Icelandic
Indo-European family · Germanic branch · Eurasia
Icelandic is an SVO language, like 488 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
On Action Nominal Constructions, WALS codes Icelandic as “Other: Minor patterns”, a value held by 6 of the 168 languages coded, Swedish and Chamorro among them.
Within the Germanic branch, all 6 other languages coded for Comitatives and Instrumentals have the value “Identity”; Icelandic has “Mixed”.
On The Perfect, WALS codes Icelandic as “From possessive”, a value held by 7 of the 222 languages coded, English and French among them.
Contrast Icelandic with German or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Icelandic, rarest first.
- Number of Cases4 case categories9 of 261
- Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate NegationNegative indefinites show mixed behaviour13 of 206
- The Morphological ImperativeSecond singular43 of 548
- Asymmetrical Case-MarkingSyncretism in relevant NP-types21 of 261
Inside the Indo-European family
Icelandic matches the most frequent Indo-European value on 42 of the 62 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (68%). Among the 39 Indo-European languages profiled here, that rate ranks 23rd from the top.
| Feature | Icelandic | Most relatives |
|---|---|---|
| Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking | Overlap for either possibility or necessity | Overlap for both possibility and necessity (6 of 6, Germanic branch) |
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Icelandic; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
Outside the Indo-European family, the best match is Hungarian (Uralic), with 36 of 62 features alike.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Icelandic for 62 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 53 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Icelandic shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed Stress Locations | Initial: stress is on the first syllable | 92 of 502 |
| Rhythm Types | Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong | 153 of 323 |
| Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems | No weight, or weight factor unknown | 261 of 500 |
| Weight-Sensitive Stress | Fixed stress (no weight-sensitivity) | 281 of 500 |
Word structure 5
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology | Consistently dependent-marking | 46 of 236 |
| Locus of Marking in the Clause | P is dependent-marked | 63 of 236 |
| Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases | Possessor is dependent-marked | 98 of 236 |
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Predominantly suffixing | 406 of 969 |
| Zero Marking of A and P Arguments | Non-zero marking | 219 of 235 |
Nouns and pronouns 13
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Genders | Three | 26 of 257 |
| Definite Articles | Definite affix on noun | 92 of 620 |
| Indefinite Articles | No indefinite article but definite article | 98 of 534 |
| Ordinal Numerals | First, second, three-th | 61 of 321 |
| The Associative Plural | Special non-bound associative plural marker | 47 of 236 |
| Systems of Gender Assignment | Semantic and formal assignment | 59 of 257 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | No possessive affixes | 260 of 902 |
| Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems | Sex-based gender system | 84 of 257 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Case suffixes | 452 of 1,031 |
| Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns | Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally differentiated | 74 of 168 |
| Occurrence of Nominal Plurality | Plural in all nouns, always obligatory | 133 of 291 |
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | Plural suffix | 513 of 1,066 |
| Indefinite Pronouns | Interrogative-based indefinites | 194 of 326 |
Noun phrases 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Noun Phrase Conjunction | AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical | 131 of 234 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + normal negative | 113 of 496 |
| Epistemic Possibility | Verbal constructions | 65 of 240 |
| The Past Tense | Past/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction | 94 of 222 |
| The Future Tense | No inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction | 112 of 222 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system | 201 of 375 |
| Perfective/Imperfective Aspect | No grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction | 121 of 222 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
| Situational Possibility | Verbal constructions | 158 of 234 |
| The Optative | Inflectional optative absent | 271 of 319 |
Word order 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Adjective and Noun | Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN) | 373 of 1,367 |
| Order of Genitive and Noun | Noun-genitive (NGen) | 468 of 1,249 |
| Order of Numeral and Noun | Numeral precedes noun (NumN) | 479 of 1,154 |
| Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase | Prepositions | 511 of 1,184 |
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN) | 542 of 1,225 |
| Order of Object and Verb | Object follows verb (VO) | 705 of 1,518 |
| Order of Degree Word and Adjective | Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj) | 227 of 481 |
| Order of Relative Clause and Noun | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 579 of 824 |
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 1,192 of 1,496 |
Simple clauses 11
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Expression of Pronominal Subjects | Obligatory pronouns in subject position | 82 of 711 |
| Nominal and Locational Predication | Identical | 117 of 386 |
| Predicative Adjectives | Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding | 132 of 386 |
| Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation | Symmetric standard negation only: Type Sym | 114 of 297 |
| Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation | Non-assignable (no asymmetry found) | 114 of 297 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
| Applicative Constructions | No applicative construction | 100 of 183 |
| Other Roles of Applied Objects | No applicative construction | 100 of 183 |
| Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals | Zero copula is impossible | 211 of 386 |
| Antipassive Constructions | No antipassive | 146 of 194 |
| Productivity of the Antipassive Construction | no antipassive | 146 of 186 |
Vocabulary 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Tea | Words derived from Min Nan Chinese te | 84 of 230 |