Eysteinn has the >.

> Yes, it seems certain that the pronounciation has changed
> in many ways. But I am rather uncomfortable with the scholars'
> reconstruction of "correct" Old Norse pronounciation. I don't
> think Haukur and Óskar agree with me on this, but I'm all for
> students simply using Modern Icelandic pronounciation.

I think we may have overstated our differences.

The truth is that I am all for Old Icelandic students
using the modern pronunciation of the language. I do,
however, think that every student will benefit
from studying the sound-system (Óskar'll have
a cool linguistic-lingo word for this) of the old
language. If you tell a student that 'i' and 'y'
are pronounced exactly the same he will be baffled.
If you tell him that ó as [Ou] becomes á as [au] by
i-mutation he will (if phonetically inclined) want
to rip your guts out.

So, I do believe it is practical to be familiar with
the sounds of "reconstructed" Old Norse.

For actually reading (let alone conversing) in Icelandic
I assume everyone will want to pronounce so that we understand.

The only exception to this is that I could imagine that
a class-room in Scandinavia and Germany would want to go
with a pronunciation that is closer to what they are used
to. It seems silly, for example, for modern Danes to make
an effort not to differentiate between i and y when they
do so in their everyday language. In any case there seems
little reason to apply Icelandic pronunciation to East Norse
texts and runic carvings. In any case the question is
more theoretical than practical as people are mostly
reading texts rather than making conversation.

If the students go on to study more Icelandic they will
eventually learn the modern pronunciation as well.

I can also sympathise with people who want to recite
the Eddas in an "authentic" way but even they would
in many ways be better off by imitating Sveinbjörn
Beinteinsson;)

The reason for us not having produced a pronunciation
guide for modern Icelandic is downright laziness.

> I'm sure that Haukur and Óskar would never seriously
> converse in "reconstructed" Old Norse, unless they were trying
> to show off ;-)

Completely true. But if anyone is interesting in
hearing me read "Svá skyldi goð gjalda etc."
attempting "RP" then let me know:)

Regards,
Haukur

P.S.

Talking reconstructed pronunciation:

þér = [þe:r] NOT the English [eI]
þeir = [þEir] NOT the English [eI]

There should be a very clear difference since
one sound is a diphthong and the other not.

þær = [þE:r] or [þ{:r]

(Óskar; what's SAMPA for IPA-theta?)

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