Fears that the Icelandic language could face extinction
In the annual televised New Year’s speech, Prime Minister Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson voiced concern that the Icelandic language could face extinction.
In the annual televised New Year’s speech, Prime Minister Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson voiced concern that the Icelandic language could face extinction.
- It has been said that there is a real danger of the language disappearing within the next 100 years, said Jóhannsson.
Professor Ari Páll Kristinsson at the Árni Magnússon Institute of Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík is happy that the Prime Minister brought the subject to public attention.
- It is of course difficult to make any declarations on the matter but there are signs that the state of the Icelandic language is rapidly worsening and that developmment could become so fast that we won't be able to control it, he tells Morgunblaðið.
Two years ago, Professor Eiríkur Rögnvaldsson made the same point, saying that the Icelandic language could face extinction within the next 100 years due to English being used in all computer operated devices.