Monolingualism in Iceland

Monolingualism in Europe

Monolingualism, usually, does not dominate in countries. Especially, Europe does not have monolinguistic states. This situation has been intensifying due to migratory phenomena, leading to a greater linguistic diversity. However, Island can be considered as one of the most homogeneous countries in linguistic terms.

Iceland

Iceland is often presented as the only European country characterized by monolingualism, mainly due to its geographical isolation. It is located at 700 km from its nearest neighbor. This specific position ensured a greater protection against external influences.

Another factor is the relatively small population that, according to estimates, is around 350.000 inhabitants. In addition, another element that we could identify would be the lack of significant immigrant communities. Despite this, the number of immigrants has increased significantly in recent years, making the country linguistically less homogeneous.

The Icelandic approach to other languages

Nevertheless, the country has a language policy of a strongly centralizing character, which is supported by the majority of the population and which, therefore, persists. At one point, in Iceland, there was an emphasis on learning foreign languages. This as a result of  the understanding of the Icelandic people that communication beyond their borders required the learning of other languages. However, the perception that Icelandic could be endangered by the dominance and preponderant influence of English, gave rise to efforts for the protection, preservation and full functioning of the Icelandic language. Moreover, Icelandic as a single language is “traditional and indisputable”  since the population supports Iceland’s centralizing language policy. 

Monolingualism or multilingualism

When characterizing a country as monolingual or bi-/multilingual, it is necessary to distinguish between the social and the individual dimensions.

In the analysis of the social dimension, we have to verify the existence of diglossia (i.e. concurrence of two linguistic varieties, which are found in a functional distribution of uses). In the case of Iceland, we can conclude that there is no diglossia situation, as Icelandic is the only language used.

On the contrary, in the analysis of the individual dimension, we seek to verify whether individuals in how many languages they are fluent. In the case of Iceland, we can argue that individuals are, mostly, fluent only in one language, Icelandic. This is because  they are themselves conservatives of their mothertongue.

The centralizing language policy mirrors the beliefs of individuals.

Bibliography:

• Alves de Fraga, L., 1992. Reflexões Sobre A Identidade Nacional;
• Amanda Hilmarsson-Dunn & Ari Páll Kristinsson (2010) The language situation in Iceland, Current Issues in Language Planning. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2010.538008;
• B. Kaplan, R., 2013. Language Planning.