Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1961, Page 95

ICELANDIC dialectology: metiiods and results
91
Also in Einarsson we find remarks of this kind, which agree with
Guðfinnsson’s statements. Einarsson says:55
In other words the Southern voiceless sounds are encroaching upon
the Northern voiced sounds at a considerably faster rate than b, d, g
upon p, t, k.
Guðfinnsson does not state explicitly on what kind of data he bases
these conclusions. And in view of the fact that he examined mainly
a very limited group—children of 10 to 13 years of age—one is per-
haps a little surprised how categorically he formulates his conclu-
sions. Nevertheless, if we examine the evidence bearing on this ques-
tion, it appears that, in each case, Guðfinnsson probably was right as
concerns the direction or main tendency of the development. The
principal evidence is this:
1) Where, of two opposed features, one is pure in the centre of its
area, whereas the other is not universal nor even predominant in its
central area, it is likely that the former is spreading at the expense of
the latter, and will, eventually, supersede it. This is the case for all
the differences in the earlier group. In the centre of the North-West
area (Aorður-ísaf jarðarsýsla), according to Guðfinnsson, only 36%
had pure monophthongal pronunciation before [ij], and an addi-
tional 60% had mixed pronunciation.56 In the centre of the South-
East {AusluT-Skajtajellssýsla), only about 50% had pure rl, rn, and
an additional 40% had mixed pronunciation.57 In the same area,
about 68% had pure monophthongal pronunciation before [j], and
the remaining 32% had mixed pronunciation.58 In the centre of
the North (EyjajjarSarsýsla), only about 19% had pure [ggl], and
an additional 44% had mixed pronunciation.50 The same undoubt-
edly applies to the other resticted features, such as [sagði] for
55 “Icelandic Dialect Studies ...,” p. 545.
•r>6 Breytingar, p. 28.
57 Ibid., pp. 23f.
68 Ibid., p. 29.
so Ibid., p. 22.