Flámæli

Flámæli (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈflauːmailɪ]; lit. 'slanted speech'), also known as flámælgi and flámælska, was an Icelandic-language sound change which was widespread in the first half of the 20th century in Iceland, especially in the West and the South.[1] The vowels /ɪ/ and /ʏ/ (written ⟨i⟩ or ⟨y⟩ and ⟨u⟩ respectively) were lowered so that vinur (/ˈvɪːnʏr/, transl. 'friend') was pronounced /ˈvɛːnœr/ (as if written ⟨venör⟩) and skyr (/scɪːr/, a kind of yogurt) as /scɛːr/ (like ⟨sker⟩), while the vowels e and ö were raised such that spölur (/spœːlʏr/, transl. 'short distance') sounded like /spʏːlʏr/ (as if ⟨spulur⟩) and melur (/ˈmɛːlʏr/, transl. 'gravel patch') as /ˈmɪːlʏr/ (as if ⟨milur⟩).[2]

This sound change was thought to be very ugly and called hljóðvilla (transl. 'sound error').[3] It was prominent from 1940 in the speech of people from the Southwest and the Eastfjords, but also in the North and in Húnavatnssýsla.[1] A special campaign was carried out during 1940–1960 in primary schools to eliminate flámæli.[3] RÚV and Þjóðleikhúsið enforced a policy that the so-called phonological error would not be allowed.[4] In 1929, 42% of children in Reykjavík spoke with flámæli, but by 1960 it had been eradicated among children.

It has been suggested that Flámæli has, to a larger or lesser extent, been preserved among immigrant communities of Icelanders in North America.[5][6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Íslenska alfræðiorðabókin (in Icelandic). Örn og Örlygur. 1990. ISBN 9979550007.
  2. ↑ "Hvað þýðir "hljóðkerfisbreyting" og hvernig er henni háttað í íslensku máli?". Vísindavefurinn (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2023-12-27.
  3. 1 2 "Landið, þjóðin, tungan og fræðin" [The land, the nation, the tongue and the sciences]. Tímarit.is (in Icelandic). pp. 456–59. Retrieved 2023-12-27.
  4. ↑ "Flámæli bannað í Ríkisútvarpinu – RÚV.is". RÚV. 13 January 2012. Retrieved 2023-12-27.
  5. ↑ Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir. 1990. North American Icelandic: The Linguistic and Social Context of Vowel Mergers. Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin (Dissertation)
  6. ↑ Ankirsky, Alexander. 2018. Investigating the potential for merger of Icelandic 'flámæli' vowel pairs through functional load. University of Georgia. (Thesis)


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