Icelandic alphabet with Russian transcription and pronunciation. Icelandic language: a brief history and general characteristics, pronunciation

Iceland is a great state with rich history and the most beautiful nature. The fate of the Icelandic language cannot be called ordinary. Many people know that after one state conquered another, the language of a defeated state, as a rule, weakens, and then disappears altogether, as happened in Norway when the Danes conquered the country. Despite the fact that the Danes tried to introduce their own language in the country, Icelandic not only withstood the onslaught of Danish, but also remained the main spoken and literary language. The rural population simply did not want to accept Danish, only a small part of educated people could boast of knowledge. They wrote works and letters to each other in Icelandic, and later began to print books.

Origin

Icelandic is a language with great history... Belongs to the group and the Scandinavian subgroup. The history of the Icelandic language began when the first settlers from Norway settled in Icelandic lands. Literature came with the advent of the Vikings. Then, in 1000, Christianity came to the Icelanders, after which writing appeared. A little later, the first Icelandic poetry appeared. The works were a bit ambiguous, with intricate plots and complex phrases. The Icelandic language has many similarities with Norwegian and in the XII century they practically did not differ, since the Scandinavians conquered Iceland. Previously, Icelandic was called because in general everything that concerned the ancient Scandinavians was considered Danish.

Distribution area

In modern times, Icelandic is the native language of more than 450 thousand people, many of whom live in North America, Canada and Denmark. Outside Iceland, there is a decline in the number of speakers of Icelandic.

General characteristics of the language

The Icelandic language is considered one of them. Brief history and general characteristics they say that it changed very slowly, there are practically no borrowings from other languages ​​in it. Until now, it remains similar to the Old Icelandic language. The formation of words occurs mainly with the help of compounding and tracing, that is, literal translation of borrowed foreign words. Iceland even has a special organization that was created to create equivalent names for existing concepts. After the Danes seized Icelandic lands, Icelanders made every effort to eliminate the words of a foreign language for them.

An interesting fact is that the Constitution of the country does not mention Icelandic as the Working languages ​​are Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. Icelandic students learn two compulsory languages: Danish and English.

An important feature is that the names of Icelanders are made up of a first name and a patronymic. This is a tradition of the Scandinavian countries. The patronymic consists of the name of the father in the genitive case and the word "son" or "daughter". Sometimes the mother's name may be used. To avoid confusion, the grandfather's name may be used. Only a small number of people have surnames. Upon marriage, the wife can take the husband's surname, if there is one.

Dialects

There are only two dialects:

• northern;
• southern.

The difference between dialects that characterizes Icelandic, the words of which are not much different, makes it clear that the northern and eastern dialects are more similar to various kinds of jargon, since the dialects are not well developed. The only differences are that in the southern dialect the consonants p, t, k are pronounced weakly and with pre-aspiration, while in the northern one they are pronounced as voiceless and aspirated.

Alphabet

Surely some wanted to know how to learn Icelandic, because it is not only beautiful, but also hides great events and stories about the valiant and strong Vikings. The Icelandic alphabet has 32 letters. It is based on a standard alphabet created in the 19th century. A little later, he underwent some changes. Some letters and sounds are unusual for the Russian language, so for Icelandic learners they may seem difficult and incomprehensible.

Title	Small	Transcription	How to read
			ez (s interdental)
			iosis (interdental)
			yu (something between y and yu, as in German ü)
			upsilon and
			upsilon th
			o (something between o and ё, as in German ö)

The following letters are used only in loan words.

The latter has not been used for a long time now, except in the name of a local newspaper.

Pronunciation

At the moment, in comparison with the XII-XII centuries, you can see how the modern structure of the word has changed, how the Icelandic language itself has changed. The pronunciation is in some way different from what it was before. From nasal vowels, long vowels turned into diphthongs, pre-aspiration (aspiration) appeared. But one thing has remained unchanged - a huge number of inflections. Percussive balance is maintained in words. A short vowel in a stressed syllable always comes before a long consonant, and a long vowel comes before a short consonant. The pronunciation of consonants is based on tension and pre-aspiration. Voiced sounds are absent in the language, and deaf sounds are not so common. The initial syllable is always stressed. Unstressed prefixes are very rare in the Icelandic language.

Morphology

Those who are going to learn Icelandic should know that the morphology of the language is not much different from Russian. There is a plural and singular nouns as well as feminine, masculine and neuter. Compared to many other Scandinavian languages ​​that greatly simplified the word formation system, especially the declension of nouns, Icelandic remained true to its traditions. Since Iceland is located far beyond the borders of Europe, located on the mainland, this made it possible to preserve the similarity of the Old Norse and Icelandic languages.

Icelandic has four cases: nominative, genitive, accusative and dative. Certain nouns have an article with them, indefinite ones do not. There is a double definition in which the article is added to the noun, depending on the grammatical basis of the sentence. The structure of the word resembles Russian, that is, a standard prefix is ​​added to the root. The verb has a temporal form, voice and mood. There are also strong and weak verbs. They can conjugate by faces and numbers.

Vocabulary

Since the appearance of the language, and this is the 9th century, little has changed in it. This only means that Icelanders can easily read works in the Old Norse language. With the translation of the New Testament into Icelandic in 1540, its formation and development began. In the 18th century, Icelanders rebelled to clear their language and return to the use of the old words. And if Icelandic words were not enough to designate new objects, then it was proposed to create them from ancient Icelandic roots and prefixes. Thanks to modern reforms, Icelandic vocabulary is practically free of borrowings and foreign words. Despite the rapid development of science and technology, Icelanders are very scrupulous in their work and they replace new words with words from their old vocabulary. Now many words that once fell out of use have been updated in accordance with all the rules of the Icelandic language, introduced back so that Icelanders will gradually get used to them.

What do we know about Iceland? It is a small island state that lives in isolation from other countries at the expense of its geographic location... In Icelandic fewer than 400,000 people speak globally. Below we will give Interesting Facts about this unusual language.

Found not only in Iceland

Of course, most of the native speakers live directly in Iceland, where about 290 thousand people speak it. At the same time, a little more than 8 thousand people live in Denmark, and there are also 5.5 thousand people in the United States, and 2.4 thousand people in Canada. In Russia, 233 people “understand” Icelandic.

The language has remained unchanged for centuries

Any modern Icelander can boast that he can read the Viking sagas almost 1000 years ago: during this time the language has not changed much. This is a truly unique linguistic phenomenon.

Difficulty pronunciation of familiar letters

The Icelandic alphabet has 32 letters. This is the usual English alphabet with the addition of the letters á, æ, ð, é, í, ó, ö, þ, ú, ý, but c, q, w, z have disappeared from it. It is very, very problematic to pronounce the sounds corresponding to these letters and their combinations for non-native speakers of Icelandic.

Let us recall the case when the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in 2010. Then even the most experienced journalists around the world found it difficult to pronounce the name of the volcano correctly, and Icelanders only laughed at their attempts.

Most of all, this language is similar to Norwegian. Back in the XII century, Iceland was conquered by the Scandinavians, and the reins of the country lay in the hands of the Norwegians and the Danes.

Icelandic is not a "monopoly" in the country

It is curious that Icelandic is not listed as an official state language in the Icelandic Constitution. There is also Danish, Swedish and Norwegian in the everyday life of the inhabitants. Children in an Icelandic school must learn Danish and English.

Icelanders for preserving the uniqueness of their language

Icelanders want to continue to preserve the authenticity of their language with all their might and in every possible way protect it from borrowing from outside. And although science and technology do not stand still, and every day more and more new words appear in the world (which often migrate to other languages ​​in the form of Anglicisms), Icelanders have found a way out.In Iceland, there is a special committee that "invents" equivalent words for the names of modern achievements of science and technology.

For example, mobile phone Icelanders "Christened" simi - in honor of the magic thread, which is mentioned in the ancient saga as a means of communication.

Words are formed by folding the roots

The formation of new words in Icelandic occurs by adding existing words and their roots. So, for example, the word geimfari (astronaut) is a combination of the meanings space and traveler.

In this feature, Icelandic is similar to German, where by adding different roots to each other, absolutely "immense" words can appear.

You will be surprised, but the morphology of this northern language does not differ much from Russian. Nouns are plural and singular, as well as masculine, feminine, and neuter. The verb has a temporal form, voice and mood. It can also conjugate by faces and numbers.

Northern and southern dialects

Icelandic even has its own dialects: northern and southern. The difference between dialects, however, is small: in the northern dialect (hardmayli) the sounds / p, t, k / are pronounced as deaf aspirated, and in the southern (linmayli) - initially deaf / p, t, k / not at the beginning of the word are pronounced as weak non-aspirated.

These differences are not displayed in the letter in any way.

Patronymic instead of surname

An interesting feature of the Icelandic language is that, instead of the usual surnames, a patronymic is used in a person's full name. It consists of the name of the father in the genitive case and the word "son" or "daughter". On rare occasions, the mother's name may be used. Although, in order to avoid confusion, they prefer to use the name of their grandfather.

Icelandic(Icelandic Íslenska) is, with about 300,000 native speakers in Iceland ( Ísland), Canada ( Kanada) and the USA ( Bandaríki Norður-Ameríku). Compared to other Scandinavian languages, Icelandic is the closest language to Old Norse, so native speakers of Icelandic can easily read the Old Norse sagas in the original.

The first permanent settlement in Iceland was founded by Vikings from Norway and Celts from British isles in 870 the main language of the settlers was the Old Norse language or Dǫnsk tunga... A number of great literary works - sagas - were written by Icelanders during the 12th-13th centuries. Many of these sagas were written by unknown authors in a language that is very similar to Old Norse. The most famous authors of this period were Ari Thorgilsson (1068-1148) and Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241).

In the period from 1262 to the XV century. Iceland was ruled by Norway, and then it became part of Denmark. During the Norwegian and Danish rule, the language was also used to some extent in Iceland.

In 1944, Iceland gained independence and Icelandic was revived as a state and literary language. Publishing is thriving in Iceland today, and Icelanders are considered some of the most dedicated readers and writers in the world.

Icelandic alphabet (íslenska stafrófið)

A a	Á á	B b	D d	Ð ð	E e	É é	F f	G g	H h	I i
a	á	bé	dé	eð	e	jé	eff	ge	há	i
Í í	J j	K k	L l	M m	N n	O o	Ó ó	P p	R r	S s
í	joð	ká	ell	emm	enn	o	ó	pé	err	ess
T t	U u	Ú ú	V v	X x	Y y	Ý ý	Þ þ	Æ æ	Ö ö
té	u	ú	vaff	ex	ufsilon y	ufsilon ý	þorn	æ	ö

Listen to the Icelandic alphabet

The letters C (se), Q (kú) and W (tvöfalt vaff) are also used, but exclusively in foreign borrowing words. The letter Z (seta) is no longer used in Icelandic, except for the newspaper Morgunblaðið.

Icelandic pronunciation

Vowels and diphthongs

Consonants

Notes (edit)

• Stressed vowels get long:
  - in monosyllabic words, where the vowel is at the end of the word;
  - before a single consonant;
  - before consonant clusters pr, tr, kr, sr, pj, tj, sj, tv or kv
• In other positions, stressed vowels are short
• Unstressed vowels are always short
• nn = after a stressed vowel or diphthong

Lower case 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

History

The modern Icelandic alphabet was created on the basis of a standard that developed in the 19th century. The main role in the creation was played by the Danish linguist Rasmus Christian Rusk.

At the end of the 20th century, the alphabet was changed again. Letter é replaced je... In 1974 the letter z was abolished.

Keyboard layout

see also

Links

• "Íslenska, í senn forn og ný".(Iceland.)

Ú, ú (U with acute accent) is an extended Latin letter used in the Czech, Faroese, Hungarian, Icelandic and Slovak alphabets. The letter also appears in the Dutch, Irish, Occitan, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Vietnamese alphabets, and the Pinyin system as a tone-added variant of the U.

Supplement to the Latin alphabet - 1

Latin Supplement - 1 or C1 Control Characters and Latin Supplement - 1 (English Latin-1 Supplement, C1 Controls and Latin-1 Supplement) - the second block of the Unicode standard. It occupies the range ISO 8859-1 80 (U + 0080) - FF (U + 00FF). C1 control characters are not graphemes.

The Unicode block C1 Control Characters and Latin-1 Supplements has been included in its current version with the same character set since version 1.0 of the Unicode standard, where it was known as Latin-1.

Old English Latin alphabet

The Old English Latin Alphabet or Anglo-Saxon Latin Alphabet is one of the two scripts of the Old English language. As a rule, it consisted of 24 letters and was used for writing in the 9th-12th centuries. Of these, 20 were directly Latin letters, two modifications of Latin letters (Ææ, Ðð), and two graphemes were borrowed from the runic alphabet (Þþ, Ƿƿ). The letters K, Q and Z were not used in writing Anglo-Saxon words.

A B C D E F G H I L M N O P R S T U X Y Ƿ Þ Ð Æ In 1011, the hagiographer writer Birtferth (OE Byrhtferð) ordered the alphabet for numerological purposes. He listed 24 basic letters of the Latin alphabet, and then 5 more english letters, resulting in an alphabet of 29 characters:

A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U X Y Z & ⁊ Ƿ Þ Ð Æ G had a variant of "Ᵹ", in the Middle English period the letter "ȝ" was used instead.

The Latin alphabet was one of two systems used by the Anglo-Saxons, along with the runic script.

Icelandic

The Islamic language (self-name - íslenska) is an Indo-European language, the language of Icelanders, the state language (since 2011, legislatively) of Iceland, a representative of the Scandinavian group of Germanic languages.

Historically, Icelandic was the westernmost Indo-European language before the Portuguese settled in the Azores. Icelandic, Faroese, West Norse and the extinct Norn language were formerly Western Scandinavian languages, and Swedish, Danish, and East Norwegian were the Eastern Scandinavian languages. Both groups have influenced modern Norwegian. Today the Scandinavian languages ​​are divided into continental (Danish, Swedish and Norwegian) and insular (Icelandic and Faroese).

In most languages Western Europe inflection is strongly limited - namely, declension. In contrast, Icelandic has a synthetic grammar, retaining 4 cases, being, together with German, one of two Germanic languages ​​that retained cases, although Icelandic grammar is more synthetic and conservative. The Icelandic language is distinguished by a large number of incorrect declensions (declensions not according to the rules). The conservatism of Icelandic and its similarity to Old Norse means that modern speakers can easily read Eddas and Sagas and other classical Scandinavian literature written in the 10th-13th centuries.

The majority of Icelandic speakers are approximately 320,000. - lives in Iceland; more than 8000 in Denmark, of which about 3000 are students. Approximately 5,000 people speak Icelandic also in the United States and more than 1,400 in Canada, especially in the province of Manitoba. 97% of the Icelandic population consider Icelandic as their native language, but outside Iceland, especially in Canada, the number of speakers is gradually decreasing.

The Arni Magnusson Institute for Icelandic Studies (Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum) is a center for the preservation of medieval Icelandic manuscripts; center for the study of Icelandic language and literature. The Icelandic Language Council, which includes universities, artists, journalists and the Ministry of Culture, Science and Education, consults with the authorities on language policy. since 1995, on November 16 each year, the Day of the Icelandic language has been celebrated in honor of the birthday of the poet of the 19th century. Jónas Hallgrímsson (Iceland Jónas Hallgrímsson).

Icelandic culture

Culture of Iceland - the culture of Icelanders - the main people inhabiting Iceland, which, going back to the traditions of the Vikings, developed under the influence of pagan religion, and later - Christianity, without being exposed to big changes per last millennium and retaining its identity. The reason for this is not only and not so much the isolation of Icelanders from other European peoples, as the main national features of Icelanders - ethnocentrism and conservatism. However, geographical factors such as the harsh subarctic climate, long polar days and nights, the scarcity of flora and fauna and isolation from mainland Europe, and natural phenomena such as frequent earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods and snow storms, also could not but affect the culture. of this northern people.

Icelandic spelling

Icelandic spelling is a spelling, a system of rules that determine the uniformity of speech transmission (words and grammatical forms) in writing in Icelandic.

Swedish alphabet

The Swedish alphabet is a writing system for the Swedish language based on Latin graphics.

The modern Swedish alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet and consists of 29 letters:

The letters Q, W, Z are used:

1) in borrowed words: webb, zon; qu is usually replaced by kv, except for proper names and those derived from them;

2) in some surnames of original Swedish origin: Ahlqvist, Wall, Zetterström, Tydén.

General information