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SUMMARY:Identity and Language in Early Iceland - Dr Stephen Leonard\, Trin
 ity Hall\, Cambridge
DTSTART:20100528T160000Z
DTEND:20100528T170000Z
UID:TALK22495@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Elizabeth Boyle
DESCRIPTION:The language of a speech community can only act as an identity
  marker for all of its speakers if linguistic norms are widely shared and 
 if a minimal number of language varieties are spoken. This paper examines 
 how a linguistic norm came to serve the whole of Iceland\, what role langu
 age and social structures played in the construction of the settlers' iden
 tity and how language reflected the Icelanders' new identity.\n\nAlthough 
 the identity projected in many of the early Iceland texts is actually a No
 rse one\, the Icelanders presented their new identity conspicuously throug
 h the establishment of new (and to an extent original)\nsocial structures 
 and their incipient literary culture. There was an indigenous concern for 
 the Icelandic language from the outset\; the Icelandic language and its ri
 ch literature became subsequently the single most important factor for the
  identity of the Icelanders. The foundations for this identity and linguis
 tic culture were laid very early on and were\nrooted in the development of
  the language itself.\n
LOCATION:GR-04\, English Faculty Building
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