The people of this rugged North Atlantic island settled by Norsemen some 1,100 years ago have a unique dialect of Old Norse that has adapted to life at the edge of the Arctic.
But Icelandic, seen by many as a source of identity and pride, is being undermined by the widespread use of English, both for mass tourism and in the voice-controlled artificial intelligence devices coming into vogue.
Linguistics experts, studying the future of a language spoken by fewer than 400,000 people, wonder if this is the beginning of the end for the Icelandic tongue.
Former President Vigdis Finnbogadottir told The Associated Press that Iceland must take steps to protect its language. She is particularly concerned that programs be developed so the language can be easily used in digital technology.
"Otherwise, Icelandic will end in the Latin bin," she warned.
Iceland's Ministry of Education estimates about one billion Icelandic krona ($A11.6 million), is needed for seed funding for an open-access database to help tech developers adapt Icelandic as a language option.
A number of factors combine to make the future of the Icelandic uncertain. Tourism has exploded in recent years, becoming the country's single biggest employer, and analysts at Arion Bank say one in two new jobs is being filled by foreign labour.
That is increasing the use of English as a universal communicator and diminishing the role of Icelandic, experts say.
"The less useful Icelandic becomes in people's daily life, the closer we as a nation get to the threshold of giving up its use," said Eirikur Rognvaldsson, a language professor at the University of Iceland.
He has embarked on a three-year study of 5,000 people that will be the largest inquiry ever into the use of the language.
"Preliminary studies suggest children at their first-language acquisition are increasingly not exposed to enough Icelandic to foster a strong base for later years," he said.
Asgeir Jonsson, an economics professor at the University of Iceland, said without a unique language Iceland could experience a brain drain.
The problem is compounded because many new computer devices are designed to recognise English but they do not understand Icelandic.
"Not being able to speak Icelandic to voice-activated fridges, interactive robots and similar devices would be yet another lost field," Jonsson said.
