Faeroese Keyboard Layout

Frontype is a virtual on-screen keyboard for fast typing.

Faroese language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Faroese (føroyskt, pronounced [ˈføːɹɪst] or [ˈføːɹɪʂt]), often also spelled Faeroese (cf. Merriam-Webster, which prefers this spelling), is a West Nordic or West Scandinavian language spoken by 48,000 people in the Faroe Islands and about 12,000 Faroese in Denmark. It is one of three insular Scandinavian languages descended from the Old Norse language spoken in Scandinavia in the Viking Age, the others being Icelandic and the extinct Norn, which is thought to have been mutually intelligible with Faroese.

Alphabet

The Faroese alphabet consists of 29 letters derived from the Latin alphabet:

Notes:

• Ð, ð can never come at the beginning of a word, but can occur in capital letters in logos or on maps, such as SUÐUROY (Southern Isle).
• Ø, ø can also be written Ö, ö in poetic language, such as Föroyar (the Faroes) (cf. Swedish-Icelandic typographic/orthographic tradition vs. Norwegian-Danish). In handwriting Ő, ő is used to differentiate ø from ö. Earlier versions of the orthography used both ø and ö with ø being the long ø and ö being the short equivalent. As a result using ö as a substitute for ø is incorrect, since it’s not the same letter as ø/ő.
• Common family names on the Faroes are e.g. Joensen, Johansen, Dam, Dalsgarð or the Christian name Johannis.
• While C, Q, W, X, and Z are not found in the Faroese language, X was known in earlier versions of Hammershaimbs orthography, such as Saxun for Saksun.
• While the Faroese keyboard layout allows one to write in Latin, English, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, etc., the Old Norse and Modern Icelandic letter þ is missing. In related Faroese words it is written as <t> or as <h>, and if an Icelandic name has to be transcribed, <th> is common.

Phonology

As in various other Germanic languages, stressed vowels in Faroese are long when not followed by two or more consonants. Two consonants or a consonant cluster usually indicates a short vowel. Exceptions may be short vowels in particles, pronouns, adverbs, and prepositions in unstressed positions, consisting of just one syllable.

As may be seen on the table to the left, Faroese (like English) has a very atypical pronunciation of its vowels, with odd offglides and other features. For example, long í and ý sound almost like a long Hiberno-English i, and long ó like an American English long o.