Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 13.07.1981, Síða 54

50
M. P. Barnes
(80) vit hildu: “F0rjar eru fyri Normannin (F0ringin)”, nú tykist tað
at vera: “F0rjar eru fyri útlendingin”
Of particular interest is the following example:
(81) Hann er ein av teimum fáu yrkjarunum, sum hava dugað at
yrkja og skriva fyri b0m, so at orðini fáa av sær sjálvum bams-
ins huga á flog
Although the verb skríva, normally transitive, is used intransitively
here, an unspecified object — literature, books, poems — is clearly
understood. We thus appear to have a ‘do something for somebody’
constmction in which fyrí + acc. is a prepositional paraphrase of an
indirect object and denotes the intended recipient of whatever is done.
This type of construction seems to be what underlies all those Delimiting
examples I have identified as having the additional meaning Target.
Expanded versions of the noun phrases + preposition phrase postmodi-
fiers in (71) and (78-9) might, for example, be: hann gj0rdi eitt flagg
fyri F0royar; tey bygdu eitt heim fyri b0rn; vit skipaðu fyri einum
skeiði fyri nýggjar nœmingar. That a Substitutive phrase ‘on behalf of’
is not what is being used in (81) is clear from the context, especially
from the way the passage continues:
(82) Fyri b0rn og fyri tilkomið fólk, sum eigur eitt sindur av bam-
inum eftir í sær, skapaði hann sín besta skaldskap
The author in question, H. A. Djurhuus, did not act on behalf of his
reading public, since they were in no way responsible for his writings.
They were the intended recipients, and in delimiting the applicability of
yrkja, skriva and skapa skaldskap that is what fyri suggests. However,
to the extent that skriva fyri + acc. can also mean ‘write on behalf of’,
i.e. in someone’s stead, the interpretation of a sentence like (81) or
(83) Skriv hetta fyri meg
is entirely dependent on context (cf. 5.1).
In a number of examples fyri + acc. defines or delimits the appli-
cability of a situation, occurrence etc. denoted by a complete sentence.
Eg:
(84) Fyri tann, ið mintist hvítravnin, tóktist myndin av hesum merki-