| East Frisian Low Saxon | |
|---|---|
| East Frisian Low German East Frisian | |
| Oostfräisk,[1]Oostfreesk,dat ostfräske Plattdüts[2] | |
| Native to | Germany |
| Region | East Frisia |
Native speakers | 200,000 (2015)[3] mainly adults |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | frs |
| ISO 639-3 | frs |
| Glottolog | east2288 |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
East Frisian Low Saxon,East Frisian Low German or simply (but ambiguously)East Frisian is aNorthern Low Saxon dialect spoken in theEast Frisian peninsula of northwesternLower Saxony.
East Frisian Low Saxon is not to be confused with theEast Frisian language; the latter, spoken by about 2,000 individuals in the municipality ofSaterland, is aFrisian language, while East Frisian Low Saxon is a dialect of theLow German language.
East Frisian Low Saxon remains in everyday use among segments of the coastal population inEast Frisia, particularly among older generations and in rural communities.[5] Estimates suggest that approximately half of the regional population retains some level of active usage, though both fluent speakers and passive comprehension are in decline due tosociolinguistic shifts and increasing dominance ofStandard German.[6]There are several dialects in East Frisian Low Saxon, but there are two main groups of dialects. The dialects in the east, calledHarlinger Platt, are strongly influenced byNorthern Low Saxon ofOldenburg. The western dialects are closer to theLow Saxon Language spoken in theDutch province ofGroningen,Gronings.[7]
East Frisian Low Saxon differs from otherNorthern Low Saxon dialects in several aspects, which are often linked to Frisian heritage. The language was originally spoken inEast Frisia andGroningen wasFrisian, so the current Low German dialects of East Frisia, as part of the dialects, build on a Frisian substrate which has led to a large amount of uniquelexical,syntactic, andphonological items which differ from otherLow Saxon variants. Some Old Frisian vocabulary is still in active speech today.[citation needed]
East Frisian Low Saxon features frequent use ofdiminutives, as in theDutch language, e.g.Kluntje ‘lump ofrock sugar’. In many cases, diminutives of names, especially female ones, have become names of their own. For example:Antje (from Anna),Triintje (from Trina = Katharina) etc.
The dialects spoken inEast Frisia are closely related to those spoken in theDutch province of Groningen (Grunnegs, Grünnigs) and in Northern Drenthe (Noordenvelds). The biggest difference seems to be that of loanwords (from Dutch or German, resp.).[citation needed]
| East Frisian Low Saxon | Gronings | West Frisian | Northern Low Saxon | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| höör/hör[høːɚ] | heur[høːr] | har | ehr[eə] | her |
| mooj/mooi[moːɪ] | mooi[moːɪ] | moai | scheun[ʃœːin] | beautiful, nice, fine |
| was[vas] | was[vas] | wie | wer[vɛ.iə] | was |
| geböören/geböhren(imp.)[ɡebøːnː] | gebeurn[ɣəbøːnː] | barre | passeern[passe.rn] | to happen |
| prooten/proten[proːtnˑˈ] | proaten[proːtnˑˈ] | prate | snakken[snakɪn] | to talk |
The standard greeting isMoin (moi in Gronings), used 24 hours a day.[citation needed]
| Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||
| Plosive | Voiceless | p | t | k | ||||
| Voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||||
| Fricative | Voiceless | f | s | ç | χ | h | ||
| Voiced | v | z | ʝ | ʁ | ||||
| Approximant | Central | ɻ | w | |||||
| Lateral | l | |||||||
East Frisian Low Saxon has two orthographies which are well known. One is developed by the Ostfriesische Landschaft, which is based on the orthography byJohannes Sass.[9] The Ostfriesische Landschaft uses this spelling for all of their projects, and to promote the dialect. It is considered to also be a cross di-dialect compromise writing, to provide materials in Low German for outside of the East Frisian Low Saxon dialect speaking area, and is recognized by the government ofLower Saxony.
However, a newer, more phonetic orthography was developed in 1975 by Holger Weigelt, since he expressed concerns that the grammatical structures and character of East Frisian Low Saxon would not be presented well under the Sass-based spelling. This orthography is used fully by the Jungfräiske Mäinskup, which promotes the dialect and provides learning materials in this spelling. They also recognize East Frisian Low Saxon as its own Friso-Saxon language. The Incubator Wikipedia for East Frisian Low Saxon along with the examples of the dialect in this page are also in this spelling.
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