Heill Haukur,

Haukur Thorgeirsson wrote:

> > > 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?
>
> :-) 'heil öll' is fine but 'heilt allt' (although grammatically
> correct) is just funny.
>

So, 'allr' would normally be used in the plural in this context? I suppose I was
fooled because 'all', being a collective noun, is always in the singular in English.
How would you distinguish singular and plural uses of a word like 'allr'?

>
> > > Very fine ferry vine.
>
> > I'm curious then, as to what makes the Icelandic 'v' different to both English
> > 'v' and 'w' (it's not bilabial, is it?).
>
> No, it's not bilabial - though the ON 'v' may have been.
> Our 'v' is not a voiced 'f'. It's not even a fricative -
> it's an approximant. I wonder if an English speaker would
> hear it as 'v', 'w' or neither.
>

I'm even more curious now. If it's not bilabial or a labiodental fricative, how is
it articulated?

>
> > If I've guessed right, English 'f' is at position 1, English 'v' is at
> > position 2, and English 'w' is at position 4...
>
> That was my intention, yes.
>

OK, I can see how the confusion arises now.

>
> Kveðja,
> Haukur
>
>
> Sumir hafa kvæði...
> ...aðrir spakmæli.
>
> - Keth
>
> Homepage: http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/
>
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--
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