar is related and very similar to that of modern Icelandic and Old Norse. Faroese is an inflected language with three grammatical genders and four cases: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive.
Faroese Words and Phrases in comparison to other Germanic languages :
| Faroese | Icelandic | Norwegian (nynorsk) | Norwegian (bokmål) | Danish | Swedish | German | Dutch | West Frisian | English |
| Vælkomin | Velkomin | Velkomen | Velkommen | Velkommen | Välkommen | Willkommen | Welkom | Wolkom | Welcome |
| Farvæl | Far vel; Farðu heill | Farvel, Far vel | Farvel | Farvel | Farväl | Lebwohl | Vaarwel | Farwol | Farewell |
| Hvussu eitur tú? | Hvað heitir þú? | Kva (kvat) heiter du? | Hva heter du? | Hvad hedder du? | Vad heter du? | Wie heißt du? | Hoe heet je? | Hoe hjitsto? | What is your name? |
| Hvussu gongur? | Hvernig gengur? | Korleis gjeng / går det? | Hvordan går det? | Hvordan går det? | Hur går det? | Wie geht's? | Hoe gaat het? | Hoe giet it? | How is it going? (How goes it?) |
| Hvussu gamal (m) / gomul (f) ert tú? | Hversu gamall (m) / gömul (f) ert þú? | Kor gamal er du? | Hvor gammel er du? | Hvor gammel er du? | Hur gammal är du? | Wie alt bist du? | Hoe oud ben je? | Hoe âld bisto? | How old are you? |
| Reyður / reyð / reytt | Rauður / rauð / rautt | Raud(t) | Rød(t) | Rød(t) | Rött / Röd | Rot | Rood / Rode | Read(e) | Red |
| Bláur / blá / blátt | Blár / blá / blátt | Blå(tt) | Blå(tt) | Blå(t) | Blå(tt) | Blau | Blauw(e) | Blau(e) | Blue |
| Hvítur / hvít / hvítt | Hvítur / hvít / hvítt | Kvit(t) | Hvit(t) | Hvid(t) | Vit(t) | Weiß | Wit(te) | Wyt / wite | White |