The Language of Iceland

 

 

Paragraph 1: Most languages have changed considerably over the centuries, but Icelandic, spoken on the island of Iceland, is an exception. Its history goes back to the ninth century, when Iceland was settled by speakers of Old Norse. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Icelandic authors wrote the magnificent prose narratives known as the sagas. Extraordinarily, present-day Icelanders can still read these stories, and many do. Not “read” as in “decipher” but actually read for enjoyment. Compare it to reading nineteenth-century English novels: some words and phrases are quaint but understandable for English speakers today. That’s how close modern Icelandic is to its early form. 

 

 

 

1. Why does the author compare reading the sagas to “reading nineteenth-century English novels”?

 

O To show how similar the styles of the sagas and some English prose narratives are 

 

O To explain how some modern scholars are able to decipher the sagas 

 

O To emphasize how enjoyable it is to read literature of the past 

 

O To illustrate how little Icelandic has changed since the sagas were written

 

 

Paragraph 2: Of course, the language has expanded its vocabulary to keep up with the times, so the saga authors would have trouble understanding a modern newspaper. Also, there’s more to language than the written word, and pronunciation has definitely changed somewhat in the interim. Nonetheless, Icelandic has remained remarkably stable for 800 years — or even 1,100, given that the first settlers are thought to have spoken a similar language. One reason for this stability is suggested by even a quick glance at the map: Iceland is extremely isolated from other population centers. The distance to mainland Europe (not counting smaller islands) is roughly 1,000 kilometers, while Denmark, which ruled Iceland for centuries and was Iceland’s gateway to the world, is about twice that far. Until the nineteenth century, most Icelanders would go through their entire lives without encountering a foreign language.

 

 

 

2. According to paragraph 2, which TWO of the following aspects of Icelandic have changed the most over time? To receive credit, you must select TWO answers.

 

O The number of words in Icelandic

 

O The way that words in Icelandic are pronounced

 

O The written form of Icelandic 

 

O Icelandic’s influence on languages in mainland Europe 

 

 

 

 

 

Paragraph 3: This can’t be the whole story though, because languages are prone to change even without outside influences. It takes exceptional conditions to prevent them from doing so. What is required in particular, according to sociolinguists, is that many of the people known to any one speaker should also know each other, as this maintains a consensus on linguistic norms. Icelandic society before the nineteenth century, with fewer than 50,000 people, may have been small enough to allow such close-knit networks. Another glance at a map suggests an objection to this hypothesis: Iceland is very thinly inhabited, and it’s very difficult to travel across, with mountains to climb and fast-streaming rivers to cross. This is true, but historians argue that in spite of these obstacles the Icelandic elites used to travel and intermingle much more than one might think: local leaders visited the yearly national council (Althing); wealthy families travelled between their various estates; elite children attended one of only two schools; and clergymen (Christian ministers) were dispatched to districts far from both their birthplace and their former districts. The occasional volcanic eruption, moreover, forced hundreds and sometimes thousands of people to move to a different region. All these contacts may have kept the language stable — so stable in fact that even dialects were practically non-existent. 

 

 

 

3. According to paragraph 3, which of the following could have made Icelandic linguistic stability difficult to maintain?

 

O Icelandic had very few outside influences. 

 

O Iceland’s people lived in close-knit networks. 

 

O Iceland’s physical characteristics made it hard to travel from one part to another.

 

O Iceland had fewer than 50,000 people before the nineteenth century. 

 

 

 

4. According to paragraph 3, all of the following increased contact among people from the different regions of Iceland EXCEPT:

 

O leaders from different parts of Iceland met together every year. 

 

O Wealthy families sent their children to the same schools. 

 

O Clergymen encouraged the common people in their districts to travel to other districts.

 

O Eruptions of volcanoes made large numbers of people move from one area to another. 

 

 

 

 

 

Paragraph 4: The centrality of the sagas to Icelandic culture may also have acted as a source of linguistic conformity. And there is one other explanation for Icelandic’s non-development. The main source of language change, some linguists claim, is young people spending time together. Desperate to be unlike their parents, they concoct their own ways of talking as an easy means to this end. Some of this youthful lingo will survive into adulthood — and thus the local language changes. In Iceland, however, most young people never got a chance to get the process moving, as they lived in scattered farmsteads beyond easy walking distance of each other. Apart from siblings and perhaps cousins, the young had no one to spend time with. Things would have been different at country’s two schools, but upon return to their homes, this elite minority would find themselves misunderstood or corrected whenever they let a hint of school slang pass their lips. 

 

 

 

5. The phrase “this end” in the passage refers to

 

O spending time together 

 

O being unlike their parents

 

O concocting their own ways of talking 

 

O having youthful lingo survive into adulthood 

 

 

 

6. According to paragraph 4, which of the following reduced the amount of interaction among Iceland’s young people?

 

O They lived too far from one another.

 

O They were too busy working in their farmsteads. 

 

O Their parents did not want them to spend time together. 

 

O It was uncommon for siblings and cousins to spend time together. 

 

 

 

 

 

Paragraph 5: Icelanders have shown great pride in their uncorrupted language. To serve all aspects of modern life, from administration to zoology, new words have ben coined strictly in keeping with the language of the sagas. The grammar was tidied up in a way that made the old literature even more accessible. Recently, however, the linguistic nationalism was waned a little. A few grammatical changes and foreign words are creeping in. Even so, awareness of these changes is high and acceptance low, and they may never enter the standard language. The stability of Icelandic shows no signs of imminent collapse. 

 

 

 

7. The word “uncorrupted” in the passage is closest in meaning to

 

O unique 

 

O shared 

 

O unfamiliar 

 

O pure 

 

 

 

8. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 5 about the grammatical changes and foreign words slowly entering Icelandic?

 

O They have been useful mainly in administration or zoology. 

 

O They have led to a recent increase in linguistic nationalism. 

 

O They are not considered to be part of standard Icelandic.

 

O They are bringing the stability of Icelandic ic imminent collapse. 

 

 

 

 

 

Paragraph 1: Most languages have changed considerably over the centuries, but Icelandic, spoken on the island of Iceland, is an exception. ■Its history goes back to the ninth century, when Iceland was settled by speakers of Old Norse. ■In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Icelandic authors wrote the magnificent prose narratives known as the sagas. ■Extraordinarily, present-day Icelanders can still read these stories, and many do. ■Not “read” as in “decipher” but actually read for enjoyment. Compare it to reading nineteenth-century English novels: some words and phrases are quaint but understandable for English speakers today. That’s how close modern Icelandic is to its early form. 

 

 

 

9. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.

 

This language was likely similar to what became known as Icelandic.

 

Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [■] to add the sentence to the passage. 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the 3 answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points. Drag your choices to the spaces where they belong. To review the passage, click on View Text. 

 

The twelfth- and thirteenth-century prose narratives called sagas are still widely read in their original form in Iceland.

 

 

 

Answer Choices

 

O Because of the expansion of Icelandic vocabulary over the centuries, some people today have trouble understanding the sagas. 

 

O The great distance between Iceland and the European mainland helps explain the stability of Icelandic, but languages do change even without contact with other languages.

 

O Although young Icelanders had little chance to alter the language for their own purposes, some language changes have occurred that help Icelandic function well in modern times.

 

O Because Iceland’s elites are educated in Icelandic, it has remained the language of the Althing, or national council, since the ninth century. 

 

O An important requirement for the stability of a language over time is continued contact among the language’s speakers, and Icelandic has met this condition.

 

O Modern Icelanders are aware that grammatical changes could bring the collapse of their language’s stability, so they do not even accept grammar changes that would make the sagas more accessible. 

 

 

 

答案请付费后查阅：