Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.1992, Side 93

Phonological Variation in 20th Century Icelandic
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as those by Hægstad (cf. Hægstad 1910, 1942) and Einarsson (see
Einarsson 1932a,b), seem to be of a descriptive nature more than any-
thing else (see also the excellent overview of Icelandic dialect studies
hy Gunnlaugsson 1987a,b). But it is clear that Einarsson soon began
thinking about the pedagogical aspects of dialect variation too. This
Can be seen from his paper on the Icelandic dialectal feature which
Wvolves some changes in the quality of the non-high front vowels
(cf- the overview in Section 2 below) and is frequently referred to
as hljóðvilla ‘sound confusion’ or flámæli ‘slack-jawed speech’ (cf.
Einarsson 1934).
It is well known, of course, that the life of the school teacher would be
slmPler if no dialectal differences existed. Certain phonetic or phono-
l°gical variations may lead to problems in teaching orthography, for
lr>stance. This was becoming increasingly clear to influential people in
lhe Icelandic educational system in the late 1930s (see, e.g., Sigmunds-
s°n 1935). Another incentive to investigate Icelandic dialects came
whh the establishment of the Icelandic National Radio 1930. Would it
Porhaps be necessary to set some kind of a pronunciation standard for
ann°uncers on the radio, and if so, what should that standard be like?
^nd maybe some sort of “received pronunciation” would be needed
f°r the schools too. Considerations of this sort led to the establishment
uf a special grant from the Icelandic govemment (through the Icelandic
ational Radio) ‘for the improvement of language use’ (“til málfegr-
unar ) in 1939 This actually became the first research grant to Bjöm
^uðfinnsson to investigate Icelandic dialects and it was then renewed
°r several years (cf. Guðfinnsson 1946:8-9, 82-83). Guðfinnsson had
y this time already published textbooks ‘for schools and radio’ (“handa
skólum og útvarpi”, 1937,1938) so he was no stranger to undertakings
°I this sort. In the early 1940s he and his associates visited almost
every school district in Iceland and studied aspects of dialectal pronun-
ul^tion, especially in school children (cf. Guðfinnsson 1946:82-86).
e resuIt was a very extensive overview of phonological variation in
e andic, mainly based on the pronunciation of 10-13 year old school
uhfldren (cf. Guðfinnsson 1946,1964; see also Dahlstedt 1958a, 1958b;