- Official language in
- Iceland
- Script
- Latin
Where it's spoken
Article 1 of Iceland's Act on the Status of the Icelandic Language and Icelandic Sign Language states that Icelandic is the national language of Icelanders and the official language in Iceland. Article 8 of the same act states that Icelandic is the language of the Althing, the courts, the authorities of both state and municipalities, and schools at all levels. A booklet published by Iceland's Ministry of Education (Menntamálaráðuneytið) says that Iceland is almost free of dialects, and describes this as very rare, if not unique, for such a large and sparsely populated country.
Sources
Script & pronunciation
The Icelandic alphabet printed in the government booklet is made of Latin-based letters, including the letters Þ, Ð, Æ and Ö and vowels with an acute accent. The booklet says that the accents over vowels mark neither stress nor length but a different sound value, and that Á, for example, is a diphthong. It calls Þ and Ð the most unusual letters of the alphabet. This app's cards show these letters in ordinary words, such as Ð in Fyrirgefðu ("Sorry"), Þ in þú ("You") and Á in Já ("Yes").
Sources
- Menntamálaráðuneytið, Íslenska – í senn forn og ný (Smárit 13, with Íslensk málstöð) — Section on the alphabet
Grammar essentials
The government booklet states that the basic word order in Icelandic is subject–verb–object, but that, because words are inflected in many ways, the word order can be quite free; it gives Bróðir minn keypti bókina and Bókina keypti bróðir minn as two sentences with the same basic meaning. It also says that nouns, adjectives, pronouns and the numerals 1–4 are inflected in four cases. This app's card Ég skil ekki ("I don't understand") has a grammar note saying that ekki ("not") follows the conjugated verb. The card Ég tala smá íslensku ("I speak a little Icelandic") has a grammar note saying that tala takes the accusative, so íslenska becomes íslensku. The card Hvar er brottfararhliðið? ("Where is the gate?") has a grammar note saying that brottfararhlið is neuter and takes the form brottfararhliðið with the article.
Sources
- Menntamálaráðuneytið, Íslenska – í senn forn og ný (Smárit 13, with Íslensk málstöð) — Sections on word order and inflection
Politeness & etiquette
The government booklet says that forms of address in everyday communication are rather informal, that the formal þéranir are not customary (any longer), and that people use the given names of the people they speak with. This app's cards agree: the card Talarðu ensku? ("Do you speak English?") has a grammar note saying that Icelandic uses þú with everyone, so there is no polite form, and the card þú ("You") has a grammar note saying that Icelandic has no polite second person.
Sources
- Menntamálaráðuneytið, Íslenska – í senn forn og ný (Smárit 13, with Íslensk málstöð) — Section on forms of address