Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1961, Side 105

ICELANDIC dialectology: methods and results
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spread from the North. On the basis of the earliest documents pre-
served, it has been maintained that the changes underlying at least
some of the present dialect differences, as well as some of the changes
which have spread throughout the country, originated in the North
or the West. This applies, e. g., besides the two diphthongizations
already mentioned,80 to the diphthongization before [ij],81 the
changes of rl, rn, as well as of ll and nn (only after long vowels) to
dl, dn,82 and to the unrounding of y.83 The difficulty in this matter
is that of the earliest documents a disproportionate majority is from
the North, so that innovations are most likely to be exemplified there.
But, on the other hand, the historical and cultural importance of the
North has long been recognized, especially of its w'estern part, with
one of the country’s two episcopal residences (Hólar), three out of
six monasteries, and one out of two convents.84
X
In the preceding exposition it has become apparent that dialect
differences in present-day Icelandic are much less numerous and less
important than one would be inclined to expect, given the external
conditions of linguistic development in Iceland. If we subtract, on
the one hand, the 70 to 75% of uninhabited, and for the most part
uninhabitable, areas, mainly in the centre, from the total square area,
and on the other hand, the number of inhabitants in towns and
villages from the total population at present, we are left with a
density of population of ordy a little over three per square mile. And
80 See J. L. L. Jóhannsson, Noklcrar sögulegar athuganir um helztu hljóð-
brcytingar o. jl. í íslenzku, einkum í miðaldarmálinu (Reykjavík 1924), pp. 17
—19 and 45.
81 Ibid., pp. 23f.
82 Ibid., pp. 78—83.
83 lbid., pp. 127f.; Þórólfsson, “Nokkur orð ..pp. 241—243.
84 See, e. g., J. Helgason, “Om ordet ‘gud’ i islandskan,” Studier tillagnade
Axel Kock (Supplement to Arkiv för nordisk filologi XLIV; Lund 1929), p. 451.