Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1961, Page 94

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HREINN BENEDIKTSSON
Thus, in the earlier group of phonetic changes, as in some cases in
vocabulary (see p. 74 above), the archaic features are preserved in
the two marginal areas, the West (especially the North-West) and
the East (especially the South-East), the innovations having occurred
in the central area only.
VII
This brings us to the question of the development of the dialects
during the present century, and the possibility of predicting the de-
velopment during the next decades. In Guðfinnsson’s work we find.
for practically every difference, a statement, in unambiguous and
unequivocal terms, to the effect that one of the two opposed features
is spreading at the expense of the other. Thus, according to him, lin-
mœli is spreading at the expense of harðmœli,is voiceless ð, l, m, n
before p, t, k at the expense of the voiced sounds;49 kv- is rapidly
encroaching upon the /n;-pronunciation,50 diphthongs before [q]
and [j] upon monophthongs in these positions,51 rdl, rdn upon rl,
rn,52 and [ql] upon [q§l].53 Flámœli is also, according to Guðfinns-
son, on the offensive, but on this point he is less positive.54
also “Terms of Direction in Modcrn Icelandic,” Scandinavian Studies Presentcd
to George T. Flom by Colleagues and Friends (Urbana, 111., 1942), pp. 37—48;
“Terms of Direction in Old Icelandic,” The Journal oj English and Germanic
Philology XI.III (1944), pp. 265—285; “Áttatáknanir í íslenzku nú á dögum,”
Skírnir CXXVI (1952), pp. 153—167; “Áttatáknanir í fornritum,” Skírnir
CXXVII (1953), pp. 165—199. For a comprehensive interpretation of these
terms in Icelandic, see E. Haugen, “The Semantics of Icelandic Orientation,”
iFord XIII (1957), pp. 447—459.
48 Breytingar, p. 18.
49 Ibid., p. 20.
50 Ibid., p. 22.
51 Ibid., pp. 28 and 30.
52 Ibid., p. 24.
63 Ibid., p. 23.
54 Ibid., p. 27.