Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.1983, Page 53

Athugun á framburði nokkurra Öræfinga 51
tours east and the meeting with the inhabitants of Austur-Skaftafellssýsla, whom
the investigators found very helpful and co-operative.
The third chapter deals with the method of research, the „reading method",
which Björn Guðfinnsson practised very much in his great research-work in the
1940’s. The author discusses the validity of the method and is rather favourably
disposed to it, stating however a few reservations.
The fourth chapter is devoted to the r/-rn-pronunciation in words like ferli and
þarna, which is becoming quite rare, except in some districts of the above-named
county. The author gives account of the present distribution and compares it with
figures from the investigation of Björn Guðfinnsson in the years of 1941-43. The
conclusion that follows is that this dialect will die out with the oldest generation
now living in these districts.
The fifth chapter deals with the monophthongal pronunciation before [ji], spel-
led -gi, vs. the diphthongal one, in words like lagi, vegi, hugi, lögin etc. The former
of these dialects is considered older, and the central area is Austur- and Vestur-
Skaftafellssýsla. Björn Guðfinnsson found this dialect fitter for survival than most
other local pronunciations. However the author has some doubts about the future,
as the monophthongal pronunciation is losing ground to a mixed one.
The first half of the sixth chapter deals with variants of the /iv-pronunciation.
Here is expressed some wonder at the lack of interest most linguists have shown a
variant now fairly common in these districts, especially among informants of mixed
pronunciation, namely the [xv]-variant, which Björn Guðfinnsson hardly mentions
in his writings on dialects in Iceland.
The latter half of he chapter contains some comments on the development of
/iv-pronunciation after the time of Björn Guðfinnsson. The author points out that
the percentage of informants with pure /iv-pronunciation has dropped by half or
more from Björn Guðfinnsson’s investigation to the present day (ca 88% to 40%).
The seventh chapter deals with a rare pronunciation Björn Guðfinnsson came
across in Örcefi, i.e. [qs] for [xs] and [vs] for [fs] in words like vaxa and hvefsinn.
The present investigators found this feature fairly wide-spread in the parish, and
it is doubtful if it is confined to one family only, as some of the people in the
neighbourhood of the parish seemed apt to believe.
Kennaraháskóla íslands,
Reykjavík