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Icelandic language
*** Shopping-Tip: Icelandic language
:''For other meanings, see
Icelandic Icelandic (disambiguation).''
{{language
|name=Icelandic
|nativename=Ãslenska
|states=
Iceland, parts of Canada (
Manitoba)
|region=Iceland
|speakers=300,000
|familycolor=Indo-European
|fam2=
Germanic languages Germanic
|fam3=
North Germanic languages North Germanic
|fam4=West Scandinavian
|nation=Iceland
|agency=�slensk málstöð
The Icelandic Language Institute
|iso1=is|iso2=isl|iso3=isl}}
'''Icelandic''' (''Ãslenska'') is a
North Germanic languages North Germanic language spoken in
Iceland. It is an
Inflection inflected language with four
List of grammatical cases cases:
Nominative case nominative,
Accusative case accusative,
Dative case dative and
Genitive case genitive. Its closest relative is
Faroese language Faroese and can be somewhat understood by Norwegians as well.
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 language 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
Icelandic sagas 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 language 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) and
ð (eth or edh), representing the
Voiceless consonant voiceless and
Voiced consonant voiced "th" sounds as in English ''thin'' and ''this'' respectively.
The complete
Icelandic alphabet is:
A � B D � E É F G H I � J K L M N O Ó P R S T U Ú V X Y � Þ Æ Ö (32 letters)
a á b d ð e é f g h i à j k l m n o ó p r s t u ú v x y ý þ æ ö
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 dialect differences that can cause misunderstanding.
Sounds
{{IPA notice}}
Icelandic has an
aspiration (phonetics) aspiration minimal pair contrast between
plosives, rather than a voicing contrast, something relatively rare among European languages. Preaspirated voiceless stops are also common. However
fricative consonant fricative and
sonorant consonant phonemes exhibit regular contrasts in voice, including in
nasal consonant 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
International Phonetic Alphabet IPA article for information on the sounds of the following symbols:
Consonants
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+'''Consonant phones'''
|-
!|
! colspan="2" |
Bilabial consonant Bilabial
! colspan="2" |
Labiodental consonant Labio-
dental
! colspan="2" |
Dental consonant Dental
! colspan="2" |
Alveolar consonant Alveolar
! colspan="2" |
Palatal consonant Palatal
! colspan="2" |
Velar consonant Velar
! colspan="2" |
Glottal consonant Glottal
|-
!|
Stop consonant Plosive
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|pÊ°}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|p}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|tÊ°}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|t}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|cÊ°}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|c}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|kÊ°}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|k}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|ʔ}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
|-
!|
Nasal consonant Nasal
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|m̥}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|m}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|n̥}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|n}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|ɲ̊}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|ɲ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|Å‹ÌŠ}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|Å‹}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
|-
!|
Fricative consonant Fricative
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|f}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|v}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|θ}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|ð}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|s}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|ç}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|j}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|x}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|É£}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|h}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
|-
!|
Trill consonant Trill
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|r̥}} || style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|r}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
|-
!|
Lateral consonant Lateral approximant
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | {{IPA|lÌ¥}} {{IPA|l̥
ɣ}}|| style="border-left-width: 0;" | {{IPA|l l
ɣ}}
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
| style="border-right-width: 0;" | || style="border-left-width: 0;" |
|}
The voiced fricatives {{IPA|[v]}}, {{IPA|[ð]}}, {{IPA|[j]}} and {{IPA|[ɣ]}} are not completely constrictive and are often closer to approximants than fricatives.
The status of {{IPA|[c]}} and {{IPA|[cÊ°]}} as
phonemes or as
allophones of {{IPA.html">minimal pairs like ''gjóla'' {{IPA
[couË?la]}} "light wind" vs. ''góla'' {{IPA|[kouË?la]}} "howl" and ''kjóla'' {{IPA|[cÊ°ouË?la]}} "dresses" vs. ''kóla'' {{IPA|[kÊ°ouË?la]}} "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. Rögnvaldsson 1993) have held out for an underlying phonemic representation of {{IPA|[couË?la]}} and {{IPA|[cÊ°ouË?la]}} as {{IPA|/kjoula/}} and {{IPA|/kÊ°joula/}} respectively, with a
phonology phonological process merging {{IPA|/k(Ê°)j/}} into {{IPA|[c(Ê°)]}}. Whether this approach, which is consistent with the orthography and historical processes, represents a synchronic reality is disputed.
The dental fricatives {{IPA|[θ]}} and {{IPA|[ð]}} are allophones of a single phoneme. {{IPA|[θ]}} is used word-initially, as in ''þak'' {{IPA|[θaË?k]}} "roof", and before a
voiceless consonant, as in ''maðkur'' {{IPA|[maθkÊ?r]}} "worm". {{IPA|[ð]}} is used intervocalically, as in ''iða'' {{IPA|[ɪË?ða]}} "vortex" and word-finally, as in ''bað'' {{IPA|[paË?ð]}} "bath", although it can be devoiced to {{IPA|[θ]}} before pause.
Of the voiceless nasals, only {{IPA|[nÌ¥]}} occurs in word-initial position, for example in ''hné'' {{IPA|[nÌ¥jÉ›Ë?]}} "knee". Recently, there has been an increasing tendency, especially among children, to pronounce this as voiced, for example pronouncing ''hnÃfur'' {{IPA|[nivÊ?r]}} "knife" rather than standard {{IPA|[nÌ¥ivÊ?r]}}. The
palatal nasal appears before palatal stops and the
velar nasals before
velar stops. {{IPA|[Å‹]}} appears also before {{IPA|[l]}} and {{IPA|[s]}} through the deletion of {{IPA|[k]}} in the
consonant clusters {{IPA|[Å‹kl]}} and {{IPA|[Å‹ks]}}.
The preaspirates {{IPA|[ʰp ʰt ʰc ʰk]}} (e.g. ''löpp'' {{IPA|[lœʰp]}} "foot") do not occur in initial position. The
geminates {{IPA|[pp tt cc kk]}} are not necessarily longer than simple {{IPA|[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.
Vowels
{|class="wikitable"
!
Monophthongs
!
Front vowel Front
!
Back vowel Back
|-
| '''
Close vowel Close'''
| align=center | {{IPA|i}}
| align=center | {{IPA|u}}
|-
| '''
Near-close vowel Near-close'''
| align=center | {{IPA|ɪ • Ê?}}
|
|-
| '''
Open-mid vowel Open-mid'''
| align=center | {{IPA|ɛ • œ}}
| align=center | {{IPA|É”}}
|-
| '''
Open vowel Open'''
| colspan=2 align=center | {{IPA|a}}
|}
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel.
{|class="wikitable"
!
Diphthongs
! Closer component
is front
! Closer component
is back
|-
| '''Opener component is mid'''
| align=center | {{IPA|ei • øy}}
| align=center | {{IPA|ou}}
|-
| '''Opener component is fully open'''
| align=center | {{IPA|ai}}
| align=center | {{IPA|au}}
|}
Vowel length is predictable in Icelandic (Orešnik and Pétursson 1977).
Stress (linguistics) Stressed vowels (both monophthongs and diphthongs) are long:
*In one-syllable words where the vowel is word-final:
**''fá'' {{IPA|[fauË?]}} "get"
**''nei'' {{IPA|[neiË?]}} "no"
**''þú'' {{IPA|[θuË?]}} "you (singular)"
*Before a single consonant:
**''fara'' {{IPA|[ˈfaË?ra]}} "go"
**''hás'' {{IPA|[hauË?s]}} "hoarse"
**''vekja'' {{IPA|[ˈvÉ›Ë?ca]}} "wake up"
**''ég'' {{IPA|[jÉ›Ë?É£]}} "I"
**''spyr'' {{IPA|[spɪË?r]}} "ask (1 person, singular)"
*Before any of the
consonant clusters {{IPA|[pr tr kr sr]}}, {{IPA|[pj tj sj]}}, or {{IPA|[tv kv]}}:
**''lipra'' {{IPA|[ˈlɪË?pra]}} "agile (accusative, feminine)"
**''sætra'' {{IPA|[ˈsaiË?tra]}} "sweet (genitive, plural)"
**''akra'' {{IPA|[ˈaË?kra]}} "fields (accusative, plural)"
**''hásra'' {{IPA|[ˈhauË?sra]}} "hoarse (genitive, plural)"
**''vepja'' {{IPA|[ˈvÉ›Ë?pja]}} "lapwing"
**''letja'' {{IPA|[ˈlÉ›Ë?tja]}} "dissuade"
**''Esja'' {{IPA|[ˈɛË?sja]}} proper noun, a mountain
**''götva'' {{IPA|[ˈkÅ“Ë?tva]}} as in ''uppgötva'' "discover"
**''vökva'' {{IPA|[ˈvÅ“Ë?kva]}} "water (verb)"
Before other consonant clusters (including the preaspirated stops {{IPA|[hp ht hk]}} and
Gemination geminate consonants), stressed vowels are short. Unstressed vowels are always short.
*''Karl'' {{IPA|[kʰartl̥]}} proper noun
*''standa'' {{IPA|[ˈstanta]}} "stand"
*''sjálfur'' {{IPA|[ˈsjaulvÊ?r]}} "self"
*''kenna'' {{IPA|[ˈcʰɛnna]}} "teach"
*''fÃnt'' {{IPA|[finÌ¥t]}} "fine"
*''loft'' {{IPA|[lɔft]}} "air"
*''upp'' {{IPA|[Ê?Ê°p]}} "up"
*''yrði'' {{IPA|[ˈɪrðɪ]}} as in ''nýyrði'' "neologism"
*''ætla'' {{IPA|[ˈaiʰtla]}} "will (verb)"
*''laust'' {{IPA|[løyst]}} "lightly"
Morphology
Many
German language German speakers will find Icelandic morphology familiar. Almost every morphological category in one language is represented in the other.
Nouns are declined for
List of grammatical cases case,
Grammatical number number and
Grammatical gender gender,
Adjective adjectives for case, number, gender and
comparison, and there are two
Declension declensions for adjectives, weak and strong. Icelandic possesses only the
Grammatical article definite article, which can stand on its own, or be attached to its modified noun (as in other
North Germanic language North-Germanic languages).
Verbs are
Grammatical conjugation conjugated for
tense,
Grammatical mood mood,
Grammatical person person, number and
Grammatical voice 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
Grammatical aspect aspects to varying degrees.
Syntax
Icelandic is
Subject Verb Object SVO, generally speaking, but the inflectional system allows for quite some freedom in word order.
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.
See also
*
Icelandic alphabet
*
Icelandic Swadesh list Swadesh list of Icelandic words
References
*{{cite book | first= | last=EirÃkur Rögnvaldsson | year=1993 | title=Ã?slensk hljóðkerfisfræði | publisher=ReykjavÃk: MálvÃsindastofnun Háskóla Ã?slands | id=ISBN 9979-853-14-X}}
*{{cite book | author=Guðrún Kvaran, Höskuldur Þráinsson, Kristján Ã?rnason et al.| year=2005 | title=Ã?slensk tunga I–III | publisher=ReykjavÃk: Almenna bókafélagið | id=ISBN 9979-2-1900-9}}
*{{cite journal | author=OreÅ¡nik, Janez, and Magnús Pétursson | title=Quantity in Modern Icelandic | journal=Arkiv för Nordisk Filologi | year=1977 | volume=92 | pages=155–71}}
*{{cite book | first=Daniel | last=Scholten | year=2000 | title=Einführung in die isländische Grammatik | publisher=Munich: Philyra Verlag | id=ISBN 3-935267-00-2}}
External links
{{InterWiki|code=is}}
*
University of Iceland ([http://www.hi.is/page/hi_is_english_frontpage English]) ([http://www.hi.is/ Icelandic])
*
-
�slensk málstöð (The Icelandic Language Institute)
** {{Is icon}} [http://lexis.hi.is/ Lexicographical Institute of Háskóli �slands / Orðabók Háskóla �slands]
** {{Is icon}} [http://www.hi.is/nam/islenska/ �slenskuskor Háskóla �slands]
-
An Icelandic minigrammar
* {{Is icon}} {{De icon}} [http://www2.hu-berlin.de/bragi BRAGI] - website on the Icelandic language, primarily in Icelandic and German, though other languages are available for some sub-pages.
* {{Is icon}} [http://www.rimur.is/ Iðunn - Poetry society]
** {{Is icon}} [http://www.rimur.is/?i=4 Bragfræði og Háttatal]
-
Icelandic-English Dictionary / �slensk-ensk orðabók Sverrir Hólmarsson, Christopher Sanders, John Tucker. Searchable dictionary from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries
* {{Is icon}} [http://www.msfelag.is/lettmeti/malshaettir.htm Some Icelandic sayings]
* {{Is icon}} [http://www.mannanofn.com/ Meanings of Icelandic names]
-
Ethnologue report for the Icelandic language (about
Ethnologue)
* {{Is icon}} [http://www.ma.is/kenn/svp/kennsluefni/malfar/fyrsta.htm Daily spoken Icelandic - a little help]
* {{Is icon}} [http://www.ma.is/kenn/svp/pistlar/default.htm Mannamál, Some tricky points of daily spoken Icelandic]
-
Icelandic - English Dictionary: from Webster's Rosetta Edition.
* {{De icon}} [http://www.islenska.de/index.html Ã?slenska - 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
* {{Is icon}} [http://www.lexis.hi.is/beygingarlysing/index.html An online declension tool for Icelandic nouns]
-
Mentalcode - Icelandic
* {{En icon}} {{Is icon}} {{Ru icon}} [http://gis.bofh.is/ornefnaskra/ Örnefnaskrá �slands - Icelandic place names directory]
Category:Icelandic language
Category:North Germanic languages
Category:Languages of Iceland
af:Yslands
ar:لغة آيسلندية
an:Luenga islandesa
ast:Islandés
bg:ИÑ?ландÑ?ки език
bs:Islandski jezik
ca:Islandès
cs:Islandština
cy:Islandeg
da:Islandsk sprog
de:Isländische Sprache
el:Ισλανδική γλώσσα
es:Idioma islandés
eo:Islanda lingvo
eu:Islandiera
fo:�slenskt mál
fr:Islandais
gl:Lingua islandesa
he:×?×™×¡×œ× ×“×™×ª
ko:아�슬란드어
io:Islandana linguo
id:Bahasa Islandia
is:Ã?slenska
it:Lingua islandese
kw:Islandek
la:Lingua Islandensis
lt:Islandų kalba
li:Ieslands
nl:IJslands
ja:アイスランド語
no:Islandsk språk
nn:Islandsk språk
pl:Język islandzki
pt:LÃngua islandesa
ro:Limba islandeză
ru:ИÑ?ландÑ?кий Ñ?зык
se:Islánddagiella
scn:Lingua islandisi
simple:Icelandic language
sk:IslandÄ?ina
sl:IslandÅ¡Ä?ina
fi:Islannin kieli
sv:Isländska
zh:冰岛è¯
see
Icelandic language
Category:Culture of Iceland
Category:North Germanic languages
is:Flokkur:Ã?slenska
*** Shopping-Tip: Icelandic language
