Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1961, Page 87

ICELANDIC DIALECTOLOGY: METHODS AND IIESULTS
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may, or may uot, be inserted between the r and the l or n, and in the
former case, the r may be entirely lost. Thus we find e. g., varla
‘hardly’ [var^lla] or [va^la] vs. [varla] ; stjarna ‘star’ [s^jar^na]
or [s$ja$na] vs. [s^jarna].
The central area of the latter, the pronunciation without [<)], is in
the South-East, in Austur-Skajtajellssýsla, flanked on the east by a
mixed area, reaching as far as Reyðarjjörður. On the western side,
in Vestur-Skajtajellssýsla and the easternmost communities of Rang-
árvallasýsla, this pronunciation occurs sporadically.
7) The use of monophthongs before [j] followed by [i], spelled
gi, vs. diphthongs ending in a high front vowel (with the virtual loss
of the following [j]). E. g. hagi ‘pasture’ [ha:ji] vs. [hai(j)i]; hogi
‘bow’ [l^o:ji] vs. [I^oi (j) 1] ; tregi ‘sorrow’ [thrc:ji] vs. [threi(j)i];
lögin ‘the law’ [lö:jln] vs. [löy(j)in]; hugi ‘mind’ [hY:ji] vs.
[hYy(j)i]; stigi ‘ladder’ [s$i:jl] vs. [s$(i)i(j)i]. With the latter
pronunciation, baginn and bœinn, legi and leigi, lögin and laugin,
stigi and stígi are homophones ([l^ai(j)in, lei(j)I, löy(j)in,
s^(i)i(j)i]).
The central area of monophthongal pronunciation is in Skajta-
jelhsýslur in the South-East, with mixed areas on both sides, reaching
to Reyðarfjörður in the east, and including the easternmost com-
munities in Rangárvallasýsla in the south.
The above list is not exhaustive; it includes only the most con-
spicuous differences. In addition, we may mention, e. g., the lax,
unvoiced velar and labial occlusives before ð in the North, in such
forms as sagði ‘said’ [sagði], hajði ‘had’ [habði], as opposed to
voiced spirants elsewhere ([saqði, havðl]);32 the lax, unvoiced
occlusive [$] after r, g, f in the North-West (Vestjirðir) and in some
other areas, in such forms as harður ‘hard’ [har^Yr], sagði ‘said’
[saq^i], hajði ‘had’ [hav$i], as opposed to the voiced spirant else-
where ([harðYr, saqði, havði]);33 and the lax occlusive [g]
32 See, e. g., Einarsson, “Icelandic Dialect Studies ...,” p. 560.
33 See, e. g., Á. Bl. Magnússon, “Um framburðinn rd, gd, jd," Lingua Is-
landica—-íslenzk tunga I (1959), pp. 9—18.