Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.1985, Blaðsíða 66

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Bergljót Baldursdóttir
Table 4.
1984
1982
sing. instead of plur.
plur. instead of sing.
12
2
5
Altogether
14 (17.9%)
6 (10.9%)
Five of the singular instead of plural errors in 1984 are accounted forby
the demonstrative pronoun þessi ‘this’. 11 of the 12 singular instead of
plural errors are pronouns (4 personal pronouns, 1 indefinite pronoun,
I possessive pronoun and 5 demonstrative pronouns). The 2 plural in-
stead of singular errors also involve pronouns (independent pronoun
and demonstrative pronoun). In 1982, on the other hand, 3 of the 5
singular instead of plural errors are nouns, 1 adjective and 1 demon-
strative.
3.4 Word class
Overall, most of the errors, all grammatical categories, involve mas-
culine words, 31 or 39.7% in 1984 and 30 of 55 or 54.5% in 1982.
Feminine words are 25 of 78 or 32% in 1984 and 7 of 55 or 12.7% in
1982. Neuter words are 11 of 78 or 14.1% in 1984 and 12 of 55 or
21.8% in 1982. In 1984 31 words or 39.7% of the words are nouns, 7 or
8.9% adjectives, 14or 17.9%demonstrative pronouns, 17 or21.8%per-
sonal pronouns, 7 or 8.9% are indefinite pronouns. There was 1 or
1.3% involving an independent pronoun and 1 or 1.3% a possessive
pronoun. In 1982 there are 21 or 39.6% nouns, 10 or 18.9% adjectives,
II or 20.7% personal pronouns, 9 or 16.9% demonstrative pronouns, 1
or 1.9% indefinite pronoun and 1 numeral, 1.9%.
4. Discussion
4.1 The changes
4.1.1 Cases
In studies of language contact, e.g. pidginization, creolization and
language death, simplification (or elaboration) and confluence between
the two languages is normally predicted. Dorian (1978) observed some
simplification in the structure of ESG, a dying Scottish dialect. This
simplification was very much less than in classic pidginization. The