Haukur Thorgeirsson wrote:

> > Heil allt!
>
> Not quite there yet :-) The form 'heil' is either feminine
> singular nominative/accusative or neuter plural nominative/accusative
> whereas 'allt' is neuter singular nominative/accusative.
>

D'oh! I was going for neuter plural (ie. a mixed gender audience), but was
fooled by 'allr' being a collective noun, thus, I put it in the singular. In
that case, would 'heilt allt' or 'heil öll' be more appropriate? Or am I on
the wrong track altogether? Who would have thought a simple greeting could be
so difficult?

>
> > How would an Icelander then distinguish between 'finna' and 'vinna', for
> > example? Is it dependent on context?
>
> I seem to have been misunderstood. :-) I have no trouble distinguishing
> between Icelandic 'f' and Icelandic 'v'. My troubles are in reliably
> producing the difference between 'f', 'v' and 'w' in English.
>
> To understand what I mean we can put the consonants on some sort of linear
> scale (a gross oversimplificiation - but hopefully illustrative).
>
> Icelandic: f v
> English: fv w
> 1234
>
> Let's say the Icelandic 'f' occupies position 1, our 'v' has position 3
> and the English consonants are positioned as above. Then what happens
> when someone utters an English 'v'? In my brain it'll have a tendency
> to fall into one of the two slots occupied in my Icelandic system and
> thus to be recognized as either 'f' or 'v'.
>
> Very fine ferry vine.
>
> Haukur
>

I'm curious then, as to what makes the Icelandic 'v' different to both English
'v' and 'w' (it's not bilabial, is it?). I understand what you're getting at
with the diagram (and I've come across this problem with other languages - but
more often with vowels), but the positioning came out all wonky on my email.
If I've guessed right, English 'f' is at position 1, English 'v' is at
position 2, and English 'w' is at position 4...


--
Daniel Bray
dbray@...
School of Studies in Religion A20
University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia

"The smarter someone's suit, the dirtier their soul," - Imogen Edwards-Jones