This course introduces syntactically annotated corpora, including the Icelandic treebank, IcePaHC. Topics to be covered include different types of treebanks, the development of new treebanks and the use of treebanks in language technology and theoretical syntax. Quantitative methods in syntax will be introduced in the context of historical syntax, synchronic variation and theories about the relationship between language acquisition, linguistic competence and linguistic change. Students will furthermore get training in the use of software which is designed for developing treebanks, querying treebanks and processing results and they will carry out experiments in machine annotation of the syntactic properties of a text. Both students of language technology and linguistics are encouraged to enroll.

The course is designed for MA students in general and Icelandic linguistics and is also useful for other MA students that plan to conduct linguistics research. The course will cover the main research methods in linguistics, both in regards to experimental and natural data. We will discuss the fundamentals of the design of judgment tasks, fill-ins, elicitation tasks, behvioural and neuroimaging experiments and search in corpora such as the Icelandic Gigaword Corpus and IcePaHC. Research methods in diverse domains will be introduced, including syntax, phonology, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, interactional linguistics and more. Finally we will discuss data analysis and interpretation of results, the pros and cons of differerent research methods and ethical considerations in linguistics.

The course is first and foremost organized for students in language technology that have a background in linguistics (or humanities) but are not experienced in computer science. This course is most often taken in the same semester as the course “Computer Science 1a”. If someone with a different background is interested in the course, please contact the teacher for further information.

The main goal of this course is to support students in taking their first step toward learning programming, help them to knack the basis and train them in solving simple but diverse assignments in language technology using Python. Besides, students will be introduced to NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit) that they will use further in other courses in natural language processing.

The course will discuss grammatical gender, the gender system of Icelandic and its history. The use of the three grammatical genders in Icelandic will be discussed, Icelandic words referring to men and women and the difference between men's and women's speech. The fight for equality in language (feminist language planning) will be covered as well and the Icelandic situation compared to other countries. Guests from within and outside the university will be invited to contribute to the seminar.

Training in various aspects of the writing and editing of scientific texts. Various kinds of texts (non-fiction) examined and evaluated. Training in reviewing and commenting on scientific texts and in other aspects of editorial work. The main emphasis will be on the writing of articles, but other kinds of texts will also be considered, both shorter (conference abstracts, reviews) and longer (theses, books), as well as research proposals. Discussion of guidelines for the preparation of manuscripts. Types of plagiarism and how to avoid them and find them. Texts on different subjects will be used as examples, especially writings in linguistics, literature and history. The book Skrifaðu bæði skýrt og rétt will be used as a textbook (Höskuldur Þráinsson 2015).

This course is open to students of many MA programmes in the School of Humanities, cf. the regulations of the individual subjects. Students in the MA programmes in Icelandic literature, Icelandic linguistics, Icelandic studies and Icelandic teaching can take the course as part of the MA course requirements in Icelandic literature or Icelandic linguistics. Students in the MA programme in Icelandic teaching can, however, not have this course as the only linguistics or literature course in their MA.

This course discusses how texts, especially literary texts, can be analyzed from the perspective of theoretical linguistics.  The course is therefore suitable for students who have an interest in both literary studies and linguistics. The topics include style types, the use of tenses, word order, character designations, gender-neutral language, sound symbolism, the effects of verbs and nouns, focalization and metaphors. Many guest lecturers will participate in this class, both literary scholars and linguists.

Recent years have seen an increased focus on data collection and statistical analysis within the humanities. This is particularly apparent in growing branches such as psycholinguistics, cognitive literary studies and experimental philosophy, to name a few. The push towards quantitative methods occurs at a time where the validity and reliability of well-established statistical methods are called into question in other fields, with increased demands of replicability and open access as well as data protection and responsibility. In this course, students explore the value of quantitative methods in their field while getting training in the collection and analysis of data. A diverse set of research methods will be introduced, ranging from surveys to corpus analysis and experiments in which participants’ response to stimuli (such as words, texts or audio-visual materials) is quantified. Basic concepts in statistics will be reviewed, enabling students to know the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics, understand statistical significance and interpret visual representations of data in graphs. The course will be largely practical and students are expected to apply their knowledge of data collection and analysis under the instructor’s guidance. Students will work on a project within their own discipline but will also explore the possibility of cross-disciplinary work. Open source tools such as R Studio will be used for all assignments but no prior knowledge of the software or statistics in general is required. The course is suitable for all students within the humanities who want to collect quantitative data to answer interesting questions and could therefore be a useful preparation for a BA or MA project.

The main purpose of the course is twofold. First, to shed light on how Icelandic is taught in upper primary and secondary schools. Second, to explore ways of developing Icelandic as a school subject, with respect to practical and theoretical research. What ability should be emphasized in the use and practice of the language? What skills should students have obtained by the end of each school level and how should they be trained? Which aspects of language and literature are most important for the students to know and understand? What are the most used teaching methods? What kind of teaching material is most commonly used in schools and to what extent does it reflect recent knowledge and developments in the fields of language and literature? In the course assignments the students will be trained in defining and implementing their own teaching ideas, with an emphasis on recent knowledge.

In this course we concern ourselves with how language and society interact by examining sociolinguistic methods and concepts with regard to international and domestic research in the field.

Among the topics discussed are language attitudes, language contact, dialects, language style and language management. We take a look at different manifestations of language use and language variation as well as contemplating on how factors such as environment, context and background of a language user potentially influence language use and choice of style.

We provide an overview of principal research methods, both quantitative and qualitative, discuss recent trends in sociolinguistics and evaluate methods and methodologies with respect to the particular research topic.

Besides presenting research on attitudes towards language and language use, considering both attitudes towards one’s own language and that of others, we consider possible outcomes of unconventional language use. Special emphasis will be put on considering the language use of those who speak Icelandic as a foreign language as well as the status of immigrants in Iceland.

Additionally, we address the current status of the Icelandic language, particularly in relation to English and other languages. Principles of language management are discussed along with people’s ideas and believes about language through time. In that respect, we have a look at Icelandic language policy, language management, language standardization and linguistic purism from different perspectives, e.g. a synchronic and diachronic angle as well as with regard to other speech communities. 

We will discuss language use of particular social groups (e.g. teenagers) in terms of its social meaning for the group on the one hand and for the speech community as a whole on the other hand.

Students are expected to complete group or individual tasks on questions and problems originating from topics and discussions in the class room.

This course provides an overview of Icelandic manuscript culture. Students will get practical training in reading Icelandic manuscripts from different periods, from the earliest extant Icelandic vellums dating to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries down to the paper manuscripts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The origins of the Icelandic script will be discussed as well as its development over time, and students will get practical training in reading different types of script from different periods. The orthography of medieval manuscripts differs considerably from the modern orthography. It includes a system of abbreviations that is partly inherited from a much earlier Latin tradition. Students will get practical training in interpreting these abbreviations. The Icelandic language has also changed over time, and different manifestations of these language changes appear when reading and examining Icelandic texts from different periods. A selection of these changes will be discussed. Changes in script, orthography, and language provide valuable indications of the date of the manuscript, and students will get practical training in dating medieval Icelandic manuscripts based on script, orthography, and language.

Various aspects of medieval book production will be discussed, including the making of parchment and ink, and book binding. Scribes and scribal schools will be discussed as well as probable centres of book production in medieval Iceland. The works of some prolific scribes in the fourteenth century will be examined. What did they write? How did they write? Did they change their practice over a long scribal career? The texts contained by the manuscripts will also be examined and the basics of textual criticism introduced. Njáls saga, for instance, has survived in over sixty manuscripts with considerable textual variation. Which manuscript should then constitute the basis for a printed edition of Njáls saga? Different types of printed editions will be discussed, and students try their hand at editing a medieval text. The electronic editing of pre-modern texts will be introduced, and students will get practical training in mark-up with XML according to the guidelines of the Medieval Nordic Text Archive (MENOTA) and the Medieval Unicode Font Initiative (MUFI).

The course is taught through a combination of lectures and workshops with considerable student engagement. Many of the lectures will be pre-recorded allowing more time in the classroom for discussion and student contributions.

The course is run in cooperation with the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies which has the custody of the largest single collection of Icelandic medieval manuscripts. Students will visit the institute to learn about its collections and facilities and to examine manuscripts.

Course synopsis

Week 1
(1) Introduction
The course: format, readings, requirements and assessment.
The subject matter: Medieval Icelandic manuscripts.

(2) The earliest Icelandic manuscripts
A sketch of the history of the Latin script and the earliest writings in Icelandic. Where did Icelanders learn to use the Latin alphabet? Which orthography did they employ? Some main characteristics of medieval orthography and the use of abbreviations.

Week 2
(3) Electronic editing of medieval texts
How can medieval texts be presented electronically? The XML mark-up language, TEI, MENOTA, MUFI, and related matters. We will try our hand at electronic editing.

(4) The earliest Icelandic orthography and the First Grammatical Treatise
The use of the Latin alphabet for writing Icelandic: challenges — and the solutions proposed by the author of the First Grammatical Treatise in the middle of the twelfth century.

Week 3
(5) Icelandic script and orthography in the thirteenth century
The difference between Icelandic and Norwegian orthography in the twelfth century. What changed in the course of the thirteenth century?

(6) Different types of print editions: scholarly editions
How accurate should printed editions be? Should every little detail in the manuscript be reproduced? What is “Classical Old Icelandic Normalized Orthography”? What are the needs of the readers? What is the role of the editor?

Week 4
(7) Norwegian influence on script, orthography, and language in Icelandic manuscripts
What is the manifestation of this Norwegian influence? How deep-rooted was it? How long did it last?

(8) The dating of manuscripts: script, orthography, and language
How can medieval Icelandic manuscripts be dated? Features of script, orthography, and language that can be helpful for dating.

Week 5
(9) Icelandic script and orthography in the fourteenth century
Main characteristics and their development.

(10) One scribal hand or many?
Distinguishing different scribal hands: some criteria. The Icelandic Homily Book from around 1200: One scribe or fourteen?

Week 6
(11) Book production: parchment, ink, binding — and conservation
From animal skin to parchment. How was the ink produced? Book design and book binding. The care and conservation of medieval manuscripts.

(12) Book production: parchment, ink, binding — and conservation
A visit to the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies.

— STUDY WEEK —

Week 7
(13) Scribes, scribal milieus, the export of books
On prolific scribes, scribal collaboration, and extensive production of books. Were books produced in Iceland for export in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries?

(14) Icelandic script and orthography in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
Main characteristics and their development.

Week 8
(15) Textual criticism
On the transmission of texts through copying. Textual variation, manuscript classification, and stemmatology.

(16) Textual criticism
Comparing manuscripts and collecting variants.

Week 9
(17) Manuscript illumination
On illuminated manuscripts, historiated initials, artists and their models.

(18) Manuscript catalogues and cataloguing
We will familiarize ourselves with the most important manuscript catalogues and learn about the principles of manuscript cataloguing.

Week 10
(19) Icelandic script and orthography in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
Main characteristics and their development.

(20) The transmission of the text: a relic or a living text?
How did the language change when a scribe copied from an old exemplar? Njáls saga is believed to have been written towards the end of the thirteenth century. What is the language of Njáls saga in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century manuscripts?

Week 11
(21) Antiquarianism, manuscript collectors, and copyists
The sixteenth century saw the rise of interest in antiquities, old manuscripts were collected and copied.

(22) Different types of print editions: popular editions
How is a pre-modern text best presented to the modern reader? Should archaic features of language and orthography be retained or should they be updated? On the allegiance to the manuscript and allegiance to the reader.

Week 12
(23) Manuscript collections and manuscript collectors
The life and work of Árni Magnússon.

(24) The manuscript dispute and the return of the manuscripts to Iceland
The search for Codex Scardensis and a nerve-racking auction in London. The custody dispute with Denmark and the return of the manuscripts to Iceland 1971–1997.

— This synopsis may be subject to change. —

Readings

The reading list is on the course website on Canvas. It consists of readings in several languages, including English, Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, German, and French. The reading list is (often) divided into three main sections:

(a) Required readings: Texts that everyone is required to read. These are all in English.

(b) Optional supplementary readings: These are optional readings for those who want a more in-depth discussion. Most of these readings are in English, but not all.

(c) For those who still want more: A variety of optional readings in several languages, not least in Icelandic, for those who still want more. This section is mostly for reference purposes and as a tool for further research.

Many of the required readings (and some of the optional readings) are found on the Canvas course website. Other reading materials are available in the institute library in the Árni Magnússon Institute in Edda and the University Library (Háskólabókasafn) in the Þjóðarbókhlaða.

Prerequisites
Some skills in Icelandic are essential to fully benefit from the course, as emphasis will be placed on practical training in reading and transcribing text from medieval Icelandic manuscripts. MIS105F Old Icelandic 1 or equivalent study of Old Icelandic is sufficient or some skills in Modern Icelandic. Please, consult the instructor if in doubt.

Course format
The course is taught through a combination of lectures and workshops with considerable student engagement. Many of the lectures will be prerecorded allowing more time in the classroom for discussion and student contributions (flipped classroom).

Working language: This course is open to students with different linguistic backgrounds, and there are two working languages, English and Icelandic. Pre-recorded lectures are in both English and Icelandic (except for guest lecturers who will present in English), written assignments are in both English and Icelandic, and reading materials are in English, Icelandic and the Scandinavian languages, but for those who cannot read Icelandic or the Scan-dinavian languages, all required readings are in English. English is the main working language in the classroom, but questions and contributions to class discussion may also be in Icelandic. — See a separate note on the working languages and the classroom arrangement.

Course requirements and assessment
The final grade for the course will be based on:

(1) Transcription assignments: 30%
(2) Manuscript catalogue assignment: 10%
(3) Manuscript dating assignment: 10%
(4) Presentation: manuscript of the day: 10%
(5) Research paper: 30%
(6) Class participation: 10%

All written assignments will be submitted through Canvas. More detailed instructions and information on deadlines is found on Canvas.

The so-called Third Grammatical Treatise is a grammatical and rhetorical discourse which is mainly based on the writings of Donatus and Priscianus. In the course, the attention will be concentrated on the ways in which the author (Ólafr Þórðarson, hvítaskáld, ca. 1210-1259) translates the foreign science of grammar and rhetoric and applies its concepts to indigenous poetry. Moreover, this treatise will be compared with the poetics of Snorri Sturluson. The subject of the course should be of interest equally for students of linguistics, litterature and medieval studies.

The student chooses a subject in consultation with a teacher, who takes on the role of a supervisor. Together they draw up a reading list and define the project output.

The student chooses a subject in consultation with a teacher, who takes on the role of a supervisor. Together they draw up a reading list and define the project output.

This course introduces syntactically annotated corpora, including the Icelandic treebank, IcePaHC. Topics to be covered include different types of treebanks, the development of new treebanks and the use of treebanks in language technology and theoretical syntax. Quantitative methods in syntax will be introduced in the context of historical syntax, synchronic variation and theories about the relationship between language acquisition, linguistic competence and linguistic change. Students will furthermore get training in the use of software which is designed for developing treebanks, querying treebanks and processing results and they will carry out experiments in machine annotation of the syntactic properties of a text. Both students of language technology and linguistics are encouraged to enroll.

The course is designed for MA students in general and Icelandic linguistics and is also useful for other MA students that plan to conduct linguistics research. The course will cover the main research methods in linguistics, both in regards to experimental and natural data. We will discuss the fundamentals of the design of judgment tasks, fill-ins, elicitation tasks, behvioural and neuroimaging experiments and search in corpora such as the Icelandic Gigaword Corpus and IcePaHC. Research methods in diverse domains will be introduced, including syntax, phonology, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, interactional linguistics and more. Finally we will discuss data analysis and interpretation of results, the pros and cons of differerent research methods and ethical considerations in linguistics.

The course is first and foremost organized for students in language technology that have a background in linguistics (or humanities) but are not experienced in computer science. This course is most often taken in the same semester as the course “Computer Science 1a”. If someone with a different background is interested in the course, please contact the teacher for further information.

The main goal of this course is to support students in taking their first step toward learning programming, help them to knack the basis and train them in solving simple but diverse assignments in language technology using Python. Besides, students will be introduced to NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit) that they will use further in other courses in natural language processing.

The course will discuss grammatical gender, the gender system of Icelandic and its history. The use of the three grammatical genders in Icelandic will be discussed, Icelandic words referring to men and women and the difference between men's and women's speech. The fight for equality in language (feminist language planning) will be covered as well and the Icelandic situation compared to other countries. Guests from within and outside the university will be invited to contribute to the seminar.

Training in various aspects of the writing and editing of scientific texts. Various kinds of texts (non-fiction) examined and evaluated. Training in reviewing and commenting on scientific texts and in other aspects of editorial work. The main emphasis will be on the writing of articles, but other kinds of texts will also be considered, both shorter (conference abstracts, reviews) and longer (theses, books), as well as research proposals. Discussion of guidelines for the preparation of manuscripts. Types of plagiarism and how to avoid them and find them. Texts on different subjects will be used as examples, especially writings in linguistics, literature and history. The book Skrifaðu bæði skýrt og rétt will be used as a textbook (Höskuldur Þráinsson 2015).

This course is open to students of many MA programmes in the School of Humanities, cf. the regulations of the individual subjects. Students in the MA programmes in Icelandic literature, Icelandic linguistics, Icelandic studies and Icelandic teaching can take the course as part of the MA course requirements in Icelandic literature or Icelandic linguistics. Students in the MA programme in Icelandic teaching can, however, not have this course as the only linguistics or literature course in their MA.

Students wishing to write a MA thesis shall contact the head of department regarding the choice of supervisor. Requests for a specific supervisor are honoured where possible, but otherwise a supervisor is selected based on the topic of the thesis and the specialist knowledge of teaching staff in Icelandic.

This course discusses how texts, especially literary texts, can be analyzed from the perspective of theoretical linguistics.  The course is therefore suitable for students who have an interest in both literary studies and linguistics. The topics include style types, the use of tenses, word order, character designations, gender-neutral language, sound symbolism, the effects of verbs and nouns, focalization and metaphors. Many guest lecturers will participate in this class, both literary scholars and linguists.

Recent years have seen an increased focus on data collection and statistical analysis within the humanities. This is particularly apparent in growing branches such as psycholinguistics, cognitive literary studies and experimental philosophy, to name a few. The push towards quantitative methods occurs at a time where the validity and reliability of well-established statistical methods are called into question in other fields, with increased demands of replicability and open access as well as data protection and responsibility. In this course, students explore the value of quantitative methods in their field while getting training in the collection and analysis of data. A diverse set of research methods will be introduced, ranging from surveys to corpus analysis and experiments in which participants’ response to stimuli (such as words, texts or audio-visual materials) is quantified. Basic concepts in statistics will be reviewed, enabling students to know the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics, understand statistical significance and interpret visual representations of data in graphs. The course will be largely practical and students are expected to apply their knowledge of data collection and analysis under the instructor’s guidance. Students will work on a project within their own discipline but will also explore the possibility of cross-disciplinary work. Open source tools such as R Studio will be used for all assignments but no prior knowledge of the software or statistics in general is required. The course is suitable for all students within the humanities who want to collect quantitative data to answer interesting questions and could therefore be a useful preparation for a BA or MA project.

The main purpose of the course is twofold. First, to shed light on how Icelandic is taught in upper primary and secondary schools. Second, to explore ways of developing Icelandic as a school subject, with respect to practical and theoretical research. What ability should be emphasized in the use and practice of the language? What skills should students have obtained by the end of each school level and how should they be trained? Which aspects of language and literature are most important for the students to know and understand? What are the most used teaching methods? What kind of teaching material is most commonly used in schools and to what extent does it reflect recent knowledge and developments in the fields of language and literature? In the course assignments the students will be trained in defining and implementing their own teaching ideas, with an emphasis on recent knowledge.

In this course we concern ourselves with how language and society interact by examining sociolinguistic methods and concepts with regard to international and domestic research in the field.

Among the topics discussed are language attitudes, language contact, dialects, language style and language management. We take a look at different manifestations of language use and language variation as well as contemplating on how factors such as environment, context and background of a language user potentially influence language use and choice of style.

We provide an overview of principal research methods, both quantitative and qualitative, discuss recent trends in sociolinguistics and evaluate methods and methodologies with respect to the particular research topic.

Besides presenting research on attitudes towards language and language use, considering both attitudes towards one’s own language and that of others, we consider possible outcomes of unconventional language use. Special emphasis will be put on considering the language use of those who speak Icelandic as a foreign language as well as the status of immigrants in Iceland.

Additionally, we address the current status of the Icelandic language, particularly in relation to English and other languages. Principles of language management are discussed along with people’s ideas and believes about language through time. In that respect, we have a look at Icelandic language policy, language management, language standardization and linguistic purism from different perspectives, e.g. a synchronic and diachronic angle as well as with regard to other speech communities. 

We will discuss language use of particular social groups (e.g. teenagers) in terms of its social meaning for the group on the one hand and for the speech community as a whole on the other hand.

Students are expected to complete group or individual tasks on questions and problems originating from topics and discussions in the class room.

This course provides an overview of Icelandic manuscript culture. Students will get practical training in reading Icelandic manuscripts from different periods, from the earliest extant Icelandic vellums dating to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries down to the paper manuscripts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The origins of the Icelandic script will be discussed as well as its development over time, and students will get practical training in reading different types of script from different periods. The orthography of medieval manuscripts differs considerably from the modern orthography. It includes a system of abbreviations that is partly inherited from a much earlier Latin tradition. Students will get practical training in interpreting these abbreviations. The Icelandic language has also changed over time, and different manifestations of these language changes appear when reading and examining Icelandic texts from different periods. A selection of these changes will be discussed. Changes in script, orthography, and language provide valuable indications of the date of the manuscript, and students will get practical training in dating medieval Icelandic manuscripts based on script, orthography, and language.

Various aspects of medieval book production will be discussed, including the making of parchment and ink, and book binding. Scribes and scribal schools will be discussed as well as probable centres of book production in medieval Iceland. The works of some prolific scribes in the fourteenth century will be examined. What did they write? How did they write? Did they change their practice over a long scribal career? The texts contained by the manuscripts will also be examined and the basics of textual criticism introduced. Njáls saga, for instance, has survived in over sixty manuscripts with considerable textual variation. Which manuscript should then constitute the basis for a printed edition of Njáls saga? Different types of printed editions will be discussed, and students try their hand at editing a medieval text. The electronic editing of pre-modern texts will be introduced, and students will get practical training in mark-up with XML according to the guidelines of the Medieval Nordic Text Archive (MENOTA) and the Medieval Unicode Font Initiative (MUFI).

The course is taught through a combination of lectures and workshops with considerable student engagement. Many of the lectures will be pre-recorded allowing more time in the classroom for discussion and student contributions.

The course is run in cooperation with the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies which has the custody of the largest single collection of Icelandic medieval manuscripts. Students will visit the institute to learn about its collections and facilities and to examine manuscripts.

Course synopsis

Week 1
(1) Introduction
The course: format, readings, requirements and assessment.
The subject matter: Medieval Icelandic manuscripts.

(2) The earliest Icelandic manuscripts
A sketch of the history of the Latin script and the earliest writings in Icelandic. Where did Icelanders learn to use the Latin alphabet? Which orthography did they employ? Some main characteristics of medieval orthography and the use of abbreviations.

Week 2
(3) Electronic editing of medieval texts
How can medieval texts be presented electronically? The XML mark-up language, TEI, MENOTA, MUFI, and related matters. We will try our hand at electronic editing.

(4) The earliest Icelandic orthography and the First Grammatical Treatise
The use of the Latin alphabet for writing Icelandic: challenges — and the solutions proposed by the author of the First Grammatical Treatise in the middle of the twelfth century.

Week 3
(5) Icelandic script and orthography in the thirteenth century
The difference between Icelandic and Norwegian orthography in the twelfth century. What changed in the course of the thirteenth century?

(6) Different types of print editions: scholarly editions
How accurate should printed editions be? Should every little detail in the manuscript be reproduced? What is “Classical Old Icelandic Normalized Orthography”? What are the needs of the readers? What is the role of the editor?

Week 4
(7) Norwegian influence on script, orthography, and language in Icelandic manuscripts
What is the manifestation of this Norwegian influence? How deep-rooted was it? How long did it last?

(8) The dating of manuscripts: script, orthography, and language
How can medieval Icelandic manuscripts be dated? Features of script, orthography, and language that can be helpful for dating.

Week 5
(9) Icelandic script and orthography in the fourteenth century
Main characteristics and their development.

(10) One scribal hand or many?
Distinguishing different scribal hands: some criteria. The Icelandic Homily Book from around 1200: One scribe or fourteen?

Week 6
(11) Book production: parchment, ink, binding — and conservation
From animal skin to parchment. How was the ink produced? Book design and book binding. The care and conservation of medieval manuscripts.

(12) Book production: parchment, ink, binding — and conservation
A visit to the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies.

— STUDY WEEK —

Week 7
(13) Scribes, scribal milieus, the export of books
On prolific scribes, scribal collaboration, and extensive production of books. Were books produced in Iceland for export in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries?

(14) Icelandic script and orthography in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
Main characteristics and their development.

Week 8
(15) Textual criticism
On the transmission of texts through copying. Textual variation, manuscript classification, and stemmatology.

(16) Textual criticism
Comparing manuscripts and collecting variants.

Week 9
(17) Manuscript illumination
On illuminated manuscripts, historiated initials, artists and their models.

(18) Manuscript catalogues and cataloguing
We will familiarize ourselves with the most important manuscript catalogues and learn about the principles of manuscript cataloguing.

Week 10
(19) Icelandic script and orthography in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
Main characteristics and their development.

(20) The transmission of the text: a relic or a living text?
How did the language change when a scribe copied from an old exemplar? Njáls saga is believed to have been written towards the end of the thirteenth century. What is the language of Njáls saga in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century manuscripts?

Week 11
(21) Antiquarianism, manuscript collectors, and copyists
The sixteenth century saw the rise of interest in antiquities, old manuscripts were collected and copied.

(22) Different types of print editions: popular editions
How is a pre-modern text best presented to the modern reader? Should archaic features of language and orthography be retained or should they be updated? On the allegiance to the manuscript and allegiance to the reader.

Week 12
(23) Manuscript collections and manuscript collectors
The life and work of Árni Magnússon.

(24) The manuscript dispute and the return of the manuscripts to Iceland
The search for Codex Scardensis and a nerve-racking auction in London. The custody dispute with Denmark and the return of the manuscripts to Iceland 1971–1997.

— This synopsis may be subject to change. —

Readings

The reading list is on the course website on Canvas. It consists of readings in several languages, including English, Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, German, and French. The reading list is (often) divided into three main sections:

(a) Required readings: Texts that everyone is required to read. These are all in English.

(b) Optional supplementary readings: These are optional readings for those who want a more in-depth discussion. Most of these readings are in English, but not all.

(c) For those who still want more: A variety of optional readings in several languages, not least in Icelandic, for those who still want more. This section is mostly for reference purposes and as a tool for further research.

Many of the required readings (and some of the optional readings) are found on the Canvas course website. Other reading materials are available in the institute library in the Árni Magnússon Institute in Edda and the University Library (Háskólabókasafn) in the Þjóðarbókhlaða.

Prerequisites
Some skills in Icelandic are essential to fully benefit from the course, as emphasis will be placed on practical training in reading and transcribing text from medieval Icelandic manuscripts. MIS105F Old Icelandic 1 or equivalent study of Old Icelandic is sufficient or some skills in Modern Icelandic. Please, consult the instructor if in doubt.

Course format
The course is taught through a combination of lectures and workshops with considerable student engagement. Many of the lectures will be prerecorded allowing more time in the classroom for discussion and student contributions (flipped classroom).

Working language: This course is open to students with different linguistic backgrounds, and there are two working languages, English and Icelandic. Pre-recorded lectures are in both English and Icelandic (except for guest lecturers who will present in English), written assignments are in both English and Icelandic, and reading materials are in English, Icelandic and the Scandinavian languages, but for those who cannot read Icelandic or the Scan-dinavian languages, all required readings are in English. English is the main working language in the classroom, but questions and contributions to class discussion may also be in Icelandic. — See a separate note on the working languages and the classroom arrangement.

Course requirements and assessment
The final grade for the course will be based on:

(1) Transcription assignments: 30%
(2) Manuscript catalogue assignment: 10%
(3) Manuscript dating assignment: 10%
(4) Presentation: manuscript of the day: 10%
(5) Research paper: 30%
(6) Class participation: 10%

All written assignments will be submitted through Canvas. More detailed instructions and information on deadlines is found on Canvas.

The so-called Third Grammatical Treatise is a grammatical and rhetorical discourse which is mainly based on the writings of Donatus and Priscianus. In the course, the attention will be concentrated on the ways in which the author (Ólafr Þórðarson, hvítaskáld, ca. 1210-1259) translates the foreign science of grammar and rhetoric and applies its concepts to indigenous poetry. Moreover, this treatise will be compared with the poetics of Snorri Sturluson. The subject of the course should be of interest equally for students of linguistics, litterature and medieval studies.

The student chooses a subject in consultation with a teacher, who takes on the role of a supervisor. Together they draw up a reading list and define the project output.

The student chooses a subject in consultation with a teacher, who takes on the role of a supervisor. Together they draw up a reading list and define the project output.

Students wishing to write a MA thesis shall contact the head of department regarding the choice of supervisor. Requests for a specific supervisor are honoured where possible, but otherwise a supervisor is selected based on the topic of the thesis and the specialist knowledge of teaching staff in Icelandic.

This course introduces syntactically annotated corpora, including the Icelandic treebank, IcePaHC. Topics to be covered include different types of treebanks, the development of new treebanks and the use of treebanks in language technology and theoretical syntax. Quantitative methods in syntax will be introduced in the context of historical syntax, synchronic variation and theories about the relationship between language acquisition, linguistic competence and linguistic change. Students will furthermore get training in the use of software which is designed for developing treebanks, querying treebanks and processing results and they will carry out experiments in machine annotation of the syntactic properties of a text. Both students of language technology and linguistics are encouraged to enroll.

The course is designed for MA students in general and Icelandic linguistics and is also useful for other MA students that plan to conduct linguistics research. The course will cover the main research methods in linguistics, both in regards to experimental and natural data. We will discuss the fundamentals of the design of judgment tasks, fill-ins, elicitation tasks, behvioural and neuroimaging experiments and search in corpora such as the Icelandic Gigaword Corpus and IcePaHC. Research methods in diverse domains will be introduced, including syntax, phonology, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, interactional linguistics and more. Finally we will discuss data analysis and interpretation of results, the pros and cons of differerent research methods and ethical considerations in linguistics.

The course is first and foremost organized for students in language technology that have a background in linguistics (or humanities) but are not experienced in computer science. This course is most often taken in the same semester as the course “Computer Science 1a”. If someone with a different background is interested in the course, please contact the teacher for further information.

The main goal of this course is to support students in taking their first step toward learning programming, help them to knack the basis and train them in solving simple but diverse assignments in language technology using Python. Besides, students will be introduced to NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit) that they will use further in other courses in natural language processing.

The course will discuss grammatical gender, the gender system of Icelandic and its history. The use of the three grammatical genders in Icelandic will be discussed, Icelandic words referring to men and women and the difference between men's and women's speech. The fight for equality in language (feminist language planning) will be covered as well and the Icelandic situation compared to other countries. Guests from within and outside the university will be invited to contribute to the seminar.

Training in various aspects of the writing and editing of scientific texts. Various kinds of texts (non-fiction) examined and evaluated. Training in reviewing and commenting on scientific texts and in other aspects of editorial work. The main emphasis will be on the writing of articles, but other kinds of texts will also be considered, both shorter (conference abstracts, reviews) and longer (theses, books), as well as research proposals. Discussion of guidelines for the preparation of manuscripts. Types of plagiarism and how to avoid them and find them. Texts on different subjects will be used as examples, especially writings in linguistics, literature and history. The book Skrifaðu bæði skýrt og rétt will be used as a textbook (Höskuldur Þráinsson 2015).

This course is open to students of many MA programmes in the School of Humanities, cf. the regulations of the individual subjects. Students in the MA programmes in Icelandic literature, Icelandic linguistics, Icelandic studies and Icelandic teaching can take the course as part of the MA course requirements in Icelandic literature or Icelandic linguistics. Students in the MA programme in Icelandic teaching can, however, not have this course as the only linguistics or literature course in their MA.

This course discusses how texts, especially literary texts, can be analyzed from the perspective of theoretical linguistics.  The course is therefore suitable for students who have an interest in both literary studies and linguistics. The topics include style types, the use of tenses, word order, character designations, gender-neutral language, sound symbolism, the effects of verbs and nouns, focalization and metaphors. Many guest lecturers will participate in this class, both literary scholars and linguists.

Recent years have seen an increased focus on data collection and statistical analysis within the humanities. This is particularly apparent in growing branches such as psycholinguistics, cognitive literary studies and experimental philosophy, to name a few. The push towards quantitative methods occurs at a time where the validity and reliability of well-established statistical methods are called into question in other fields, with increased demands of replicability and open access as well as data protection and responsibility. In this course, students explore the value of quantitative methods in their field while getting training in the collection and analysis of data. A diverse set of research methods will be introduced, ranging from surveys to corpus analysis and experiments in which participants’ response to stimuli (such as words, texts or audio-visual materials) is quantified. Basic concepts in statistics will be reviewed, enabling students to know the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics, understand statistical significance and interpret visual representations of data in graphs. The course will be largely practical and students are expected to apply their knowledge of data collection and analysis under the instructor’s guidance. Students will work on a project within their own discipline but will also explore the possibility of cross-disciplinary work. Open source tools such as R Studio will be used for all assignments but no prior knowledge of the software or statistics in general is required. The course is suitable for all students within the humanities who want to collect quantitative data to answer interesting questions and could therefore be a useful preparation for a BA or MA project.

The main purpose of the course is twofold. First, to shed light on how Icelandic is taught in upper primary and secondary schools. Second, to explore ways of developing Icelandic as a school subject, with respect to practical and theoretical research. What ability should be emphasized in the use and practice of the language? What skills should students have obtained by the end of each school level and how should they be trained? Which aspects of language and literature are most important for the students to know and understand? What are the most used teaching methods? What kind of teaching material is most commonly used in schools and to what extent does it reflect recent knowledge and developments in the fields of language and literature? In the course assignments the students will be trained in defining and implementing their own teaching ideas, with an emphasis on recent knowledge.

In this course we concern ourselves with how language and society interact by examining sociolinguistic methods and concepts with regard to international and domestic research in the field.

Among the topics discussed are language attitudes, language contact, dialects, language style and language management. We take a look at different manifestations of language use and language variation as well as contemplating on how factors such as environment, context and background of a language user potentially influence language use and choice of style.

We provide an overview of principal research methods, both quantitative and qualitative, discuss recent trends in sociolinguistics and evaluate methods and methodologies with respect to the particular research topic.

Besides presenting research on attitudes towards language and language use, considering both attitudes towards one’s own language and that of others, we consider possible outcomes of unconventional language use. Special emphasis will be put on considering the language use of those who speak Icelandic as a foreign language as well as the status of immigrants in Iceland.

Additionally, we address the current status of the Icelandic language, particularly in relation to English and other languages. Principles of language management are discussed along with people’s ideas and believes about language through time. In that respect, we have a look at Icelandic language policy, language management, language standardization and linguistic purism from different perspectives, e.g. a synchronic and diachronic angle as well as with regard to other speech communities. 

We will discuss language use of particular social groups (e.g. teenagers) in terms of its social meaning for the group on the one hand and for the speech community as a whole on the other hand.

Students are expected to complete group or individual tasks on questions and problems originating from topics and discussions in the class room.

This course provides an overview of Icelandic manuscript culture. Students will get practical training in reading Icelandic manuscripts from different periods, from the earliest extant Icelandic vellums dating to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries down to the paper manuscripts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The origins of the Icelandic script will be discussed as well as its development over time, and students will get practical training in reading different types of script from different periods. The orthography of medieval manuscripts differs considerably from the modern orthography. It includes a system of abbreviations that is partly inherited from a much earlier Latin tradition. Students will get practical training in interpreting these abbreviations. The Icelandic language has also changed over time, and different manifestations of these language changes appear when reading and examining Icelandic texts from different periods. A selection of these changes will be discussed. Changes in script, orthography, and language provide valuable indications of the date of the manuscript, and students will get practical training in dating medieval Icelandic manuscripts based on script, orthography, and language.

Various aspects of medieval book production will be discussed, including the making of parchment and ink, and book binding. Scribes and scribal schools will be discussed as well as probable centres of book production in medieval Iceland. The works of some prolific scribes in the fourteenth century will be examined. What did they write? How did they write? Did they change their practice over a long scribal career? The texts contained by the manuscripts will also be examined and the basics of textual criticism introduced. Njáls saga, for instance, has survived in over sixty manuscripts with considerable textual variation. Which manuscript should then constitute the basis for a printed edition of Njáls saga? Different types of printed editions will be discussed, and students try their hand at editing a medieval text. The electronic editing of pre-modern texts will be introduced, and students will get practical training in mark-up with XML according to the guidelines of the Medieval Nordic Text Archive (MENOTA) and the Medieval Unicode Font Initiative (MUFI).

The course is taught through a combination of lectures and workshops with considerable student engagement. Many of the lectures will be pre-recorded allowing more time in the classroom for discussion and student contributions.

The course is run in cooperation with the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies which has the custody of the largest single collection of Icelandic medieval manuscripts. Students will visit the institute to learn about its collections and facilities and to examine manuscripts.

Course synopsis

Week 1
(1) Introduction
The course: format, readings, requirements and assessment.
The subject matter: Medieval Icelandic manuscripts.

(2) The earliest Icelandic manuscripts
A sketch of the history of the Latin script and the earliest writings in Icelandic. Where did Icelanders learn to use the Latin alphabet? Which orthography did they employ? Some main characteristics of medieval orthography and the use of abbreviations.

Week 2
(3) Electronic editing of medieval texts
How can medieval texts be presented electronically? The XML mark-up language, TEI, MENOTA, MUFI, and related matters. We will try our hand at electronic editing.

(4) The earliest Icelandic orthography and the First Grammatical Treatise
The use of the Latin alphabet for writing Icelandic: challenges — and the solutions proposed by the author of the First Grammatical Treatise in the middle of the twelfth century.

Week 3
(5) Icelandic script and orthography in the thirteenth century
The difference between Icelandic and Norwegian orthography in the twelfth century. What changed in the course of the thirteenth century?

(6) Different types of print editions: scholarly editions
How accurate should printed editions be? Should every little detail in the manuscript be reproduced? What is “Classical Old Icelandic Normalized Orthography”? What are the needs of the readers? What is the role of the editor?

Week 4
(7) Norwegian influence on script, orthography, and language in Icelandic manuscripts
What is the manifestation of this Norwegian influence? How deep-rooted was it? How long did it last?

(8) The dating of manuscripts: script, orthography, and language
How can medieval Icelandic manuscripts be dated? Features of script, orthography, and language that can be helpful for dating.

Week 5
(9) Icelandic script and orthography in the fourteenth century
Main characteristics and their development.

(10) One scribal hand or many?
Distinguishing different scribal hands: some criteria. The Icelandic Homily Book from around 1200: One scribe or fourteen?

Week 6
(11) Book production: parchment, ink, binding — and conservation
From animal skin to parchment. How was the ink produced? Book design and book binding. The care and conservation of medieval manuscripts.

(12) Book production: parchment, ink, binding — and conservation
A visit to the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies.

— STUDY WEEK —

Week 7
(13) Scribes, scribal milieus, the export of books
On prolific scribes, scribal collaboration, and extensive production of books. Were books produced in Iceland for export in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries?

(14) Icelandic script and orthography in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
Main characteristics and their development.

Week 8
(15) Textual criticism
On the transmission of texts through copying. Textual variation, manuscript classification, and stemmatology.

(16) Textual criticism
Comparing manuscripts and collecting variants.

Week 9
(17) Manuscript illumination
On illuminated manuscripts, historiated initials, artists and their models.

(18) Manuscript catalogues and cataloguing
We will familiarize ourselves with the most important manuscript catalogues and learn about the principles of manuscript cataloguing.

Week 10
(19) Icelandic script and orthography in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
Main characteristics and their development.

(20) The transmission of the text: a relic or a living text?
How did the language change when a scribe copied from an old exemplar? Njáls saga is believed to have been written towards the end of the thirteenth century. What is the language of Njáls saga in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century manuscripts?

Week 11
(21) Antiquarianism, manuscript collectors, and copyists
The sixteenth century saw the rise of interest in antiquities, old manuscripts were collected and copied.

(22) Different types of print editions: popular editions
How is a pre-modern text best presented to the modern reader? Should archaic features of language and orthography be retained or should they be updated? On the allegiance to the manuscript and allegiance to the reader.

Week 12
(23) Manuscript collections and manuscript collectors
The life and work of Árni Magnússon.

(24) The manuscript dispute and the return of the manuscripts to Iceland
The search for Codex Scardensis and a nerve-racking auction in London. The custody dispute with Denmark and the return of the manuscripts to Iceland 1971–1997.

— This synopsis may be subject to change. —

Readings

The reading list is on the course website on Canvas. It consists of readings in several languages, including English, Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, German, and French. The reading list is (often) divided into three main sections:

(a) Required readings: Texts that everyone is required to read. These are all in English.

(b) Optional supplementary readings: These are optional readings for those who want a more in-depth discussion. Most of these readings are in English, but not all.

(c) For those who still want more: A variety of optional readings in several languages, not least in Icelandic, for those who still want more. This section is mostly for reference purposes and as a tool for further research.

Many of the required readings (and some of the optional readings) are found on the Canvas course website. Other reading materials are available in the institute library in the Árni Magnússon Institute in Edda and the University Library (Háskólabókasafn) in the Þjóðarbókhlaða.

Prerequisites
Some skills in Icelandic are essential to fully benefit from the course, as emphasis will be placed on practical training in reading and transcribing text from medieval Icelandic manuscripts. MIS105F Old Icelandic 1 or equivalent study of Old Icelandic is sufficient or some skills in Modern Icelandic. Please, consult the instructor if in doubt.

Course format
The course is taught through a combination of lectures and workshops with considerable student engagement. Many of the lectures will be prerecorded allowing more time in the classroom for discussion and student contributions (flipped classroom).

Working language: This course is open to students with different linguistic backgrounds, and there are two working languages, English and Icelandic. Pre-recorded lectures are in both English and Icelandic (except for guest lecturers who will present in English), written assignments are in both English and Icelandic, and reading materials are in English, Icelandic and the Scandinavian languages, but for those who cannot read Icelandic or the Scan-dinavian languages, all required readings are in English. English is the main working language in the classroom, but questions and contributions to class discussion may also be in Icelandic. — See a separate note on the working languages and the classroom arrangement.

Course requirements and assessment
The final grade for the course will be based on:

(1) Transcription assignments: 30%
(2) Manuscript catalogue assignment: 10%
(3) Manuscript dating assignment: 10%
(4) Presentation: manuscript of the day: 10%
(5) Research paper: 30%
(6) Class participation: 10%

All written assignments will be submitted through Canvas. More detailed instructions and information on deadlines is found on Canvas.

The so-called Third Grammatical Treatise is a grammatical and rhetorical discourse which is mainly based on the writings of Donatus and Priscianus. In the course, the attention will be concentrated on the ways in which the author (Ólafr Þórðarson, hvítaskáld, ca. 1210-1259) translates the foreign science of grammar and rhetoric and applies its concepts to indigenous poetry. Moreover, this treatise will be compared with the poetics of Snorri Sturluson. The subject of the course should be of interest equally for students of linguistics, litterature and medieval studies.

The student chooses a subject in consultation with a teacher, who takes on the role of a supervisor. Together they draw up a reading list and define the project output.

The student chooses a subject in consultation with a teacher, who takes on the role of a supervisor. Together they draw up a reading list and define the project output.

This course introduces syntactically annotated corpora, including the Icelandic treebank, IcePaHC. Topics to be covered include different types of treebanks, the development of new treebanks and the use of treebanks in language technology and theoretical syntax. Quantitative methods in syntax will be introduced in the context of historical syntax, synchronic variation and theories about the relationship between language acquisition, linguistic competence and linguistic change. Students will furthermore get training in the use of software which is designed for developing treebanks, querying treebanks and processing results and they will carry out experiments in machine annotation of the syntactic properties of a text. Both students of language technology and linguistics are encouraged to enroll.

The course is designed for MA students in general and Icelandic linguistics and is also useful for other MA students that plan to conduct linguistics research. The course will cover the main research methods in linguistics, both in regards to experimental and natural data. We will discuss the fundamentals of the design of judgment tasks, fill-ins, elicitation tasks, behvioural and neuroimaging experiments and search in corpora such as the Icelandic Gigaword Corpus and IcePaHC. Research methods in diverse domains will be introduced, including syntax, phonology, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, interactional linguistics and more. Finally we will discuss data analysis and interpretation of results, the pros and cons of differerent research methods and ethical considerations in linguistics.

The course is first and foremost organized for students in language technology that have a background in linguistics (or humanities) but are not experienced in computer science. This course is most often taken in the same semester as the course “Computer Science 1a”. If someone with a different background is interested in the course, please contact the teacher for further information.

The main goal of this course is to support students in taking their first step toward learning programming, help them to knack the basis and train them in solving simple but diverse assignments in language technology using Python. Besides, students will be introduced to NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit) that they will use further in other courses in natural language processing.

The course will discuss grammatical gender, the gender system of Icelandic and its history. The use of the three grammatical genders in Icelandic will be discussed, Icelandic words referring to men and women and the difference between men's and women's speech. The fight for equality in language (feminist language planning) will be covered as well and the Icelandic situation compared to other countries. Guests from within and outside the university will be invited to contribute to the seminar.

Training in various aspects of the writing and editing of scientific texts. Various kinds of texts (non-fiction) examined and evaluated. Training in reviewing and commenting on scientific texts and in other aspects of editorial work. The main emphasis will be on the writing of articles, but other kinds of texts will also be considered, both shorter (conference abstracts, reviews) and longer (theses, books), as well as research proposals. Discussion of guidelines for the preparation of manuscripts. Types of plagiarism and how to avoid them and find them. Texts on different subjects will be used as examples, especially writings in linguistics, literature and history. The book Skrifaðu bæði skýrt og rétt will be used as a textbook (Höskuldur Þráinsson 2015).

This course is open to students of many MA programmes in the School of Humanities, cf. the regulations of the individual subjects. Students in the MA programmes in Icelandic literature, Icelandic linguistics, Icelandic studies and Icelandic teaching can take the course as part of the MA course requirements in Icelandic literature or Icelandic linguistics. Students in the MA programme in Icelandic teaching can, however, not have this course as the only linguistics or literature course in their MA.

Students wishing to write a MA thesis shall contact the head of department regarding the choice of supervisor. Requests for a specific supervisor are honoured where possible, but otherwise a supervisor is selected based on the topic of the thesis and the specialist knowledge of teaching staff in Icelandic.

This course discusses how texts, especially literary texts, can be analyzed from the perspective of theoretical linguistics.  The course is therefore suitable for students who have an interest in both literary studies and linguistics. The topics include style types, the use of tenses, word order, character designations, gender-neutral language, sound symbolism, the effects of verbs and nouns, focalization and metaphors. Many guest lecturers will participate in this class, both literary scholars and linguists.

Recent years have seen an increased focus on data collection and statistical analysis within the humanities. This is particularly apparent in growing branches such as psycholinguistics, cognitive literary studies and experimental philosophy, to name a few. The push towards quantitative methods occurs at a time where the validity and reliability of well-established statistical methods are called into question in other fields, with increased demands of replicability and open access as well as data protection and responsibility. In this course, students explore the value of quantitative methods in their field while getting training in the collection and analysis of data. A diverse set of research methods will be introduced, ranging from surveys to corpus analysis and experiments in which participants’ response to stimuli (such as words, texts or audio-visual materials) is quantified. Basic concepts in statistics will be reviewed, enabling students to know the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics, understand statistical significance and interpret visual representations of data in graphs. The course will be largely practical and students are expected to apply their knowledge of data collection and analysis under the instructor’s guidance. Students will work on a project within their own discipline but will also explore the possibility of cross-disciplinary work. Open source tools such as R Studio will be used for all assignments but no prior knowledge of the software or statistics in general is required. The course is suitable for all students within the humanities who want to collect quantitative data to answer interesting questions and could therefore be a useful preparation for a BA or MA project.

The main purpose of the course is twofold. First, to shed light on how Icelandic is taught in upper primary and secondary schools. Second, to explore ways of developing Icelandic as a school subject, with respect to practical and theoretical research. What ability should be emphasized in the use and practice of the language? What skills should students have obtained by the end of each school level and how should they be trained? Which aspects of language and literature are most important for the students to know and understand? What are the most used teaching methods? What kind of teaching material is most commonly used in schools and to what extent does it reflect recent knowledge and developments in the fields of language and literature? In the course assignments the students will be trained in defining and implementing their own teaching ideas, with an emphasis on recent knowledge.

In this course we concern ourselves with how language and society interact by examining sociolinguistic methods and concepts with regard to international and domestic research in the field.

Among the topics discussed are language attitudes, language contact, dialects, language style and language management. We take a look at different manifestations of language use and language variation as well as contemplating on how factors such as environment, context and background of a language user potentially influence language use and choice of style.

We provide an overview of principal research methods, both quantitative and qualitative, discuss recent trends in sociolinguistics and evaluate methods and methodologies with respect to the particular research topic.

Besides presenting research on attitudes towards language and language use, considering both attitudes towards one’s own language and that of others, we consider possible outcomes of unconventional language use. Special emphasis will be put on considering the language use of those who speak Icelandic as a foreign language as well as the status of immigrants in Iceland.

Additionally, we address the current status of the Icelandic language, particularly in relation to English and other languages. Principles of language management are discussed along with people’s ideas and believes about language through time. In that respect, we have a look at Icelandic language policy, language management, language standardization and linguistic purism from different perspectives, e.g. a synchronic and diachronic angle as well as with regard to other speech communities. 

We will discuss language use of particular social groups (e.g. teenagers) in terms of its social meaning for the group on the one hand and for the speech community as a whole on the other hand.

Students are expected to complete group or individual tasks on questions and problems originating from topics and discussions in the class room.

This course provides an overview of Icelandic manuscript culture. Students will get practical training in reading Icelandic manuscripts from different periods, from the earliest extant Icelandic vellums dating to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries down to the paper manuscripts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The origins of the Icelandic script will be discussed as well as its development over time, and students will get practical training in reading different types of script from different periods. The orthography of medieval manuscripts differs considerably from the modern orthography. It includes a system of abbreviations that is partly inherited from a much earlier Latin tradition. Students will get practical training in interpreting these abbreviations. The Icelandic language has also changed over time, and different manifestations of these language changes appear when reading and examining Icelandic texts from different periods. A selection of these changes will be discussed. Changes in script, orthography, and language provide valuable indications of the date of the manuscript, and students will get practical training in dating medieval Icelandic manuscripts based on script, orthography, and language.

Various aspects of medieval book production will be discussed, including the making of parchment and ink, and book binding. Scribes and scribal schools will be discussed as well as probable centres of book production in medieval Iceland. The works of some prolific scribes in the fourteenth century will be examined. What did they write? How did they write? Did they change their practice over a long scribal career? The texts contained by the manuscripts will also be examined and the basics of textual criticism introduced. Njáls saga, for instance, has survived in over sixty manuscripts with considerable textual variation. Which manuscript should then constitute the basis for a printed edition of Njáls saga? Different types of printed editions will be discussed, and students try their hand at editing a medieval text. The electronic editing of pre-modern texts will be introduced, and students will get practical training in mark-up with XML according to the guidelines of the Medieval Nordic Text Archive (MENOTA) and the Medieval Unicode Font Initiative (MUFI).

The course is taught through a combination of lectures and workshops with considerable student engagement. Many of the lectures will be pre-recorded allowing more time in the classroom for discussion and student contributions.

The course is run in cooperation with the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies which has the custody of the largest single collection of Icelandic medieval manuscripts. Students will visit the institute to learn about its collections and facilities and to examine manuscripts.

Course synopsis

Week 1
(1) Introduction
The course: format, readings, requirements and assessment.
The subject matter: Medieval Icelandic manuscripts.

(2) The earliest Icelandic manuscripts
A sketch of the history of the Latin script and the earliest writings in Icelandic. Where did Icelanders learn to use the Latin alphabet? Which orthography did they employ? Some main characteristics of medieval orthography and the use of abbreviations.

Week 2
(3) Electronic editing of medieval texts
How can medieval texts be presented electronically? The XML mark-up language, TEI, MENOTA, MUFI, and related matters. We will try our hand at electronic editing.

(4) The earliest Icelandic orthography and the First Grammatical Treatise
The use of the Latin alphabet for writing Icelandic: challenges — and the solutions proposed by the author of the First Grammatical Treatise in the middle of the twelfth century.

Week 3
(5) Icelandic script and orthography in the thirteenth century
The difference between Icelandic and Norwegian orthography in the twelfth century. What changed in the course of the thirteenth century?

(6) Different types of print editions: scholarly editions
How accurate should printed editions be? Should every little detail in the manuscript be reproduced? What is “Classical Old Icelandic Normalized Orthography”? What are the needs of the readers? What is the role of the editor?

Week 4
(7) Norwegian influence on script, orthography, and language in Icelandic manuscripts
What is the manifestation of this Norwegian influence? How deep-rooted was it? How long did it last?

(8) The dating of manuscripts: script, orthography, and language
How can medieval Icelandic manuscripts be dated? Features of script, orthography, and language that can be helpful for dating.

Week 5
(9) Icelandic script and orthography in the fourteenth century
Main characteristics and their development.

(10) One scribal hand or many?
Distinguishing different scribal hands: some criteria. The Icelandic Homily Book from around 1200: One scribe or fourteen?

Week 6
(11) Book production: parchment, ink, binding — and conservation
From animal skin to parchment. How was the ink produced? Book design and book binding. The care and conservation of medieval manuscripts.

(12) Book production: parchment, ink, binding — and conservation
A visit to the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies.

— STUDY WEEK —

Week 7
(13) Scribes, scribal milieus, the export of books
On prolific scribes, scribal collaboration, and extensive production of books. Were books produced in Iceland for export in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries?

(14) Icelandic script and orthography in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
Main characteristics and their development.

Week 8
(15) Textual criticism
On the transmission of texts through copying. Textual variation, manuscript classification, and stemmatology.

(16) Textual criticism
Comparing manuscripts and collecting variants.

Week 9
(17) Manuscript illumination
On illuminated manuscripts, historiated initials, artists and their models.

(18) Manuscript catalogues and cataloguing
We will familiarize ourselves with the most important manuscript catalogues and learn about the principles of manuscript cataloguing.

Week 10
(19) Icelandic script and orthography in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
Main characteristics and their development.

(20) The transmission of the text: a relic or a living text?
How did the language change when a scribe copied from an old exemplar? Njáls saga is believed to have been written towards the end of the thirteenth century. What is the language of Njáls saga in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century manuscripts?

Week 11
(21) Antiquarianism, manuscript collectors, and copyists
The sixteenth century saw the rise of interest in antiquities, old manuscripts were collected and copied.

(22) Different types of print editions: popular editions
How is a pre-modern text best presented to the modern reader? Should archaic features of language and orthography be retained or should they be updated? On the allegiance to the manuscript and allegiance to the reader.

Week 12
(23) Manuscript collections and manuscript collectors
The life and work of Árni Magnússon.

(24) The manuscript dispute and the return of the manuscripts to Iceland
The search for Codex Scardensis and a nerve-racking auction in London. The custody dispute with Denmark and the return of the manuscripts to Iceland 1971–1997.

— This synopsis may be subject to change. —

Readings

The reading list is on the course website on Canvas. It consists of readings in several languages, including English, Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, German, and French. The reading list is (often) divided into three main sections:

(a) Required readings: Texts that everyone is required to read. These are all in English.

(b) Optional supplementary readings: These are optional readings for those who want a more in-depth discussion. Most of these readings are in English, but not all.

(c) For those who still want more: A variety of optional readings in several languages, not least in Icelandic, for those who still want more. This section is mostly for reference purposes and as a tool for further research.

Many of the required readings (and some of the optional readings) are found on the Canvas course website. Other reading materials are available in the institute library in the Árni Magnússon Institute in Edda and the University Library (Háskólabókasafn) in the Þjóðarbókhlaða.

Prerequisites
Some skills in Icelandic are essential to fully benefit from the course, as emphasis will be placed on practical training in reading and transcribing text from medieval Icelandic manuscripts. MIS105F Old Icelandic 1 or equivalent study of Old Icelandic is sufficient or some skills in Modern Icelandic. Please, consult the instructor if in doubt.

Course format
The course is taught through a combination of lectures and workshops with considerable student engagement. Many of the lectures will be prerecorded allowing more time in the classroom for discussion and student contributions (flipped classroom).

Working language: This course is open to students with different linguistic backgrounds, and there are two working languages, English and Icelandic. Pre-recorded lectures are in both English and Icelandic (except for guest lecturers who will present in English), written assignments are in both English and Icelandic, and reading materials are in English, Icelandic and the Scandinavian languages, but for those who cannot read Icelandic or the Scan-dinavian languages, all required readings are in English. English is the main working language in the classroom, but questions and contributions to class discussion may also be in Icelandic. — See a separate note on the working languages and the classroom arrangement.

Course requirements and assessment
The final grade for the course will be based on:

(1) Transcription assignments: 30%
(2) Manuscript catalogue assignment: 10%
(3) Manuscript dating assignment: 10%
(4) Presentation: manuscript of the day: 10%
(5) Research paper: 30%
(6) Class participation: 10%

All written assignments will be submitted through Canvas. More detailed instructions and information on deadlines is found on Canvas.

The so-called Third Grammatical Treatise is a grammatical and rhetorical discourse which is mainly based on the writings of Donatus and Priscianus. In the course, the attention will be concentrated on the ways in which the author (Ólafr Þórðarson, hvítaskáld, ca. 1210-1259) translates the foreign science of grammar and rhetoric and applies its concepts to indigenous poetry. Moreover, this treatise will be compared with the poetics of Snorri Sturluson. The subject of the course should be of interest equally for students of linguistics, litterature and medieval studies.

The student chooses a subject in consultation with a teacher, who takes on the role of a supervisor. Together they draw up a reading list and define the project output.

The student chooses a subject in consultation with a teacher, who takes on the role of a supervisor. Together they draw up a reading list and define the project output.

Students wishing to write a MA thesis shall contact the head of department regarding the choice of supervisor. Requests for a specific supervisor are honoured where possible, but otherwise a supervisor is selected based on the topic of the thesis and the specialist knowledge of teaching staff in Icelandic.