Phonology of Faroese

Faroese is spoken on the Faroe Islands, an archipelago in the North Atlantic located approximately halfway between Norway and Iceland. The phonology of Faroese is similar to that of the closely related Icelandic language. However, the two languages also exhibit notable differences.

As in Icelandic, Faroese has an aspiration contrast for plosives rather than a voicing contrast. Also, the two languages share front rounded vowels, a large number of diphthongs and qualitative rather than quantitative differences in vowel quality.  The two languages also preserve a contrast between short and long consonants.

However, Faroese lacks the interdental fricatives of Icelandic. As in many varieties of Norwegian, Faroese has a retroflex sibiliant, but Icelandic does not. The alveolar trill of Icelandic is an alveolar approximant in Faroese. In contrast to Icelandic, Faroese has a voiceless alveopalatal affricate.

Faroese phonology is similar to that of Icelandic. The two languages preserve an aspiration contrast for plosives. Differences include the alveolar approximant of Faroese and the lack of interdental fricatives.