Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1964, Page 28

36 Dialect Research in Orkney and Shetland after Jakobsen
There is an interesting passage in »Nordiske Minder«
which seems to suggest that Jakobsen was aware of such
an approach. »Af megen interesse er det ogsá«, he wrote
after discussing some other matters, »at studere udviklings*
gangen i nornsprogenes langsomme uddøen, at iagttage
hvilken art ord er bukkede under samt, sá vidt det lader
sig gøre; i hvilken rækkefølge, og hvilken art ord er be*
varede, samt hvorfor. Her findes psykologiske momenter,
som kan give os forklaring*.1) These »psykologiske mo<
menter« are not, of course, very easy to find; and the
handling of words which have disappeared is, as Jakobsen
notes, wholly contingent. But, in his own day, he was
able to suggest a structure where haahnames »consisting of
ordinary Norse words . . . having become obsolete in the
daily conversational language, were retained at the haaf as
lucky words, while substituted Scotch or English words
were used at the fireside«.2) That is to say, the interference
in vocabulary from Scots and English was not merely
substitution, but, in the process, some older words were
transferred to a different fuctional sphere.3) In pursuing
a parallel theme fifty years after his time, in evaluating
the function of words which have succumbed and words
which survive, in probing the extent of Norse, Scots and
English, (areas both of geographical extent and of common
social intercourse) — all this demands an investigation of
considerable density. This the Linguistic Survey of Scotland
would claim to give. It should also be noted that since
the same set of words is used for Scotland as a whole as
for the Northern Islands very considerable comparison is
possible. Furthermore, another dimension can be added, in
that the »usual local word« was asked for first, followed
by the »less common local word«. There are not many
words where easy and direct comparison between Jakobsen’s
>) »Nordiske Minder« loc. cit. p. 332.
2) »The Dialect and Place Names of Shetland«, p. 30.
3) cf. Weinreich op. cit. p. 54.