Faroese orthography

Faroese orthography is the method employed to write the Faroese language, using a 29-letter Latin alphabet, although it does not include the letters C, Q, W, X and Z, in keyboard, it includes C, Q, W, X and Z.

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

This section lists Faroese letters and letter combinations and their phonemic representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Faroese vowels may be either long or short, but this distinction is only relevant in stressed syllables: the only unstressed vowels (at least in native words) are [a, ɪ, ʊ]. The vowel length is determined by the number of consonants that follow the vowel: if there is only one consonant (i.e., CVCV or CVC# syllable structure), the vowel is long; if there are more than one (CVCCV), counting geminates and pre-aspirated stops as CC, the vowel is short. In addition to long monophthongs, Faroese also has diphthongs, which are always long. There are, however, some exceptions to the vowel length rule:

Faroese avoids having a hiatus between two vowels by inserting a glide. Orthographically, this is shown in three ways:

Typically, the first vowel is long and in words with two syllables always stressed, while the second vowel is short and unstressed. In Faroese, short and unstressed vowels can only be /a, i, u/.

The value of the glide is determined by the surrounding vowels: