Gripla - 01.01.1977, Page 161

MODERN ICELANDIC U-UMLAUT
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the fagur type is enhanced by the circumstance that they display the
alternation vowel—0 in the unaccented syllable.
The less certain instances of Initial umlaut are nouns in -naður,
-uður, -ari, -un, -an; adjectives in -aður and -astur; verbal forms such
as pret. pl. kölluð- of kalla ‘call’.
The nouns in -naður are all masculine and derived. Being preponder-
antly abstract in meaning, they occur mostly in the singular only. A
list of those that are used in the plural as well, together with their dative
plural, their only case displaying reflexes of u-umlaut, is given sub (6),
q.v. If these lexical items are analyzed as containing an -að-final stem
(e.g. fatnað-) followed by the case markers, their respective dative
plural forms are instances of Initial umlaut. On the other hand, in all
the nouns of the list, monosyllabic base stems can be easily recognized
before the suffix -naður, cf. the lexical items in the rightmost column of
(6). It is therefore possible that the true analysis is the stem fat- plus
-nað-/-nuð-initial case markers. In that event the case marker of the
(6) Examples of nouns in -naður which are also used in the plural
verknaður ‘work’, dat. pl. verknuðum, cf. verk(a) ‘work’
skilnaður ‘divorce’ skilnuðum skilja ‘separate’
-fatnaður ‘clothes’ -fötnuðum föt pl. ‘clothes’
-klœðnaður ‘clothes’ -klœðnuðum klceði ‘clothes’
dative plural can be -nuðum, with lexicalized u in the penultimate syl-
lable, and the dative plural stem föt- is a case of umlaut in monosyllabic
stems. A consequence of this analysis would be that the fatnaður type
would constitute its own declension class characterized by its own set
of case desinences. A third alternative analysis takes to account the
fact that -að- is one of the commonest suffixes in Icelandic. It is possible
that fatnaður is analyzed as fatn- plus -að-/-uð-initial case markers. The
dative plural marker could then be -uðum, with lexicalized u in the pen-
ultimate syllable, and the dative plural stem fötn- a case of u-umlaut in
monosyllabic stems. Again, the fatnaður type would constitute its own
declension class. For the declension of fatnaður under this analysis, see
(7) . The same analysis could also be assumed for markaður ‘market’,
adduced above in (5a), under the presupposition that its -að- was iden-
tified with the common suffix -að-, and-or its mark- with the stem mark-
in mörk ‘weight/value unit mark' or ‘open space’ (folk etymology). In