Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1961, Page 109

ICELANDIC DIALECTOLOGY: METHODS AND RESULTS
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Scandinavia, in South and South-West Norway, in Denmark, and
parts of the west coast of Sweden; the diphthongization of original
long vowels is, in its details, most similar to the development in West
Norwegian dialects, and so on. It has been a matter of dispute, to
what extent such similarities in development are due to Norwegian
influence on Icelandic—in many cases it can be shown that the
changes in question were earlier in Norwegian—or whether they are
due to independent, parallel development.90 In some cases the
chronological difference seems too great; the Norwegian change of
hv- to kv-, e. g., took place in the fourteenth century,01 whereas, in
Icelandic, there is no certain evidence of the corresponding change
until the latter half of the eighteenth century.
There can be no doubt that the main responsibility for the uni-
formity of the language, as well as for its relative historical stability,
rests with the social conditions in Iceland during the past ages. It
has been maintained that these characteristics are due to the influence
of the widespread literacy of the people and to the old literature,
which has been much read and copied during the ages.92 However,
this factor, taken alone, seems to be more likely to be, to some extent,
responsible for the historical stability than for the uniformity of the
language; in fact, the only important changes which have taken place
are in phonology, especially the vowels, whereas the inflectional syst-
em has remained relatively stable; this could possibly be, to a certain
extent, the result of literary influence. But for the present uniformity
90 See Bj. K. Þórólfsson, “Review of J. L. L. Jóhannsson, Nokkrar sögulegar
atliuganir (Reykjavík 1924),” Arkiv jör nordisk jilologi XLII (1926), pp. 77—
81; J. L. L. Jóhannsson, “Svar,” ibid., pp. 276—280.
91 Seip, “Om utviklingen av hv ...,” p. 189.
9" This view was advanced as early as 1866 by Jón Sigurðsson; see HiS ís-
lenzlca bókmentafélag; stojnan jélagsins og athafnir um fyrstu jimmtíu árin
1816—1866 (Copenhagen 1867), p. 7. About literacy in Iceland, see E. O.
Sveinsson, “Lestrarkunnálta Islendinga í fornöld,” Skírnir CXVIII (1944), pp.
173—197; “Las- och skrivkunnighet pa Island under fristatstiden,” Scripta Is-
landica VII (1956), pp. 5—20.