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1. Orthography
In Shetland Mainland Nynorn, the double consonants ll
and nn are regularly pronounced palatalized: [lj,nj]. The same
change occurs in ld,lt,nt,nd: [ljd,ljd,njd,njt], although
exceptions are possible (check the dictionnary).
Several vowel changes occur before [lj] and [nj]:
a reads as [æ], which is equivalent to a in English cap;
o and å reads as [oi]
Exercise 2.1.
Read the following words:
a) hann, ull, Dumbvilla, mella, kalla, full, enni, gronn, annehvar, kenna,
bånn;
b) kelda, mond, millablanda, hald, golti, brand, folda
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(This part of the lesson has only to do with the Foula/Westside dialect and can
be skipped by those only interested in Mainland Nynorn)
In Foula/Westside Nynorn, ll and nn are read as [dl]
and [dn] respectively. Additionally, rn often changes to [dn]
(possibly also rl). The above mentioned vowel changes caused by llj
and nnj do not occur.
Exercise 2.2.
Read the following words with Foula/Westside pronunciation:
all, ill, inni, bjarn, korn, henni, ern, enni
In the Foula/Westside Norn dialectal notation the above words are spelled as
adl, idl, idni, bjadn, kodn, edn, edni.
Exercise 2.3.
Read the words from exercise 2.1. with the Foula/Westside pronunciation. Notice
that Shetland Mainland bånn [boinnj] 'child' corresponds to Foula/Westside bjarn [bjadn].
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2. Weak substantives. Plural.
As we said in Lesson One, Ch. 2, substantives in Nynorn are divided into
strong and weak. We have already started covering the strong declension in the
previous chapter, now let us introduce its weak counterpart. As already known,
weak nouns always end in a vowel: -i for masculine, -a for
feminine and neuter. Weak substantives form their plural by replacing -i
with -ar (M), -a with -er
(F) or -u (N):
M. drengi 'boy, lad' - drengar 'boys'
F. floga 'fly'- floger 'flies'
N. joga 'eye' - jogu 'eyes'
Exercise 2.4.
Change the following words to plural:
dokka 'young girl', mågi 'stomach' (MW), jora
'ear' (NW), bogi 'curve; small bay' (MW), nyra 'kidney' (NW),
nalta 'grain, particle' (FN), måni 'moon' (MW), skiva 'slice;
piece of turf' (FW)
3. Personal pronouns
|
|
Sg. |
Pl. |
1. person |
|
eg 'I' |
vi 'we' |
2. person |
|
du 'you (sg.)' |
di 'you (pl.)' |
3. person |
Masc. |
hann 'he' |
dir 'they (M)' |
|
Fem. |
hun 'she' |
der 'they (F)' |
|
Neu. |
dað 'it' |
de 'they (N)' |
Hann/dir refer to masculine names, hun/der refer to feminine
names and dað stands for neuter ones. This has nothing to do with
animacy, which differentiates pronouns in English, Norwegian or Danish. For
example, Nynorn sten
(M) 'stone' should be referred to as hann 'he' (never dað
'it'!) and stenar 'stones' as dir. Analogically, hun
'she' stands for rug (F) 'heap' and der stands for rugar
'heaps'. On the other hand, bånn (N) 'child' would be referred to as
dað 'it', bånn 'children' as de.
When a masculine and feminine substantive meet together, the neuter plural
pronoun is used: Johan (M) og Maria (F), sten (M) og rug (F) 'a stone and
a heap' should be referred to as de
(N).
Exercise 2.5.
Replace the following words with the corresponding pronoun (third person) or
several different pronouns when applied:
mågi -
rum -
joga -
fjord -
skiver -
nyru -
hus -
månar -
nalta -
ruger -
Johann og Hendrik -
bånn og hus -
Hendrik og Astrid -
rug og skiva -
Astrid og Maria -
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