Reaction Paper 1 Icelandic Language Loyalty and the National Identity The purpose of this paper is to show the cause of Iceland’s intense language maintenance and its effects on their language policy. Icelanders treat their mother tongue with the same amount of care as a fellow Icelander. It is thought the island’s language loyalty reciprocates and enhances their monolingual language policy at both the government and grassroots level. Perhaps because, Iceland’s geneolgy insists that it retains its unity and national identity. This is the foundation of Iceland’s singular language ideology. I will layout ways which Icelandic language loyalty resembles a biological relationship by comparing the cause and effects of Iceland’s language maintenance to Norway’s. Iceland’s monolingual language ideology attempts to protect the wellbeing of its nation through bilateral language maintenance. This language helps to design and keep alive the Island’s language policy. In contrast, Norway’s language policy, while also faced with lexical additions to academic, technical and household repertoires, seeks to support integration that is reflected in its language policy. Iceland has had almost no immigration. Its 200,000+ inhabitants are accustomed to high quality national healthcare, and particularly accurate diagnosis. (Winicoff, 86). Language maintance in Iceland may somewhat resemble the French culture’s attempt to retain its intellectual properties, but perhaps it is more an effort to preserve the nation's overall healthfulness: Icelanders instinctively protect their countrymen from what may negatively affect a clean bill of health. Iceland’s historic isolation has formed a genetically homogeneous people. Information regarding Icelanders genealogy and health is considered a “national resource” controlled by the state (Winickoff, 82). This defining aspect of Icelandic culture is so ingrained in its people; the attitude pervades its language.
