Gripla - 01.01.1977, Page 182

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GRIPLA
6.1. Consider now the standard Icelandic alternation /au — öi/ before
a non-anterior (i.e. palatal or velar) nasal consonant. For examples see
(24a). This alternation is a product of the historical processes of u-um-
laut and subsequent diphthongization (á> [au], ö > [öi]) before a non-
anterior nasal. The inclusion of this alternation in the present treatment
of /a — ö/ and /a ■—' y/ is arbitrary, for I cannot prove that the alter-
nations /a—ö/ and /a — y/ on the one hand, and /au—öi/ on the
other belong together from the synchronic point of view. A weak argu-
ment in favour of the two alternations being closer to each other than
either of them to any third alternation in the synchronic grammar of
Icelandic is that the two alternations occur in the same morphological
(24) a. langur ‘long’, nom. sg. f. löng
banki ‘bank’, dat. pl. bönkum
b. banka ‘knock’, pret. pl. bönkuð-
sanka ‘gather’ sönkuð-
hanka ‘provide with a handle’ hönkuð-
tanka ‘refuel’ tönkuð-
ranka ‘remember dimly’ rönkuð-
jánka ‘say já’ jánkuð-
c. spranga ‘walk sprightly’, pret. pl. sprönguð-
stanga ‘goad’ stönguð-
hand-langa ‘hand’ -lönguð-
fanga ‘capture’ fönguð-
banga ‘hammer’ bönguð-
ganga ‘go’, lp. pl. pres. göngum
but anga ‘smell’, pret. pl. anguð-—-
d. rangla ‘stroll idly’, pret. pl. rangluð-
dangla ‘strike lightly’ dangluð-
angra ‘anger’ angruð-
the same kind of development as witnessed by amöba > amaba and flöga > flaga
above.
Stefán Karlsson has drawn my attention to the Christian name Marja, oblique
singular Marju, without any u-umlaut. This lexical item contains lexicalized /a/
in its stem: /marj + a, +y/ (in contradistinction to, say, saga, which contains lexi-
calized /ö/). Since no /a/—>/ö/ rule operates in the declension of weak feminine
nouns, the a of Marja is never changed to ö.