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The history of the Icelandic language began in the 9th century when the settlement of Iceland, mostly by Norwegians, brought a dialect of Old Norse to the island. The oldest preserved texts in Icelandic were written around 1100, the oldest single text being Íslendingabók followed by Landnámabók .
The culture of Iceland is largely characterized by its literary heritage that began during the 12th century but also traditional arts such as weaving, silversmithing, and wood carving. The Reykjavík area hosts several professional theaters, art galleries, bookstores, cinemas and museums.
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 Day. [7]
Although the Icelandic or Norse language prevails, northern trade routes brought German, English, Dutch, French and Basque to Iceland. Some merchants and clergymen settled in Iceland throughout the centuries, leaving their mark on culture, but linguistically mainly trade, nautical, and religious terms.
The First Grammatical Treatise is of great interest to the history of linguistics, since it systematically used the technique of minimal pairs to establish the inventory of distinctive sounds or phonemes in the Icelandic language, [2] in a manner reminiscent of the methods of structural linguistics. [3]
Its goal was "to preserve the Icelandic language and literature and therewith the culture and the honour of the land". An important publication was Almenn jarðarfræða og landaskipun eður geographia (1821–27), which contains much new genuine [ clarification needed ] Icelandic terminology.
Mid-Atlantic Ridge and adjacent plates. Volcanoes indicated in red.. In geological terms, Iceland is a young island. It started to form in the Miocene era about 20 million years ago from a series of volcanic eruptions on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where it lies between the North American Plate and Eurasian Plate.
Cultural history of Iceland (2 C) L. Languages of Iceland (1 C, 5 P) ... Pages in category "Culture of Iceland" The following 37 pages are in this category, out of 37 ...