Icelandic language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Icelandic íslenska |
||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Iceland, Denmark and Gimli, Manitoba, Canada | |
| Region: | Iceland | |
| Total speakers: | 300,000 | |
| Language family: | Indo-European Germanic North Germanic West Scandinavian Icelandic |
|
| Official status | ||
| Official language of: | Iceland | |
| Regulated by: | The Icelandic Language Institute | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | is | |
| ISO 639-2: | isl | |
| ISO/FDIS 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, the official language of Iceland and the mother tongue of the Icelandic people. Its closest relative is Faroese and can be somewhat understood by a small number of 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 Norse and 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. Old Icelandic was, in the strict sense of the term, a dialect of Old Norse with some Celtic influence.
The Icelandic alphabet is notable for its retention of two old letters which no longer exist in the English alphabet: Þ,þ (þorn, anglicized as "thorn") and Ð,ð (eð, anglicized as "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 | Í | J | K | L | M | N | O | Ó | P | R | S | T | U | Ú | V | X | Y | Ý | Þ | Æ | Ö | (32 letters) |
| a | á | 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 | æ | ö |
Icelandic does not have any notable dialect differences.
Contents |
[edit] Phonology
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
| Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | pʰ | p | tʰ | t | cʰ | c | kʰ | k | ʔ | |||||
| Nasal | m̥ | m | n̥ | n | ɲ̊ | ɲ | ŋ̊ | ŋ | ||||||
| Fricative | f | v | θ | ð | s | ç | j | x | ɣ | h | ||||
| Trill | r̥ | r | ||||||||||||
| Lateral approximant | l̥ l̥ɣ | l lɣ | ||||||||||||
The voiced fricatives [v], [ð], [j] and [ɣ] are not completely constrictive and are often closer to approximants than fricatives.
The status of [c] and [cʰ] as phonemes or as allophones of /k/ and /kʰ/ 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 [cʰouːla] "dresses" vs. kóla [kʰouːla] "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 [couːla] and [cʰouːla] as /kjoula/ and /kʰjoula/ respectively, with a phonological process merging the /k(ʰ)j/ into [c(ʰ)]. Whether this approach, which is consistent with the orthography and historical processes, represents a synchronic reality is disputed.[citation needed]
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 [maθkʏr] "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. The phoneme /θ/ actually represents a voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative [θ̠] or [ð̠] when voiced.
Of the voiceless nasals, only [n̥] occurs in word-initial position, for example in hné [n̥jɛː] "knee". Recently, there has been an increasing tendency, especially among children, to pronounce this as voiced; for example pronouncing hnífur [nivʏr] "knife" rather than standard [n̥ivʏr]. 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 [ʰp ʰt ʰc ʰk] (e.g. löpp [lœʰp] "foot") do not occur in initial position. In most analyses, consonant length is seen as phonemic while vowel length is seen as determined entirely by environment. Measurements of segment length reveal a more complex picture.
[edit] Vowels
| Monophthongs | Front | Back |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Near-close | ɪ • ʏ | |
| Open-mid | ɛ • œ | ɔ |
| Open | a | |
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right of the dot represents a rounded vowel.
| Diphthongs | Closer component is front |
Closer component is back |
|---|---|---|
| Opener component is mid | ei • øy | ou |
| Opener component is fully open | ai | au |
Vowel length is predictable in Icelandic (Orešnik and Pétursson 1977). Stressed vowels (both monophthongs and diphthongs) are long:
- In one-syllable words where the vowel is word-final:
- fá [fauː] "get"
- nei [neiː] "no"
- þú [θuː] "you (singular)"
- Before a single consonant:
- fara [ˈfaːra] "go"
- hás [hauːs] "hoarse"
- vekja [ˈvɛːca] "wake (someone) up
- ég [jɛːɣ] "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)"
- sætra [ˈsaiːtra] "sweet (genitive, plural)"
- akra [ˈaːkra] "fields (accusative, plural)"
- hásra [ˈhauːsra] "hoarse (genitive, plural)"
- vepja [ˈvɛːpja] "lapwing"
- letja [ˈlɛːtja] "dissuade"
- Esja [ˈɛːsja] proper noun, a mountain
- götva [ˈkœːtva] as in uppgötva "discover"
- vökva [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 [kʰartl̥] proper noun
- standa [ˈstanta] "stand"
- sjálfur [ˈsjaulvʏr] "self"
- kenna [ˈcʰɛnːa] "teach"
- fínt [fin̥t] "fine"
- loft [lɔft] "air"
- upp [ʏʰp] "up"
- yrði [ˈɪrðɪ] as in nýyrði "neologism"
- ætla [ˈaiʰtla] "will (verb)"
- laust [løyst] "lightly"
(Note: in Icelandic, the main stress is always on the first syllable.)
[edit] Grammar
Icelandic is an inflected language with four cases: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive. Icelandic nouns can have one of three grammatical genders - masculine, feminine or neuter. Nouns, adjectives and pronouns are declined in the four cases, in singular and plural.
[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.
[edit] Nouns
Icelandic nouns are much like Old Norse, both in form and inflection. They declinate in four cases (Nominative, Accusative, Dative and Genitive) and vary in gender (Masculine, Feminine or Neuter) and number (Singular and Plural). There are two main declension paradigms for each gender: Strong and Weak nouns, that are furthermore divided in smaller paradigms for declension, according to many criteria (sound-shifts, consonant clusters etc.)
[edit] Syntax
Icelandic is SVO (subject-verb-object), generally speaking, with the subject and verb inverted in questions and when a sentence begins with an adverb. However, the inflectional system allows for considerable freedom in word order.
[edit] 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Eiríkur Rögnvaldsson (1993). Íslensk hljóðkerfisfræði. Reykjavík: Málvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands. ISBN 9979-853-14-X.
- Guðrún Kvaran, Höskuldur Þráinsson, Kristján Árnason et al. (2005). Íslensk tunga I–III. Reykjavík: Almenna bókafélagið. ISBN 9979-2-1900-9.
- Orešnik, Janez, and Magnús Pétursson (1977). "Quantity in Modern Icelandic". Arkiv för Nordisk Filologi 92: 155–71.
- Scholten, Daniel (2000). Einführung in die isländische Grammatik. Munich: Philyra Verlag. ISBN 3-935267-00-2.
[edit] External links
- University of Iceland (English) (Icelandic)
- Íslensk málstöð (The Icelandic Language Institute)
- (Icelandic) Lexicographical Institute of Háskóli Íslands / Orðabók Háskóla Íslands
- (Icelandic) Íslenskuskor Háskóla Íslands
- (English) Icelandic Online a free beginner's and intermediate course in Icelandic from the University of Iceland
- 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) Bragfræði og Háttatal
- Icelandic-English Dictionary / Íslensk-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) Mannamál, Some tricky points of daily spoken Icelandic
- Icelandic - English Dictionary: from Webster's Rosetta Edition.
- (German) Íslenska - 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 Language Lessons
- (English) (Icelandic) (Russian) Örnefnaskrá Íslands - Icelandic place names directory
- (Icelandic) Réttritun.is - Icelandic spelling, with interactive exercises
| Major Modern Germanic languages | ||
|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Danish | Dutch | English | German | Norwegian | Swedish | Yiddish | ||
| Minor Modern Germanic languages | ||
| Faroese | Frisian | Icelandic | Luxembourgish | ||
| Reg. acknowledged Germanic languages/dialects | ||
| Low German / Low Saxon | Limburgish | Scots | ||
