The languages of two islands

• Main Authors: Pálsdóttir, Karítas Hrundar, Sigurjónsdóttir, Sigríður
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Milli Mála 2018
• Subjects: Icelandic; Japanese; structure; verb conjugation; language usage; ways to express politeness; Íslenska; japanska; formgerð; beyging sagna; málnotkun; kurteisisform; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/millimala/article/view/2847

Rather few foreigners live in Iceland and Japan, compared to many other countries, and thus there are relatively few people who speak Icelandic and Japanese as a second language. The perception of both Icelanders and the Japanese is that their mother tongue is “difficult” to learn and they are often surprised that foreigners choose to make the effort to study their native language. The two languages are very different in terms of their writing systems, structure, and usage. In Icelandic there is only one alphabet, whereas Japanese has four writing systems. There is almost no dialectal variation in Iceland, whereas there is great variation in the way Japanese is spoken, based on both regional and sociological variables. In Icelandic there are very few gender linked words, whereas in Japanese there are a number of words that are improper for women to use and other improper for men. Whereas there are many different means to express politeness in Japanese, in Icelandic there are few ways to do so. Icelandic is also a highly inflectional language, whereas Japanese is not in the same sense. Japanese nominals do not inflect for case the way Icelandic nominals do, but verbs and adjectives have many different inflectional forms depending on their mood. Thus, both languages have rich inflectional systems albeit very different ones.Keywords: Icelandic, Japanese, structure, verb conjugation, language usage, ways to express politeness Tiltölulega fáir útlendingar búa á Íslandi og í Japan og því fáir sem tala íslensku og japönsku sem annað mál. Hjá heimamönnum ríkir það viðhorf að móðurmál þeirra sé „erfitt“ og því undra þeir sig á því að útlendingar skuli leggja á sig að læra málin. Þótt Íslendingar og Japanir eigi sameiginlegt þetta viðhorf til móðurmála sinna eru íslenska og japanska ólík tungumál hvað varðar formgerð, málnotkun og ritvenjur. Í íslensku er stuðst við eitt stafróf en fjögur stafróf eru notuð í japönsku. Mállýskumunur er nánast enginn á Íslandi en mikill munur er á tali fólks eftir landshlutum í Japan. ...