â: a long, deep, diphthongal a-sound, deep a with suggestion of å;
approaches the Færoese diphthong åa. Only found in the isles of Yell
and Unst. — In English (Lowland Scottish) words in Shetland, â is less
diphthongal than in Norn words, and then signifies a deeply-shaded a-sound.
å: somewhat more open than Danish å, but not so open as e.g. the vowel in English “not”.
ɔ: a sound between å and o = the vowel in English “not”,
o (close), almost as in Danish “ost” or northern English “so”. — ô denotes a somewhat deeper, long o-sound, as in English “who”.
u: almost as in Danish “du, nu” = u in English “butcher”.
ø (close), almost as in Danish “rød”, French eu in “creux”. On Westside, especially in Sandness and Aithsting, more close, almost as short y in Danish, e.g. in “kyst, bryst”.
ö: open, almost as in Danish “(ørn) örn” = eu in French “peur”.
ȯ: a sound between o and ø (occas. somewhat more open, between o, and a sound bordering on ø and ö). Nearly = u in English “but”.
ɔ̇: more open than ȯ; approaching ɔ, but with a suspicion of ö.
ꜵ̈: a sound between ä and ȯ.
ʌ: almost — English “u” in e.g. “but”, but pronounced somewhat farther to the back of the tongue (more like a).
ə in a stressed syllable denotes a middle sound between e and ø; is found in various shades and occas. approaches ȯ, especially in the combination “wə”. In an unstressed syllable, esp. in endings such as -ək, -əm, it denotes the semi-sound e, shading towards ø = e in English “butter”.
i, ɩ, e, ɛ, æ, ä, a, å, ɔ, o, u, ø, ö, ȯ, ɔ̇, ꜵ̈, ʌ, ə, denote short vowel-sounds. A long vowel is shown by a line above it (i̇̄, ɩ̄, ē, ɛ̄, ǣ, ā, ɔ̄, ō, ū, ø̄, ȱ, ꜵ̈̄). For typographical reasons, however, a long å is not marked with a line, but is denoted by a doubling of the vowel [åå]. For â and ô see above. — Occas. in order to mark a contrast, an arc is placed above a short vowel, e.g. ă, opposed to ā.
A small superior ə after a (long) vowel denotes that the latter is diphthongal. ə, in this case, is a semi-sound which assumes the character of the preceding vowel — after ē, shading to ø (see above), after ō and ɔ̄, gliding towards å; after ū, shading to ȯ; occas. after i̇̄, and, in that case, almost like an e.
A small superior e or ə before i or ɩ denotes that the vowel is diphthongal by a prefixed e or ə, gliding towards i or ɩ. — An æ after ɛ̄ denotes a diphthongal ɛ̄, ɛ̄ ending in an æ-sound. — ə between two consonants denotes a toneless e, losing its function as a syllable.
A small superior i before d, t, l, n, g, k, when medial or final [e.g. breid, gȯit, gøit, beilg, ag·lȯvain·, aigl], and after one of these consonants when initial [e.g. diēld, gia‘lti, giȯsənd] denotes a weak softening, weaker than in cases where the consonant in question is distinguished by a special phonetic sign. i or ɩ in connection with r is more rarely found; note, e.g. brɩo (bro, vb.) with a weak softening of r. In e.g. “aiᶊu” and “fierdi”, i gives a suspicion of an i-sound, after and before the main-vowel respectively.
