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Icelandic language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Icelandic language
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For other meanings, see Icelandic (disambiguation).
Icelandic
íslenska
Spoken in:
Iceland, parts of Canada (Manitoba)
Region:
Iceland
Total speakers:
300,000
Language family:
Indo-European
Germanic
North Germanic
West Scandinavian
Icelandic
Official status
Official language of:
Iceland
Regulated by:
ćslensk mĄlstśð The Icelandic Language Institute
Language codes
ISO 639-1:
is
ISO 639-2:
isl
ISO/DIS 639-3:
isl
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.
Icelandic (íslenska) is a North Germanic language spoken in Iceland. It is an inflected language with four cases: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive. Its closest relative is Faroese and can be somewhat understood by some Norwegians as well, depending on their dialect and education.
While most Western European languages have reduced greatly the extent of inflection, particularly in noun declension, Icelandic retains an inflectional grammar comparable to that of Latin, Ancient Greek, or more closely, Old English.
Written Icelandic has changed relatively little since the 13th century. As a result of this, and of the similarity between the modern and ancient grammar, modern speakers can still understand, more or less, the original sagas and Eddas that were written some eight hundred years ago. This ability is sometimes mildly overstated by Icelanders themselves, most of whom actually read the Sagas with updated modern spelling and footnotes - though otherwise intact. This old form of the language is called Old Icelandic, but also commonly equated to Old Norse, an umbrella term also known as "Danish Tongue" used for the common Scandinavian language of the Viking era.
The Icelandic alphabet is notable for its retention of two old letters which no longer exist in the English alphabet: þ (thorn or thott) and ð (eth or edh), representing the voiceless and voiced "th" sounds as in English thin and this respectively. The complete Icelandic alphabet is:
A Á B D Ð E É F G H I ć J K L M N O Ó P R S T U Ú V X Y Ý ś ą (32 letters)
a Ą b d ð e é f g h i í j k l m n o ó p r s t u ú v x y ý þ Ś ś
The preservation of the Icelandic language is taken seriously by the Icelanders " rather than borrow foreign words for new concepts, new Icelandic words are diligently forged for public use.
Icelandic does not have any notable dialect differences.
Contents
1 Sounds
1.1 Consonants
1.2 Vowels
2 Morphology
3 Syntax
4 Icelandic sign language
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
//
[edit]
Sounds
Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for a pronunciation key.
Icelandic has an aspiration contrast between plosives, rather than a voicing contrast, something relatively rare among European languages. Preaspirated voiceless stops are also common. However fricative and sonorant consonant phonemes exhibit regular contrasts in voice, including in nasals (rare in the world's languages). Additionally, length is contrastive for many phonemes; voiceless sonorant consonants seem to be the only exception. The chart below is based on Scholten (2000, p. 22); refer to the IPA article for information on the sounds of the following symbols:
[edit]
Consonants
Consonant phones
Bilabial
Labio-
dental
Dental
Alveolar
Palatal
Velar
Glottal
Plosive
pĘ
p
tĘ
t
cĘ
c
kĘ
k
Ę"
Nasal
mĄ
m
nĄ
n
ɲ̊
ɲ
ŋ̊
ŋ
Fricative
f
v
θ
ð
s
ż
j
x
Ł
h
Trill
rĄ
r
Lateral approximant
lĄ lĄŁ
l lŁ
The voiced fricatives [v], [ð], [j] and [Ł] are not completely constrictive and are often closer to approximants than fricatives.
The status of [c] and [cĘ] as phonemes or as allophones of /k/ and /kĘ/ is the topic of some debate. On the one hand, the presence of minimal pairs like gjóla [couːla] "light wind" vs. góla [kouːla] "howl" and kjóla [cĘouːla] "dresses" vs. kóla [kĘouːla] "cola" suggests that the palatal stops are separate phonemes. On the other hand, only the palatal stops, not the velars, may appear before front vowels, and some linguists (e.g. Rśgnvaldsson 1993) have held out for an underlying phonemic representation of [couːla] and [cĘouːla] as /kjoula/ and /kĘjoula/ respectively, with a phonological process merging /k(Ę)j/ into [c(Ę)]. Whether this approach, which is consistent with the orthography and historical processes, represents a synchronic reality is disputed, especially since most phonological phenomena are adequately explained diachronically, so an artificial, synchronic system seems somewhat unnecessary.
The dental fricatives [θ] and [ð] are allophones of a single phoneme. [θ] is used word-initially, as in þak [θaːk] "roof", and before a voiceless consonant, as in maðkur [maθkĘŹr] "worm". [ð] is used intervocalically, as in iða [ɪːða] "vortex" and word-finally, as in bað [paːð] "bath", although it can be devoiced to [θ] before pause.
Of the voiceless nasals, only [nĄ] occurs in word-initial position, for example in hné [nĄjɛː] "knee". Recently, there has been an increasing tendency, especially among children, to pronounce this as voiced, for example pronouncing hnífur [nivĘŹr] "knife" rather than standard [nĄivĘŹr]. The palatal nasal appears before palatal stops and the velar nasals before velar stops. [ŋ] appears also before [l] and [s] through the deletion of [k] in the consonant clusters [ŋkl] and [ŋks].
The preaspirates [Ęp Ęt Ęc Ęk] (e.g. lśpp [lœĘp] "foot") do not occur in initial position. The geminates [pp tt cc kk] are not necessarily longer than simple [p t c k] but do cause shortening of a preceding vowel. Still, they may be pronounced long in certain styles of speech, such as when talking to children.
[edit]
Vowels
Monophthongs
Front
Back
Close
i
u
Near-close
ɪ ó ĘŹ
Open-mid
ɛ ó œ
"
Open
a
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel.
Diphthongs
Closer component
is front
Closer component
is back
Opener component is mid
ei ó øy
ou
Opener component is fully open
ai
au
Vowel length is predictable in Icelandic (OreĄnik and Pétursson 1977). Stressed vowels (both monophthongs and diphthongs) are long:
In one-syllable words where the vowel is word-final:
fĄ [fauː] "get"
nei [neiː] "no"
þú [θuː] "you (singular)"
Before a single consonant:
fara [ˈfaːra] "go"
hĄs [hauːs] "hoarse"
vekja [ˈvɛːca] "wake up"
ég [jɛːŁ] "I"
spyr [spɪːr] "ask (1 person, singular)"
Before any of the consonant clusters [pr tr kr sr], [pj tj sj], or [tv kv]. (This is often shortened to the rule: If the first of the consonants is one of p, t, k, s and the second is one of j, v, r, then the vowel is long. This is known as the ptks+jvr-rule. An exception occurs, if there is a t before the infix k. Examples are e. g. notkun and litka. There are also additional exceptions like um and fram where the vowel is short in spite of rules and en, where the vowel length depends on the context.)
lipra [ˈlɪːpra] "agile (accusative, feminine)"
sŚtra [ˈsaiːtra] "sweet (genitive, plural)"
akra [ˈaːkra] "fields (accusative, plural)"
hĄsra [ˈhauːsra] "hoarse (genitive, plural)"
vepja [ˈvɛːpja] "lapwing"
letja [ˈlɛːtja] "dissuade"
Esja [ˈɛːsja] proper noun, a mountain
gśtva [ˈkœːtva] as in uppgśtva "discover"
vśkva [ˈvœːkva] "water (verb)"
Before other consonant clusters (including the preaspirated stops [hp ht hk] and geminate consonants), stressed vowels are short. Unstressed vowels are always short.
Karl [kĘartlĄ] proper noun
standa [ˈstanta] "stand"
sjĄlfur [ˈsjaulvĘŹr] "self"
kenna [ˈcĘɛnna] "teach"
fínt [finĄt] "fine"
loft [l"ft] "air"
upp [ĘŹĘp] "up"
yrði [ˈɪrðɪ] as in nýyrði "neologism"
Śtla [ˈaiĘtla] "will (verb)"
laust [løyst] "lightly"
[edit]
Morphology
Many German speakers will find Icelandic morphology familiar. Almost every morphological category in one language is represented in the other. Nouns are declined for case, number and gender, adjectives for case, number, gender and comparison, and there are two declensions for adjectives, weak and strong. Icelandic possesses only the definite article, which can stand on its own, or be attached to its modified noun (as in other North-Germanic languages). Verbs are conjugated for tense, mood, person, number and voice. There are three voices, active, passive and medial, but it may be debated whether the medial voice is a voice or simply an independent class of verbs of its own. There are only two simple tenses, past and present, but to make up for that there are a number of auxiliary constructions, some of which may be regarded as tenses, others as aspects to varying degrees.
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Syntax
Icelandic is SVO (subject-verb-object), generally speaking, but the inflectional system allows for quite some freedom in word order.
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Icelandic sign language
Main article: Icelandic Sign Language
Icelandic sign language was originally based on Danish Sign Language. Until 1910, deaf Icelandic people were sent to school in Denmark. Today, Icelandic sign language has evolved apart from its Danish roots. The language is regulated by a national committee.
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See also
Icelandic alphabet
Icelandic literature
Swadesh list of Icelandic words
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References
Eiríkur Rśgnvaldsson (1993). ćslensk hljóðkerfisfrŚði. Reykjavík: MĄlvísindastofnun HĄskóla ćslands. ISBN 9979-853-14-X.
Guðrún Kvaran, Hśskuldur śrĄinsson, KristjĄn Árnason et al. (2005). ćslensk tunga I–III. Reykjavík: Almenna bókafélagið. ISBN 9979-2-1900-9.
OreĄnik, Janez, and Magnús Pétursson (1977). "Quantity in Modern Icelandic". Arkiv fśr Nordisk Filologi 92: 155–71.
Scholten, Daniel (2000). Einfźhrung in die islńndische Grammatik. Munich: Philyra Verlag. ISBN 3-935267-00-2.
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External links
Icelandic language edition of Wikipedia
University of Iceland (English) (Icelandic)
ćslensk mĄlstśð (The Icelandic Language Institute)
((Icelandic)) Lexicographical Institute of HĄskóli ćslands / Orðabók HĄskóla ćslands
((Icelandic)) ćslenskuskor HĄskóla ćslands
An Icelandic minigrammar
((Icelandic)) ((German)) BRAGI - website on the Icelandic language, primarily in Icelandic and German, though other languages are available for some sub-pages.
((Icelandic)) Iðunn - Poetry society
((Icelandic)) BragfrŚði og HĄttatal
Icelandic-English Dictionary / ćslensk-ensk orðabók Sverrir Hólmarsson, Christopher Sanders, John Tucker. Searchable dictionary from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries
((Icelandic)) Some Icelandic sayings
((Icelandic)) Meanings of Icelandic names
Ethnologue report for the Icelandic language (about Ethnologue)
((Icelandic)) Daily spoken Icelandic - a little help
((Icelandic)) MannamĄl, Some tricky points of daily spoken Icelandic
Icelandic - English Dictionary: from Webster's Rosetta Edition.
((German)) ćslenska - German magazine for Learners of Icelandic
Mimir - Online Icelandic grammar notebook
Thorn and eth: how to get them right
Verbix - an online Icelandic verb conjugator
((Icelandic)) An online declension tool for Icelandic nouns
Mentalcode - Icelandic
((English)) ((Icelandic)) ((Russian)) rnefnaskrĄ ćslands - Icelandic place names directory
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