Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.1982, Qupperneq 191

Um méranir
189
SUMMARY
In this study, the author presents the results of a synchronic and a diachronic investi-
gation of the use of the lst pers. pronominal forms mig (acc.) and mér (dat.) with
a number of so-called impersonal verbs in Icelandic. It has been known for a long
time that there is some tendency to substitute the dat. mér for original acc. mig in
the case of common impersonal verbs like langa ‘want’ an vanla need, lack’, but little
has been known as to how widespread this tendency is nor how old it may be. This
tendench has been called þágufallssýki ('dative sickness’) but it is termed mérun in
this paper, in case somebody should feel insulted by the older term.
In the synchronic investigation, 151 students (all the students of a particular class
of a junior college in Reykjavík) were presented with a questionnaire in class where
they were asked to indicate whether they had heard the dat. or acc. version of each
sentence (one sentence in two versions for each impersonal verb — cf. the appendix
(Viðauki)) frequently (,,oft“), seldom (,,sjaldan“) or never (,,aldrei“). The results are
presented in Table Ia. As can be seen from that table, over 60% of the subjects main-
tained that they had frequently heard the dative (i. e. the innovation) with the verbs
vanta and langa (cf. above) and these two verbs seem to form a special class in this
respect — i. e. the innovative dat. secms to be more common with these verbs than
with the others. But more unexpected is the fact that a considerable percentage of
the subjects claims that thcy have frequently heard the acc. version of sentences with
verbs that „normally" take dat., such as sárna (mér (dat.) sárnar = it upsets me) and
þykja (mér (dat.) þykir = think/feel . : .). This may be due to some kind of a hypercor-
rection although that is by no means clear.
The diachronic part of the study traces the devclopment of the use of these imperso-
nal verbs from Old Icelandic to Modern Icelandic. The main results are summarized
in 2.3. Only two verbs that now „normally" take acc. occur in old manuscripts with
dat., i. e. lysta ‘want’ and skorta ‘need, lack’. The first of these examples (the one
with lysta) is, however, of Old Norwegian origin and thus shows nothing about Old
Icelandic. The second, on the other hand, is genuine (Old) Icelandic. — As for the
later stages of Icelandic, it should bc mentioned that several of these impersonal verbs
occur w. nom. subjects (i. e. in personal constructions) from the 16th century and on-
wards. Thus there seems to have been some tendency to substitute nom. for the original
acc. with these verbs, but this tendency may have diminished somewhat as the tendency
towards dat. became stronger. Substitutions of dat. for original acc. (the „dative sick-
ness“ type) can be found in written sources from the 19th ccntury although most of
the examples are from the 20th century (the two oldest examples have already been
mentioned — those w. lysta and skorta).
Finally, the author points out that there is no indication that the tendency to sub-
stitute dat. for acc. in impersonal constructions originated as a local dialcct, although
it may have spread more quickly in towns than in rural areas.
Grenimel 20,
Reykjavík