Studia Islandica - 01.06.1964, Blaðsíða 208

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Outside these three main areas flámœli occurs on a smaller
scale in a few places, notably Siglufjörður, Mýrasýsla, and
the western part of Árnessýsla.
6. For a long time one of the principal characteristics of
the speech of the North-Western Peninsula has been the
retention of simple vowels before the clusters [rj§] and [ijk],
where other dialects have developed diphthongs. In such
words as gangur and banki, lengi and krenkja, þröngur and
hönk, speakers of that region have [a], [e] and [ö], re-
spectively— [gai]&Yr, baijjkji], [leijj^i, k'Tefjjkja], [þröggvr,
höijk'1] — where other speakers have [au], [ei], [öy] —
[gauijgyr, þauijjkji], [leiijjgji, khreii]jkja], [ þröyijgvr, höyijk'1].
This monophthongal pronunciation is found in one degree
or another throughout the North-West Peninsula. It is com-
monest in Norður-ísafjarðarsýsla, where 36% use it ex-
clusively and 96% either exclusively or in part. Next comes
the town of ísafjörður, followed by Vestur-Isafjarðarsýsla
and western Barðastrandarsýsla. Further south this pro-
nunciation occurs more sporadically, but it is still noticeable
as far south as Fellsstrandarhreppur in Dalasýsla. There
are also some traces of it on the north coast of Snæfellsnes.
In Strandasýsla, on the east coast of the North-West Penin-
sula, it is fairly common, especially towards the north. It
does not reach as far as Vestur-Húnavatnssýsla.
7. When followed by the sequence [ji], represented in
the standard spelling by gi, the original simple vowels re-
presented in the spelling by a, e, i, o, u, ö, have become
diphthongs in most parts of the country. Examples are:
hagi [haiji]
tregi [threiji]
stigi [sqliiji]
bogi [boiji]
hugi [hviji]
lögin [löijin]
In some regions, however, the simple vowels have been
retained in this position, usually without loss of quantity:
[ha:ji], thre:ji], [sdi:ji], etc.