Milli mála - 2023, Qupperneq 108

MILLI MÁLA
108 Milli mála 15/2/2023
In the following sections of the present work, we provide an over-
view of recent immigration to Iceland, as well as the government’s
current language policies. We then reflect on the state of research on
language acquisition among adult immigrants and immigrants’ sat-
isfaction with language classes. We present the methods, i.e., data
collection and analysis, followed by the results of our study. Finally,
we discuss our results and how they relate to current literature on
immigrant language acquisition, limitations of the present work and
the most important conclusions.
2. The context: Immigration to Iceland and
Icelandic as a second language
Immigration to Iceland has increased notably in recent years. In 2022,
about 16.3% of Iceland’s inhabitants were immigrants, while in 2000,
the number of immigrants amounted to just 3% (Statistics Iceland
2022). The largest group of immigrants in Iceland is from Poland,
comprising 40% of the total immigrant population. We follow
Statistics Iceland in defining an ‘immigrant’ as “a person born abroad
with both parents foreign born and all grandparents foreign born”
(Statistics Iceland 2022). With about 350,000 speakers, the Icelandic
language community is relatively small. The Icelandic government is
committed to the preservation of Icelandic, and language ideologies in
Iceland are characterized by linguistic purism (Hilmarsson-Dunn and
Kristinsson 2010; 2018; 2020). Examples of institutions and initiatives
involved in the preservation of Icelandic are the Icelandic language
committee (Íslensk málnefnd), specifically, by coining Icelandic neolo-
gisms instead of adopting foreign loanwords (Kristinsson 2020, 3).
Kristinsson (2020, 7–8) lists some of the measures taken by the
Icelandic government to assure the continuity of Icelandic: “(1) a
detailed official language policy, in 2009 […], (2) “a separate language
legislation on Icelandic and Icelandic Sign Language, in 2011”, (3) “an
ambitious language technology program for 2018–2022.” The explicit
aim of the language technology funding and program is “to protect
and support the Icelandic language as well as to facilitate the use of
new information technologies in the Icelandic community, for the
PREDICTORS OF SATISFACTION / DISSATISFACTION WITH ICELANDIC LANGUAGE
COURSE AND ICELANDIC PROFICIENCY AMONG ADULT IMMIGRANTS IN ICELAND
10.33112/millimala.15.2.5