1. Insular Nordic
SAS1. April 22nd, 2016

3. Classification of modern Nordic languages on the basis of oral similarity
Model by Arne Torp

4. Brief history
The Faroe Islands Early 9th century: Viking settlement 1380: Norway w/colonies falls under Danish rule 1823: First (partial) Faroese Bible translation 1845: school law (with Danish as educational language) 1846: Faroese orthography (Hammershaimb) 1938: Faroese allowed as school language 1939: Faroese allowed as church language 1948:Home rule. Faroese is recognized as the main language of the Faroe islands 1952: Føroya Fróðskaparfelag 1965: University of the Faroe Islands 1985: Faroese language council Population 2014: Land size: 1396 km²
Iceland
874–930: Landnám (Viking settlement)
1200–1350: Icelandic sagas are written
1380: Norway w/colonies falls under Danish rule
1540: translation of the new testament into Icelandic (printed in 1584)
1816: Hið íslenzka bókmentafelag
1904: Home rule
1911: University of Iceland
1918: Icelandic sovereignty
1944: Icelandic republic
1964: Icelandic language council
Population 2016:
Land size: km²

5. The sound of Icelandic:
The sound of Faroese:
The sound of Icelandic:

6. Mainland Scandianavian vs. Insular Nordic
Morphology:
loss of case system in Mainland Scandianavian
Othography:
Insular Nordic: etymologically based orthography gives impression of insular linguistic ”unity”
Vocabulary
Stronger Low German influence on Mainland Scandinavian in the Hanseatic period
Stronger lexical purism in Insular Nordic language planning, ecp. the last 150 years

7. Low German influence in Modern Norwegian and Icelandic:
Skredderen tenkte at trøya passet fortreffelig, men kunden klaget og mente at plagget var kort og tøyet simpelt og grovt.
De schrâder dachte dat die trôie vortreffelik paste, men de kunde klâgde und mênde dat die plagge kort was und dat tüg simpel und grof.
Klæðskerinn hélt að skyrtan passaði fullkomlega, en viðskiptavinurinn kvartaði og taldi að flíkin væri stutt og efnið einfalt og gróft.

8. Can you see features that Faroese and Icelandic share – or distinguish one from the other? Faroese: Sviar, norðmenn og danir skilja heilt væl hvønnannan.Teir hava størri trupulleikar við íslendskum, hóast íslendskt líkist tí skandinaviska málinum, ið varð tosað fyri túsund árum síðan. Næstringur hjá íslendskum er føroyskt, men málini eru ikki so lík, at ein íslendingur skilir ein føroying uttan trupulleikar. Icelandic parallel text: Svíar, Norðmenn og Danir skilja hver annan nokkuð auðveldlega. Þeir eiga í meiri vandræðum með íslensku þrátt fyrir að íslenskan líkist skandinavíska málinu sem talað var fyrir þúsund árum síðan. Nánasti ættingi íslenskunnar er færeyskan en tungumálin líkjast þó hvort öðru ekki svo mjög að Íslendingur geti skilið Færeying án vandræða. Rough translation: Swedes, Norwegians and Danes understand each other quite easily. They have more difficulties with Icelandic even though Icelandic resembles the Scandinavian language spoken a 1000 years ago. The closest relative to Icelandic is Faroese, but they are not so similar that Icelanders understand Faroese without difficulties.

9. Faroese:
Finskt minnir um estiskt, men har er eisini skilskapur við sámisku málini. Í bæði finskum og sámiskum kann en til dømis skapa long orð við at leggja bendingar aftrat stovninum. Men viðvíkjandi longum orðum er grønlendskt heilt serstakt. Har øðrum málum tørvar eina heila meining, er ofta nóg mikið við einum einasta grønlendska orði.
Icelandic:
Finnskan minnir á eistnesku en á einnig ýmislegt sameiginlegt með samísku. Í bæði finnsku og samísku getur maður til dæmis myndað löng orð með því að bæta beygingarendingum við rót orðsins. Það er samt grænlenskan sem er í sérflokki hvað varðar löng orð. Meðan önnur tungumál nota heila setningu nægir stundum eitt grænlenskt orð.
Rough translation:
Finnish has many similarities with Estonian, but has at the same time many things in common with Sami languages. In both Finnish and Sami you can make long word by adding morphological endings to the root of the word. At the same time it is Greenlandic that stands out regarding long words. When other languages need a whole sentence, it is often enough with one single Greenlandic word.

10. Just an example of Greenlandic word formation
aagussaq noun en ting der kommer til syne efter at sneen er smeltet ‘a thing that appears after the snow has melted’ Download free app: oqaasileriffik

11. Early influences on Icelandic and Faroese
Celtic: Kjartan, Njáll, Dímon and slafak (‘water-cotton’ = seaweed)(Ice.); Dímun (Fo) and dunna (Anas platyrhynchos)(Fo).
Christianity brings new words: kirkja, prestur, biskup (of Latin and Greek origin)
Also English words: synd (sin) and guðspjall (gospel)
Translations of the Bible bring in new words (NT 1540), (Icelandic Bible 1584)
French words on court and knightship
kurteis (Ice. courteous), silki (silk)

12. Low German and Danish loanwords
Low German loanwords in Icelandic – through trade connections and Danish through governmental language
blífa (bleiben, blive) → verða
þenkja (denken, tænke) → hugsa
bífala (befehlen, befale) → skipa
makt (Macht, magt) → vald

13. The Faroes

14. Faroese population 1801: 5300 inhabitants 1901: 15.200 1945: 29.200
1960:
1989:
1990–1995: economic crisis and 10% emigrated
2010:
2014: : in Tórshavn
Number of speakers:  75.000

15. Faroese - summary
Faroese is the closest relative to Icelandic, and like Icelandic, it has developed from Old West Norse (West Scandinavian), which Norwegian settlers brought with them during the Viking Age
Very few documents exist that were written in the Faroe Islands in the Old Norse period, but the few that have been found show that the language was quite close to the literary language in Norway at the time
We still see similarities between Norwegian (esp. south-western Norwegian dialects) and Faroese
Similar vocabulary to Norwegian

16. Celtic languages also influenced Faroese – some of the settlers were descendants of Norwegian settlers from the Irish Sea, and some had taken wives from Norse Ireland, Orkney or Shetland before coming to the Faroes.
Words of Celtic origin are still found in the language. For example, there are two Faroese words for duck, one from Norse and one from Gaelic.

17. The Faroe Islands became a part of the Kingdom of Norway in 1035, and when Norway and Denmark entered into a union, the Danes took over the administration and used their own language, both spoken and written
After the Denmark-Norway union dissolved in 1814, The Faroe Islands were ceded to Denmark, and are still a part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Danes outlawed the use of Faroese in schools, churches and official documents – eventually the written language died out, yet there was still a rich spoken tradition and the language survived as a collection of spoken dialects, just like Norwegian did
In the decades around 1800, Faroese ballads started being written down, which was the beginning of the revival of written Faroese

18. Since the language had not been written in almost three centuries, there was a need for a Faroese orthography (standardized spelling).
In 1854, a written standard for Modern Faroese was written, and it still exists today. The spelling was brought as close to Old Norse and Icelandic as possible, even though oral Faroese had gone through several changes since medieval times and was not as similar to Old Norse as it had been the last time a written language had been in use. Because of this, there were (and still are – this orthography is still used today) differences between the written and the oral language which highlight the changes that have taken place in oral Faroese, and which also make it difficult to learn Faroese spelling, even for the Faroese themselves. Even so, the Faroese do not want to change their orthography to make it more phonetic/similar to the spoken language – there have been reform proposals, but they've never won public approval. They still want to keep this orthography which is similar to Icelandic and Old Norse

19. Purism - they don't want a lot of foreign influence on the language, and they have a quite restrictive attitude towards loan words, although not to the degree that Icelanders do
Faroese became an official language in 1948, when the Faroe Islands became self-governing/ an autonomous province of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Today, Faroese is dominant in speech and in writing in the Faroe Islands, but Danish is still an official language there and everyone has to learn it

20. V.U. Hammershaimb
Danish written language, many dialects and folk songs written down with phonological spelling
1846: V.U. Hammershaimb introduces a spelling norm and Faroese becomes a modern written language (not oral norm)
Cooperation with Jón Sigurðsson og C.C. Rafn
etymological orthography → great gap between speech and written form, but great consensus

21. Jakob Jakobsen (1864–1918)
tried to introduce a more phonological spelling, but failed
mainly concerned by the vocabulary and all the “danismer” (loanwords from Danish). Many words with affixes like an-, be-, for-, -het and -else had Faroese equivalents, but with negative connotations
he was the first purist: new words in new domains → neologisms and many translation loans: eftirspurningur (‘etterspørsel’: demand), tollkrevjari (‘toller’: customs officer), bókamaður (‘litterat’: man of literature) fagrar bókmentir (‘skjønnlitteratur’: fiction)
this method is still in use, but not all the words Jakobsen invented

22. Jakobsen Mikjenes hevur ættir manna sögn vere flotåiggj
Jakobsen Mikjenes hevur ættir manna sögn vere flotåiggj. Ain mävur y Sörváje, sum javnlia róe út, raddist idla störkvälenar úte á häve, og äv ty hann ikkje åtte bävur á stiggja tair vi, hæie hann til tæss tarvsmikjo, sum hann kastaje y sjægvin, tá y kvälir vóro när staddir bátenun.
Hammershaimb 1891 Mikines hevur eftir manna søgn verið flotoyggj. Ein maður í Sørvági, sum javnliga róði út, ræddist illa stórhvalirnar úti á havi, og av tí at han ikki átti bævur at styggja teir við, hevði hann til tess tarvsmykju, sum hann kastaði í sjógvin, tá ið hvalir vóru nær staddir bátinum.
Roughly: According to the legend, Mikines used to be a floating island. A man in Sørvágur, who used to go fishing, was very much afraid of the big whales out in the ocean, and because he did not have the appropriate stinking material [as from a skunk or a related animal] to scare them away, he used bull’s dung instead and threw it into the ocean when whales were close to the boat.

23. Two competing orthographies
one based on language history (H.) and another on oral language (J.)
Hammershaimb’s etymological orthography won, leading to the current opinion that the written language was old fashioned even from the start.
Example: ð and g in written language, even though they are not pronounced, because of historical, not practical arguments

24. Result today
Faroese children have difficulties learning how to read and write. Many young people prefer reading fiction in English or Danish, even though Faroese is the natural mother tongue for everybody growing up in the Faroese islands. They find the written language way to difficult, formal and hard to understand.

25. Christian Matras (1900–1988)
the first and only permanently employed in the only department at the university (Fróðskaparsetur) in 1965
followed in Jakobsen’s footstep; many neologisms
purism important because the language makes it possible, and etymological norm is important because it makes the formation of words easier
not all Icelandic words can be used directly:
efnisbundin (material), gagnnýta (use) and støddfrøði (matematics)

27. J. H. W. Poulsen (1934–)
neologisms in terminology and everyday language
new words are formed on the basis of old (and unproductive) affixes and with Umlaut: (tyrla based on ’tyril’: helicopter) + compounds (talgildur: ‘digital’) and old words with new meaning (kerfi: ‘system’)
active lexicographer (like his predecessors: normative dictionaries) and a radio man
opens up for more import words than earlier, but is very restrictive

28. From the Wikipedia article:
Mest kendu nýyrði hann er komin við eru:
Telda av tal og telva (vs. komputari)
Tyrla av tyril (vs. helikoptari)
Fløga av sama orði fyri tjúkka flís (CD)
Flogbóltur fyri volleyball

29. Faroese compared to Icelandic
Faroese grammar has many similarities with Icelandic and Old Norse grammar:
The same case system
Gender inflections
The simplification of the Faroese grammar goes faster than that of the Icelandic grammar
The genitive case is rare in modern Faroese

30. F. has been more open towards loan words than Icelandic, particularly from Danish, but also from English.
A person with knowledge of a Scandinavian language will understand more words in a Faroese text than in an Icelandic text
The biggest difference between F. and Icl. lies in the pronunciation rules.

31. Few speakers, but a living and well documented language
rich Faroese literature
extensive dictionaries and grammars
dictionaries available online:
everybody can attend a summer school at the university in Tórshavn

32. Iceland

33. Icelandic population today
60% = in the capital area
80% in the 10 most densely populated areas
Population 2016:
(94 %) in densely populated areas
(6 %) in scarcely populated areas

35. Hugleikur Dagsson
Thanks to recent developments in genetic engineering we now only need one cow and one hen.
Neologism: Erfða + tækni = inheritance + technology

36. Icelandic alphabet 32 letters, not including c, q, z and w
most vowels (- æ and ö) are duplicated with acute accents > a, á, e, é, i, í, o, ó, u, ú, y, ý, æ and ö, and they are pronounced with their own sound:
á is the diphthong /au/: hár 
ó is the diphthong /ou/: sól, rót
ú is close to the Norwegian o: hús, þúsund
two special characters:  the runic letter þ (þorn) and ð (eð, a variant of d)

37. Icelandic is changing … slowly
is closest to Old Norse of all languages spoken in the Nordic region
Icelanders can read texts from the 13th Century without to much difficulties
The grammar is more or less the same as in Old Norse (but not the pronunciation of the words)
Why is it so well preserved?
Isolation = less pressure and influence from other languages
The complex morphology makes it harder to adapt foreign words
Icelanders want to protect their language

38. Morphology Icelandic Norwegian Faroese Phonology Norwegian Faroese
Least changed
from ON
Most changed
from ON
Morphology
Icelandic
Norwegian
Faroese
Least changed
from ON
Most changed
from ON
Phonology
Norwegian
Faroese
Icelandic

39. Vowel changes in Icelandic
Written modern Icelandic
leyna
launa
lána
lana
Old Norse (Old Icelandic) pronunciation
løyna
laona
lāna
lăna
Modern Icelandic pronunciation
leina
Modern Norwegian
løyne (gjømme)
lønne (gi lønn)
låne
sette i høystakk
Modern English
‘hide’
‘pay’
‘borrow’/’loan’
‘gather in a haystack’

40. Faroese pronunciation
urt /ʊʃt/: plant (noun)
írskt /ʊʃt/: Irish (adjective neuter singular)
líta (v) /lʊɪ:ta/: to see
lita (v) /lʊɪ:ta/: to dye
Quality change in Faroese vowels when shortened:
stórur / stɔʊrur/ (adjective masculine singular)
stórt /stœrt”/ (adjective neuter singular)
Icelandic:
stór /stour/ (adjective masculine singular)
stórt /stourt/ (adjective neuter singular)

41. grapheme
a /æ á
í / ý ó ú
long ɛa ɔa ʊɪ ɔʊ ʉu
short a ɔ ʊ œ ʏ

42. Diphthongization of old long vowels

43. The effect of some fonological rules in Icelandic, Faroese and
Virkningen av vokalregler i vestnordisk
The effect of some fonological rules in Icelandic, Faroese and
Norwegian vowel system
Rule
Icelandic
Faroese
Norwegian
1.Vowel length
V short if followed by CC
V long if followed by C
in stressed syllabus except before
[p,t,k,s] + [v, j,r]
V lang foran C
in stressed syllabus
except before
pr, pl, tj, tr, kj, kr, kl, sj
2.U-omlaut
ice: a>ö/_u
far:a>{ø,o}/_u
jaxl-jöxlum
danskur>dönskum
dans>dönsum
hvalur>hvölum
jakslur>jøkslum/jakslum
danskur>donskum
dansur>dansum
hvalur>hvalum/hvølum
Lexical u-umlaut
osp, stong, trong (vs.Da asp, stang, trang)
3.svarabahktivowel
Ø>u/_r
hestur
but:
stóll, steinn, hæll,
skór, dans,
fugl, student,
prís, Ísak
Hestur
and:
stólur, steinur, hælur
skógvur, dansur, fuglur, studentur
prísur, Ísakur
dialectal: Ø>e/_r
ein heste

44. Reduction before {l, n, r, s, ð} and ending starting with vowel:
4. Vowel reduction
V>Ø_C+V(C)
Reduction before {l, n, r, s, ð} and ending starting with vowel:
hefill>hefli
hamar>hamri
Not in personal names: Gunnari, Kjartani
nakar>nakran
lítil>lítlan
Not in personal names:
Gunnari, Kjartani
dreven>drevne
hamar>hamrane
5. Changes before -ng and -nk
Diphtongation
a, e, ö>au, ei, öi
langur
lengi
long
Quality change
a, ei >e, oi
leingi -
6. Changes before -gi
a, ö,e, u, o>ai, öi, ei, ui, oi/_gi
7. Changes before –gv-verschärfung
ó,ú > e, i/egv
rógva
búgva
8. Assimilation of i and y, í and ý
i and y> i
í and ý> í
i og y >i
í og ý>ui
i and y>i
In some dialects, f.ex in Romsdal.

46. Segmentation

47. Differensiation and segmentation
Old Norse
korn
karl
steinarnir
nafn
Icelandic
kɔdn
kadl
steinadnir
nabn
Faroese
stainanir
naun
Vossamål
stainane
navn
Hallingmål
kødn
kal
steinadn

48. Old Norse vollr kalla steinn finna Icelandic Faroese Norhordaland
vødlur
kadla
steidn
fin:a
Faroese
stainur
Norhordaland
vodl
stei:n
fidna
Vossamål
staidn
fina

49. Høgni Hoydal In Faroese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mX_1VdlXa4
In Faroese-Danish:
In Danish:

50. Icelanders speaking foreign languages
Björk speaks English with Icelandic accent:
Steingrímur J. Steingrimsson speaks “Scandinavian” (a term exclusively used in Iceland) 1:37

51. Morphology Icelandic Norwegian Faroese Phonology Norwegian Faroese
Least changed
from ON
Most changed
from ON
Morphology
Icelandic
Norwegian
Faroese
Least changed
from ON
Most changed
from ON
Phonology
Norwegian
Faroese
Icelandic

52. Morphology Icelandic Faroese Scandinavian Case a) in noun & adjective
Icelandic
Faroese
Scandinavian
Case
a) in noun & adjective 4 3
b) in pronoun 2
gender in plural + –
persons in verb
a) singular
b) plural

53. Verbal inflection

54. Case (nouns): Nominative (N), Accusative (A), Dative (D) and Genitive (G)

55. In Icelandic even in proper nouns!
Til Margunnar Frá Erni
Til Arnar
Frá Margunni
Gleðileg jól!

56. Singular noun Singular Proper noun örn örninn Nf. Örn -- Þf. erni
without article
with article
Nominative
örn
örninn
Nf.
Örn --
Accusative
Þf.
Dative
erni
erninum
Þgf.
Erni
Genitive
arnar
arnarins
Ef.
Arnar
Singular Proper noun
without article
adaptation foreign name
Nominative
Jórunn
> Margunn
Accusative
Jórunni
Dative
> Margunni
Genitive
Jórunnar
> Margunnar

57. Errin abbi Abbin, Charles prinsur, sigur seg vera bæði ernan og glaðan um at vera blivin abbi fyri fyrstu ferð, veit BBC at siga.
William, prinsur og Kate, prinsessa giftust í Westminster Abbey 29. apríl í 2011 eftir at hava kenst í tíggju ár.
Nýggi prinsurin er nummar trý í arvarøðini til bretsku trúnuna - aftan á pápa sín, William prins, og abba sín, Charles, krúnprins.
Langomman drotning Elizabeth hevur sitið á bretsku trúnuni í 61 ár.
William comes ultimately from the given name Wilhelm (cf. Old German Wilhelm > German Wilhelm and Old Norse Vilhjálmr).

58. Case (adjective) http://bin.arnastofnun.is/leit/?id=409045 Singular
Plural
Masculine
Feminine
Neuter
Nominative
gulur
gul
gult
gulir
gular
Accusative
gulan
gula
Dative
gulum
gulri
gulu
Genitive
guls
gulrar
gulra

59. Case (pronouns)
Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls (BÍN):

60. Learn Icelandic and Faroese?
Online Icelandic course (free):
Multilingual Icelandic dictionary (free):
J. Adams and H. P. Petersen (2009): Faroese. A Language Course for Beginners (Textbook (+CD) and Grammar)
Audio recordings (free):
Monolingual Faroese dictionary (free):