Mood in Icelandic

Icelandic is spoken by most of the 300.000 inhabitants of Iceland (2005) and some thousands of Western Icelanders in Canada and USA. It enjoys a strong status as a national and a cultural language, with a rich literary heritage, from the 12 th century onwards. Historically, Icelandic is Indo-European, Germanic, North Germanic (Nordic, Scandinavian), West Scandinavian. Its closest relatives are Faroese and West Norwegian varieties. In comparison with Mainland Scandinavian and most West Germanic varieties, Icelandic is a conservative language that has preserved most of the morphological complexity of Old Norse. Phonologically, Icelandic has undergone numerous radical changes. The syntax is still similar to Old Norse syntax, although it has changed more than the morphology.