A sociophonetic study on preaspiration and sonorant devoicing in Faroese - an understudied subject in an understudied language.

Summary of project. The proposed project aims to provide more information about the phonetics of Faroese. The Faroese language is understudied compared to other languages, and the phonetics of Faroese is much less studied than other linguistic disciplines. Preaspiration and sonorant devoicing are understudied phenomena, both in the Faroese language but also in the world’s languages. The research questions are as follows: 1. Which definition and acoustic method are most fruitful to use when dealing with preaspiration and sonorant devoicing in Faroese? 2. What are the actual realisations of preaspiration and sonorant devoicing in Faroese, and what conditions the realisations of the two phenomena? o In which phonological environments do they occur? o Are preaspiration and sonorant devoicing socially conditioned in Faroese? 3. Should preaspiration and sonorant devoicing be treated as the same or different phenomena? Are they below the level of awareness? To the extent possible, I will use interviews from existing databases as well as conduct my own interviews. I will analyse data from 24 informants from four different dialectal areas, three age groups and evenly distributed across the two genders. An in-depth investigation of the subject is needed within phonetics, phonology and sociolinguistics. Investigating this would not only give us a clearer picture of the nature of preaspiration and sonorant devoicing in Faroese but would also contribute to the general discussion of these phenomena across languages. Also, any information about the phonetics and phonology of the Faroese language is important for speech technology, and more information on the phonetics and phonology of Faroese can also be useful in teaching environments.