Postby Mulder-21 » 2014-04-15, 20:50
The fyrra a vs. seinna a is based on the phoneme the letters represent in native Faroese words, which is /ɛa/, but for a long time <a> has been called [a] in Faroese. I can only explain this as a islandism or a germanism, but it's definitely not an anglicism or a danicism (where the letter is called [ɛ]). From an official standpoint it's recommended to use the fyrra/seinna. Colloquially a is called [a] and æ [ɛa], which maybe is kinda weird when words like hav, far etc. all have <a> as [ɛa].
Gløgt er gestsins eyga. (Føroyskt orðafelli)
Wise is the stranger's eye. (Faroese saying)
L'occhio dell'ospite è acuto. (Proverbio faroico)
Hosťovo oko je múdre. (Faerské uslovie)
Fluent: Faroese, Danish, English, German
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