Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.1992, Qupperneq 95

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Phonological Variation in 20th Century Icelandic
mine which features are spreading and which ones are disappearing by
looking at a few results from the studies discussed.
Studies ofdialect variation in the 1940s and in the 1980s
In this paper we will mainly base our discussion on available results
from the two major dialectal studies that have been done in Iceland
so far. The first one is the great overview made in the 1940s by Bjöm
Guðfinnsson (henceforth BG). The second is our own Rannsókn á
íslensku nútímamáli” (henceforth RÍN) (‘Investigation of Modem Ice-
landic’). We will also refer to a study by Ingólfur Pálmason (1983), who
was the first investigator to record Icelandic dialectal data on a tape in
a systematic fashion, because Guðfinnsson did his research before tape
recorders became available.
As reported by BG himself (1946:97-98), his overview of Icelandic
dialects is based on the pronunciation of6520 Icelandic school children.
fr seems that most of these children were 12 years old, although BG
states that they ranged from 10-13 years of age (1946:84). The number
°f boys and girls was almost equal (Guðfinnsson 1946:98). BG had
the children read short texts and made marks on specially prepared
cards as they read, to check off particular dialectal features. In addition
to these 6520 children, BG says that he “tested” teenagers and adults
frt various ways, especially in subsequent special studies of regional
dialectal features, so the total number of his subjects was around 10.000.
it should be emphasized that his main overview (1946, 1964) is
frased on the pronunciation of these 6520 children only, and the children
tvere exclusively tested by the “reading method” (1946:97). The editors
°f Guðfinnsson (1964) did, however, occasionally include data from
special investigations (see, e.g., Guðfinnsson 1964:62—68,76—80).
It is interesting to note, as Benediktsson does (1961-62), that BG
tfrd not use a random sample of the population he was dealing with
frdt rather wanted to test all children in the relevant age group in each
district. As already mentioned, BG visited almost every school district
frt Iceland and the children were then tested in their school. The number
°f children he managed to test in each district ranges from about 7 5 % to