An Icelandic Primer | Page 3

E. wh: hlaupa (leap), hn??ga (bend), hringr (ring), hvat (what).
13. *j* is not distinguished from i in the MSS. It had the sound of E. y in young: j??r?�� (earth), s??tja (to set).
14. *p* in pt probably had the sound of f: lopt (air).
15. *r* was always a strong point trill, as in Scotch.
16. *s* was always sharp.
17. *v* (which was sometimes written u and w) had the sound of E. w: vel (well), h??ggva (hew).
18. *z* had the sound of ts: b??ztr (best).
19. *??* and *?��* were used promiscuously in the older MS., the very oldest using ?? almost exclusively. In Modern Icelandic ?? is written initially to express the sound of E. hard th, ?�� medially and finally to express that of soft th; as there can be no doubt that this usage corresponds with the old pronunciation, it is retained in this book: ??ing (parliament), fa?��ir (father), vi?�� (against). In such combinations as p?�� the ?�� must of course be pronounced ??.
Stress
20. The stress (accent) is always on the first syllable.
PHONOLOGY
Vowels
21. The vowels are related to one another in different ways, the most important of which are mutation (umlaut), fracture (brechung), and gradation (ablaut).
Mutation
22. The following changes are *i*-mutations (caused by an older i or j following, which has generally been dropped)[3]:
[Footnote 3: Many of the i's which appear in derivative and inflectional syllables are late weakenings of a and other vowels, as in bani (death) = Old English bana; these do not cause mutation.]
*a* (*??*) ... *??* :-- mann (man acc.), m??nn (men); h??nd (hand), h??ndr (hands).
*?* ... *?|* :-- m?l (speech), m?|la (speak).
*e* (*ja*, *j??*) ... *i* :-- ver?��r (worth), vir?��a (estimate).
*u* (*o*) ... *y* :-- fullr (full), fylla (to fill); lopt (air), lypta (lift).
*??* ... *��3* :-- br??n (eyebrow), pl. br��3nn.
*o* ... *??* :-- koma (to come), k??mr (comes).
*?* ... *?��* :-- f?r (went), f?��ra (bring).
*au* ... *ey* :-- lauss (loose), leysa (loosen).
*j??* (*j?*) ... *��3* :-- sj??kr (sick), s��3ki (sickness); lj?sta (strike), l��3str (strikes).
23. The change of a into ?? is sometimes the result of a following k, g, or ng, as in d??gi dat. sg. of dagr (day), t??kinn (taken), g??nginn (gone), inf. taka, ganga. i appears instead of e, and u instead of o before a nasal followed by another cons.: cp. binda (to bind), bundinn (bound) with bresta (burst) ptc. prt. brostinn.
24. There is also a *u*-mutation, caused by a following u, which has often been dropped:
*a* ... *??* :-- dagr (day) dat. pl. d??gum; land (land) pl. l??nd.
25. Unaccented ?? becomes u, as in sumur pl. of sumar (summer), k??llu?��u (they called), infin. kalla.
Fracture
26. The only vowel that is affected by fracture is e: when followed by original a it becomes ja, when followed by original u it becomes j??, as in jar?��ar gen. of j??r?�� (earth)[4]. When followed by original i, the e is, of course, mutated to i, as in skildir plur. nom. of skj??ldr (shield), gen. skjaldar.
[Footnote 4: Cp. German erde.]
Gradation
27. By gradation the vowels are related as follows:--
*a* ... *?* :-- fara (go) pret. f?r, whence by mut. f?��ra (bring).
*e* (i, ja) ... *a* ... *u* (o) :-- bresta (burst), prt. brast, prt. pl. brustu, ptc. prt. brostinn; finna (find), fundinn (found ptc.), fundr (meeting).
*e* ... *a* ... *?* ... *o* :-- stela (steal), prt. stal, prt. pl. st?lu, ptc. prt. stolinn.
*e* ... *a* ... *?* ... *e* :-- gefa (give), gaf (he gave), g?fu (they gave), gefinn (given), gj??f (gift), u-fracture of gef-, g?|fa (luck) mut. of g?f-.
*??* ... *ei* ... *i* :-- sk??na (shine), skein (he shone), skinu (they shone). s?l-skin (sunshine).
*j??* (j?) ... *au* ... *u* ... *o* :-- lj??ga (tell a lie), prt. laug, prt. pl. lugu, ptc. prt. loginn. lygi (lie sbst.) mut. of lug-. skj?ta (shoot), skj?tr (swift), skotinn (shot ptc.), skot (shot subst.).
Other changes
28. All final vowels are long in accented syllables: ??? (then), n?? (now).
29. Inflectional and derivative vowels are often dropt after long accented vowels: cp. ganga (to go) with f? (to get), the dat. plurals knj?m (knees) with h??sum (houses).
30. Vowels are often lengthened before l + cons.: h?lfr (half adj.), f?lk (people); cp. f?lginn (hidden) with brostinn (burst ptc.).
Consonants
31. v is dropped before o and u: vaxa (to grow), prt. ?x, vinna (to win), unninn (won ptc.), svelta (to starve), soltinn (starved, hungry).
Final r is often assimilated to a preceding cons.
32. *-lr, *-nr, *-sr always become -ll, -nn, -ss after a long vowel or diphthong, as in st?ll (chair nom.), acc. st?l, steinn (stone nom.), acc. stein, v??ss (wise masc. nom. sg.), v??s fem. nom. sg., and in unacc. syllables, as in the masc. sg. nominatives mikill (great), fem. mikil, borinn (carried), fem. borin, ��3miss (various) fem. ��3mis.
33. Words in which l, n, r, s are preceded by a cons. drop the r entirely,