# Icelandic: Spoken language



## 盲人瞎馬

Hello,

I'd like to know how much spoken icelandic differs from its written form. Is the use of slangs and shortening of words heavy (like in Finnish)? Are there crazy dialects whose speakers turn the language into something else? Do icelanders find it strange if someone speaks their language the exact same way they write it? (i.e. no slangs, speech manneurisms or dialectal words)

Thanks.


----------



## Silver_Biscuit

There is a lot of elision in everyday spoken Icelandic, yes. There are informal and formal registers, just like any other language I suppose, and certainly words that one would definitely not use in formal writing (I suppose that's what you mean by 'slangs'). There are basically no regional dialects in Iceland (this is a big simplification, there are many historical regional pronunciation features, and still a few noticeable differences, but all this pales in comparison with the variation to be found in most other European languages).

I don't think Icelanders would find it _strange_ if someone didn't use normal features of speech in an everyday situation (I mean, they speak basically how they write if they are giving a political speech or something, just maybe a little elision) but they would certainly know immediately that you weren't a native. However, they're going to know that anyway, so it's not a problem. Chances are, the more you interact with Icelanders, the more you will pick up on little things and start imitating them naturally. There are also certain _systematic_ ways in which written Icelandic differs from spoken Icelandic (e.g. banki is pronounced as bánki), but your textbook or whatever resource you are using ought to go into those things.

One example: if a word ending in ð and a word beginning in þ are next to each other, the þ is dropped (as in 'með þetta' becomes 'með'etta'). There are many examples, just listen to spoken Icelandic whilst looking at the words written down if you can, you will soon start noticing these things.


----------



## Sepia

@ There are basically no regional dialects in Iceland 

The really good question is, how many of the approx. 200.000 inhabitants of Iceland ARE NOT working and/or living in Reykiavik?


----------



## Silver_Biscuit

Haha, good point. There is basically only one inhabited region in Iceland  (Not really, now I feel bad for all my friends out in the sveit).

You should know we are over 300,000 inhabitants, though!

* I think really it is approx. a third of the pop. in Rvk, and two thirds in the South West (including Selfoss etc).


----------



## 盲人瞎馬

Silver_Biscuit said:


> One example: if a word ending in ð and a word beginning in þ are next to each other, the þ is dropped (as in 'með þetta' becomes 'með'etta'). There are many examples, just listen to spoken Icelandic whilst looking at the words written down if you can, you will soon start noticing these things.



I understand, but I would love if you explained more about this part. You see, I speak finnish and the differeces between spoken and written finnish are astoundigly scary. It's almost like a whole new language. In spoken language, the dialects prove themselves to be brutal, words are shortened a lot and it's impossible to understand. 

Here's my idea: could you write a random sentence in written icelandic and then "translate" it into spoken icelandic? As if you were writing it as you speak it. Completely phonetically. The way the average icelander would say it.

I just picked this random sentence out of a news website:
Har­ald­ur Sig­urðsson eld­fjalla­fræðing­ur seg­ir að stóri jarðskjálft­inn sem varð í Bárðarbungu í fyrrinótt geti gefið vís­bend­ing­ar um að stór tappi sé und­ir kvikuþrónni á svæðinu.

This is what I'd expect it to sound like spoken, if it were to be similar as finnish:
Har­ald­ur Sig­urðsson eld­fjalla­fræðing­ seg­ að stór  jarðskjálft­i se varð í Bárðarbungu í fyrrin geti gefð  vís­bend­inga um að stór tappi sé und­ kvikuþrón á svæðiu.

I know this might sound ridiculous, but I just want to know what to expect, once I build up a vocabulary big enough to start conversations. Can you (or anyone reading this) do that for me? 

I appreciate that.
Thanks.


----------



## Silver_Biscuit

Nope, it's nowhere near as extreme as that! You can't just cut the ends off words, it's more that adjacent similar sounds can 'blend together'. I would expect to hear elision in the following places if someone was talking quickly:

Har­ald­ur Sig­urðsson eld­fjalla­fræðing­ur seg­ir að stóri  jarðskjálft­inn sem varð í Bárðarbung*'í* fyrrinótt geti gefið  vís­bend­ing­ar um að stór tappi sé und­ir kvikuþrónn*'á* svæðinu.

Do note that if this sentence was read out on the national news, they would probably take care to pronounce every syllable.


----------



## 盲人瞎馬

Silver_Biscuit said:


> Nope, it's nowhere near as extreme as that! You can't just cut the ends off words, it's more that adjacent similar sounds can 'blend together'. I would expect to hear elision in the following places if someone was talking quickly:
> 
> Har­ald­ur Sig­urðsson eld­fjalla­fræðing­ur seg­ir að stóri  jarðskjálft­inn sem varð í Bárðarbung*'í* fyrrinótt geti gefið  vís­bend­ing­ar um að stór tappi sé und­ir kvikuþrónn*'á* svæðinu.
> 
> Do note that if this sentence was read out on the national news, they would probably take care to pronounce every syllable.



So it's kinda like english? You guys speak the same way it's written with some differences like  saying "don" instead of "don't" ?


----------



## Silver_Biscuit

Other examples of common elision to hopefully give you an idea: gefðu mér -> gemmér, segirðu -> segiru, hvað ertu að gera -> hvaddagera (haha you have to speaking pretty fast for this to happen, though), með honum -> með'onum, hættu þessu -> hætt'essu, þú veist -> þúst.

I think a good rule is that the more common a phrase is, the more likely it is to undergo some sort of shortening. But they don't make changes that actually affect grammar (e.g. eldfjallafræðingur to eldfjallafræðing is unthinkable, because that is the same word in two different cases, so you'd just be using the accusative in a nominative position, which would sound absurd).

Yeah, not too dissimilar to what happens in spoken English I suppose.


----------



## Alxmrphi

A particularly common elision is _erhaggi_. That's the slang way to write "_er það ekki_?" (Right? / No?) I was just in a lecture and someone shouted that out behind me and I remember noticing that it was even more slurred than the slurred versions I was used to. I'm not sure you're familiar with IPA but it sounded almost like [əhɑɪɣɪ]. An intervocalic ð is also typically prone to dropping out. You can see that in ways people spell the word maður in informal conversation (_marr_, _maör_ etc.) I've seen a few topics of discussions by people who talk about language change in Icelandic and here is one example someone gave about the issue of spelling-how-you-speak: _Guriddagéridda_ (af hverju ertu að gera þetta?) [Why are you doing this?] or another one was arguing that it could be possible in the future for people to start spelling, "Ég á heima í Keflavík" as_ Jámí Gjeblíg_ (if spelling-as-speech was to become normalised). That's just to give a couple of examples of what you can expect in speech, from slang writing, and examples of people writing down what would be faithful spelling to what is actually pronounced.


----------



## Silver_Biscuit

I've rather seen/heard _er þaggi_... I don't think I've ever actually heard someone go as far as _er haggi_. I've never heard anyone _seriously_ say marr, it's always used jokingly by the people I know. I think your examples are a little extreme! I would rather say that I hear _akkereddageridda_ if someone is speaking very fast. Usually people are clearer than that, though. Ég á does often become já, though, ég er similarly is ér. I think you'd have to be drunk to say Keflavík as Gjeblíg...


----------



## Sepia

Silver_Biscuit said:


> Haha, good point. There is basically only one inhabited region in Iceland  (Not really, now I feel bad for all my friends out in the sveit).
> 
> You should know we are over 300,000 inhabitants, though!
> 
> * I think really it is approx. a third of the pop. in Rvk, and two thirds in the South West (including Selfoss etc).




OK I give you credit for being productive - 300.000 - enough to populate Flensburg or Odense.

At least that pretty much rules out the possibility of severe regional differences.

But what about sociolects? Espeicially in a language with such a highly complex grammar I could imagine different social classes could make a difference. 

Or younger people reading a lot less than older people? That influences their command of the language too and can cause changes in a language.


----------



## Alxmrphi

Silver_Biscuit said:


> I've rather seen/heard _er þaggi_... I don't think I've ever actually heard someone go as far as _er haggi_. I've never heard anyone _seriously_ say marr, it's always used jokingly by the people I know. I think your examples are a little extreme! I would rather say that I hear _akkereddageridda_ if someone is speaking very fast. Usually people are clearer than that, though. Ég á does often become já, though, ég er similarly is ér. I think you'd have to be drunk to say Keflavík as Gjeblíg...



Hmm, I don't think we could be in_ that _different of social circles  I see stuff like that written quite frequently, and said (like today as an example). I've had people write "erhaggibara" or similar things in Facebook conversations on more than the odd occasion. It's quite common to see on Facebook. I know it's always easy to cherry-pick the point you want to make but something like this or this is quite normal for me to see. I'll keep my ear out. I used to think it was more something like þæggi but after seeing the 'h' version so much maybe my mind forced myself to hear that as well? But that begs the question why people would even write it in the first place if it was something different to what they were aware of themselves saying, if they were spelling as they spoke. It might be worth pointing out this is strictly the tag-question version, not any normal mid-sentence elision, naamsayin?


----------



## Silver_Biscuit

Haha wow. I think maybe it's like a joke, though? I also think it could well be that my social circle has a higher average age than yours. Most people I know are 30-35 (not all, but most) - I am quite the youngling in most groups!


----------



## NoMoreMrIceGuy

Getur þú borgað hann fyrir mig? Ég á bara eitt eða tvö þúsund krónur eftir.
Get'ru borga'ann fyri mi? Jábar eitt e'a tösúst krón reftir.


----------

