Icelandic

Icelandic is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Iceland. It is closely related to Norwegian and Faroese, although there are slight traces of Celtic influence in ancient Icelandic literature.

History

Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. It was brought to Iceland by the country's Norsemen settlers in the 9th and 10th centuries.

Characteristics

Icelandic has preserved more grammatical cases than most other modern Germanic languages. It has four cases: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive.

Modern Icelandic

Modern Icelandic is still a highly inflected language. Changes in syntax and vocabulary have been minor compared to other Germanic languages. This means that Icelandic, in its written form, has changed relatively little since the 13th century.

Icelandic Alphabet

The Icelandic alphabet consists of 32 letters. The letters a, á, e, é, i, í, o, ó, u, ú, y, ý, æ and ö are considered vowels, and the remaining 18 letters are consonants.

Learning Icelandic

Icelandic is considered one of the more challenging languages for English speakers to learn due to its complex grammar and pronunciation.

See Also

• Old Norse
• Icelandic literature
• Icelandic phonology
• Icelandic orthography

Icelandic Resources
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