Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.1996, Page 120

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Eivind Weyhe
variation og sprogkontakt. Til Inger Ejskjœr pá halvjjerdsársdagen den 20. maj
1996, s. 309-320. Institut for dansk Dialektforskning, Kobenhavn.
Zachariasen, Ulf. 1969. Fornir bendingarformar av kenniorðinum og lýsingarorðinum
í hvorjumfalli, varðveittir í Norðuroyamáli. Fróðskaparrit 17:9-13.
—. 1977. Eitt sindur um ljóðyvirflyting í foroyskum. Fróðskaparrit 25:101-104.
SUMMARY
In earlier works on Faroese, the authors frequently mention dialectal differences.
Some of them also try to divide the Faroes into dialect areas and describe the char-
acteristics of the various dialects. This is especially true of Hammershaimb and
Jakobsen, who emphasize in the introduction to their works that the dialectal differ-
ences are pretty much restricted to phonological variation and the differences in the
inflectional system only show up in the inflection of the personal pronouns.
This paper first investigates what the existing linguistic descriptions of 19th cen-
tury Faroese actually say about inflectional differences in Faroese. It seems that the
differences described are in fact larger than, say, Hammershaimb’s introduction indi-
cates.
The paper first briefly describes how earlier authors draw the isoglosses between
Faroese dialects. Then the inflectional differences pointed out in earlier linguistic
descriptions are discussed and the variations compared to Modem Faroese. The top-
ics discussed include the merger of the vowels /i/ and /u/ in inflectional endings, var-
ious kinds of analogical changes and merger in the nominative and accusative plural
in masculine words, new plural endings in the nominative and accusative in the neuter
ija- and an-stems, and the endings of the dative singular. There is also a separate dis-
cussion of the complex changes of the inflection of the personal pronouns from Old
Norse to Modern Faroese. Considerable dialectal differences are involved here, e.g.
with respect to the distinction between dual and plural and various analogical changes
in the inflection. The inflection of the demonstrative pronoun tann is also discussed in
this context. Finally, changes in the verbal inflection are pointed out and several kinds
of simplifications and analogical changes discussed. The loss of the subjunctive is
mentioned but the main emphasis is on changes in the person and number inflection.
The paper also mentions other kinds of inflectional differences that have not been
discussed in linguistic descriptions or textbooks so far but show up in the modem lan-
guage and seem to indicate tendencies towards further simplification of the Farroese
inflectional system.
Eivind Weyhe
Faroyamálsdeildin
Fróðskaparsetur Foroya
V.U. Hammershaimbs gotu 16
FR-100 Tórshavn