A Phonetic Illustration of the Sound System of Icelandic

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Stefon M Flego
Kelly Harper Berkson

Abstract

In this descriptive overview of the sound system of Icelandic, we review the body of phonetic research carried out on the southern variety, linmæli, and report acoustic data obtained from a young male speaker of this dialect. The characteristics of this variety’s sound system which are most often noted include a contrast between plain and aspirated voiceless stops, a typologically uncommon phonation-type contrast between modal and voiceless sonorants, and a large vowel inventory, with length contrasts found in both monophthongs and diphthongs. Phonetic and phonological processes affecting consonants, vowels, and prosody (stress and intonation) are treated in separate subsections, and phonetically transcribed illustrative passage is included.

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