Studia Islandica - 01.06.1964, Page 204

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voiced and the second aspirated; in the so-called voiceless
pronunciation, which is that of the majority, the first ele-
ment is voiceless and the second unaspirated. Examples are:
hempa [hemp"a - hernpa]
rýmka [rimk"a - rimka]
vænta [vaint"a - vainta]
banki [baugjk'y - þauijjkji]
hjálpa [jaulp"a - jaulpa]
stúlka [ sdulk"a - sdulka ]
blaðka [blaðk"a-lplaþka].
Even in the voiced pronunciation the cluster [lth] only
occurs in certain words, while others always have [lt]. On
the other hand, the cluster most frequently found with the
voiced pronunciation is that consisting of the fricative plus
the voiceless velar stop, as in the last example above.
The centre of the voiced pronunciation is the eastern part
of the North. In Eyjafjarðarsýsla 74% of the speakers were
found to use it exclusively and 97 % either exclusively or in
part. In Suður-Þingeyjarsýsla and Norður-Þingeyjarsýsla
the proportion was about the same. In Norður-Múlasýsla and
in Akureyri the voiced pronunciation was a good deal less
prominent, and still less so in Sigluf jörður and Skagaf jarðar-
sýsla. In Suður-Múlasýsla, Neskaupstaður, and Seyðisfjörð-
ur it was quite infrequent; still, traces of it were found as far
south as Stöðvarfjörður and, in the case of [ðkh], even
beyond that point.
The voiced pronunciation is rapidly losing ground to the
voiceless one.
2. The spelling hv in such words as hver and hválur re-
presents three different pronunciations: some speakers say
[xa;lYE]» others [xWe:t], [xwa:lvr] but most say
[k"vE:r], [k"va:lYr]. The first two kinds are grouped to-
gether as the hv-pronunciation, while the last is known as
the kv-pronunciation.