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Icelandic is a North Germanic language spoken by approximately 314,000 people, primarily in Iceland, where it serves as the national language. It retains a conservative grammatical structure with a four-case system and a vocabulary that emphasizes older Icelandic terms over loanwords. The language has a small number of speakers in Denmark, the United States, and Canada, and is supported by institutions dedicated to its preservation and study.

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Untitled document (2)

Icelandic is a North Germanic language spoken by approximately 314,000 people, primarily in Iceland, where it serves as the national language. It retains a conservative grammatical structure with a four-case system and a vocabulary that emphasizes older Icelandic terms over loanwords. The language has a small number of speakers in Denmark, the United States, and Canada, and is supported by institutions dedicated to its preservation and study.

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tcoklfegui
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Icelandic (/aɪsˈlændɪk/ eyess-LAN-dik; endonym: íslenska, pronounced [ˈistlɛnska] )


is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken by
about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national
[2]
language. Since it is a West Scandinavian language, it is most closely related to
Faroese, western Norwegian dialects, and the extinct language Norn. It is not mutually
intelligible with the continental Scandinavian languages (Danish, Norwegian, and
Swedish) and is more distinct from the most widely spoken Germanic languages,
English and German. The written forms of Icelandic and Faroese are very similar, but
[3]
their spoken forms are not mutually intelligible.

The language is more conservative than most other Germanic languages. While most of
them have greatly reduced levels of inflection (particularly noun declension), Icelandic
retains a four-case synthetic grammar (comparable to German, though considerably
more conservative and synthetic) and is distinguished by a wide assortment of irregular
declensions. Icelandic vocabulary is also deeply conservative, with the country's
language regulator maintaining an active policy of coining terms based on older
Icelandic words rather than directly taking in loanwords from other languages.

Aside from the 300,000 Icelandic speakers in Iceland, Icelandic is spoken by about
[4] [5]
8,000 people in Denmark, 5,000 people in the United States, and more than 1,400
[6]
people in Canada, notably in the region known as New Iceland in Manitoba which was
settled by Icelanders beginning in the 1880s.

The state-funded Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies serves as a centre for
preserving the medieval Icelandic manuscripts and studying the language and its
literature. The Icelandic Language Council, comprising representatives of universities,
the arts, journalists, teachers, and the Ministry of Culture, Science and Education,
advises the authorities on language policy. Since 1995, on 16 November each year, the
birthday of 19th-century poet Jónas Hallgrímsson is celebrated as Icelandic Language
[7]
Day.

Classification[edit]
See also: Germanic languages
Icelandic is an Indo-European language and belongs to the North Germanic group of
the Germanic languages. Icelandic is further classified as a West Scandinavian
[8]
language. Icelandic is derived from an earlier language Old Norse, which later
became Old Icelandic and currently Modern Icelandic. The division between old and
[9]
modern Icelandic is said to be before and after 1540.

East Germanic languages

West Germanic languages

Icelandic
Proto-Germani
c Old West
Norse Faroese
Proto-Norse
→ Old
Norse Norwegian

Danish
Old East Norse
Swedish

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