Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.04.2017, Side 12

In any discussion about Icelandic, Ice-
landers will invariably contend that their
language is threatened with extinction.
These threats can come from any num-
ber of speculated sources, from the in-
creased use of English amongst Icelandic
kids, to foreign films and television,
to increased immigration. But is
Icelandic actually in a vulnerable
position, and if so, where do the
threats to it actually come from?
We called Statistics Iceland
in the hopes of getting some raw
data on the number of Icelandic
speakers in the country, and
whether those numbers have
grown or decreased over the
past few years. Amazingly, they have no
such data. The number of people born
in Iceland has been increasing—and
presumably, with them, the number of
Icelandic speakers—but presumptions
are not the same as facts.
Our economy is killing
Icelandic
We spoke first with Eiríkur Rögnvalds-
son, a professor of Icelandic at the Uni-
versity of Iceland; one of his main ar-
eas of study has been the status of the
Icelandic language. Eiríkur is amongst
those who believe Icelandic is indeed
in a vulnerable position, and offers a
uniquely class-based explanation for
how Icelandic is being threatened.
This explanation is comprised
of two parts.
F i rst , you n g
Icelanders are increasingly
seeing their future outside
of Iceland. "Young people
in Iceland don't necessarily
see the country as where
they'll live in the future,”
he says. “They look at the
whole world and they want to go abroad
to study and work. They know that Ice-
landic is useless outside of Iceland. So
maybe they don't think it's that impor-
tant to be that good at Icelandic. So many
young people will say, ‘OK, let's go abroad
to study, and maybe we'll come back, but
maybe not.’ Given the current situation,
it's impossible for them to come back.”
At the same time, the Icelandic gov-
ernment is not doing enough to help
those moving here. “We are doing a ter-
12 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 06 — 2017
Words: Paul Fontaine Photos: Art Bicnick Share this: gpv.is/ice06
Low Wages And
Digital Death:
Icelandic In Crisis
The language faces an existential threat—
and not from foreign loan words
ANALYSIS
Eiríkur Rögnvaldsson
Freyja Auðunsdóttir - photo by Ólafur Már Svavarsson
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