Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2002, Síða 158

156
Katrín Axelsdóttir
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Þetta er hid nya Testament. Hróarskeldu 1540.
SUMMARY
‘The Disappearance of the Possessive Pronouns okkarr, ykkarr and yð(v)arr’
Keywords: historical morphology, language change, declension, analogy
The Old Icelandic possessive pronouns okkarr, ykkarr and yð(v)arr were declined
according to gender, number and case, i.e. 24 forms for each pronoun, of which 13
were phonologically different. Instead of these inflected (and agreeing) possessive
pronouns Modern Icelandic uses the genitive of the corresponding personal pronouns
við (lp.), þið (2p.) and þér (2p. polite form), viz. okkar, ykkar and yðar. This is one
of the major differences between Old and Modem Icelandic. Several facts about this
change are well known. But the present study is an attempt to provide a more detailed
and comprehensive survey. A number of written sources make this possible (see tables
5-19). The main change took place in the period 1500-1650 (see table 20). At the out-
set the change was slow, then it became fairly rapid, but in the end it slowed down.
Some forms disappeared early, e.g. nom.fem.sg. and nom.acc.neut.pl., but others sur-
vived for a long time, especially nom.acc.neut.sg. (okkart, ykkart, yðvart). It follows
that the change took place in several stages (see (5) in section 3.3). Attempts are made
to define and explain those stages. The main problem is of course why this change
took place at all. Some explanations, old and new, are discussed, including a sound
change leading to syncretism, analogical changes, etc.
Katrín Axelsdóttir
Heimspekideild Háskóla íslands
Nýja Garði við Sœmundargötu
IS-101 Reykjavík
katax@hi.is