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| Stadsfries | |
|---|---|
| Town Frisian, City Frisian, city-Frisian | |
| Native to | Netherlands |
Native speakers | 45,000 (2009[1]) |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | town1239 |
 Areas in which Stadsfries is spoken, within the area ofFriesland | |
| This article is a part of a series on |
| Dutch |
|---|
| Low Saxon dialects |
| West Low Franconian dialects |
| East Low Franconian dialects |
Stadsfries orTown Frisian (Dutch:Stadsfries,Stadfries; West Frisian:Stedsk,Stedfrysk) is a set of dialects spoken in certain cities in the province ofFriesland in the northernNetherlands, namelyLeeuwarden,Sneek,Bolsward,Franeker,Dokkum,Harlingen,Stavoren, and to some extent inHeerenveen. For linguistic reasons, the outlying and insular dialects ofMidsland (Terschelling),Ameland,Het Bildt, andKollum are also sometimes tied to Stadsfries.
The vocabulary of Stadsfries is derived primarily fromDutch. The dialects began in the late 15th century, whenFrisia lost its political independence to the Netherlands. For many living in Frisia, learning Dutch became a necessity. The result was a mixture ofHollandic dialect vocabulary andWest Frisian grammar and other language principles. Since this process began, the West Frisian language itself has evolved, such that Stadsfries is further away from modern Frisian than it is fromOld Frisian. Norval Smith states that Stadsfries is a Frisian–Dutchmixed language.[4]
The name of the dialect group,Stadsfries, is not anendonym but is instead a Dutch term for the language.Stad (German: Stadt) is a Germanic term for "city" or "town", seen in English place names such as "Hempstead". In Stadsfries, the term for the dialect group isStadsfrys orStads, or each dialect is known simply by a name derived from the particular city name, such asLiwwarders for the dialect of Leeuwarden. In West Frisian, the dialects are known asstedsk ("city-ish"), which does not indicate the idea that Stadsfries is a form of Frisian.
The vocabulary of Stadsfries is mainly Dutch though the West Frisian language influence is notable. Furthermore, a set of word forms are used that are clearly West Frisian, not Dutch.Examples:
| Stadsfries | West Frisian | Dutch | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| hammer | hammer | hamer | hammer |
| joeke | jûkje | jeuken | itching |
The language also has typical West Frisian words that do not exist (in that sense) in Dutch, usually this concerns domestic words and words from the mainly West Frisian language agricultural sector.Examples:
| Stadsfries | West Frisian | Dutch | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| moeke | mem | moeder | mother |
| fader | heit | vader | father |
| jaar | jaar | uier | udder |
| jarre | jarre | gier | manure |
Other differences between Dutch and West Frisian can be traced back to the Dutch dialect of the 16th century.Example:
| Stadsfries | West Frisian | Dutch | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| lêge | lizze | liggen | lie down |
Finally, several words have survived in the Stadsfries language due to Dutch influence that have since disappeared from the West Frisian language.Examples:
| Stadsfries | West Frisian | Dutch | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| kyn | bern | kind | child |
| fierndeel | fearn | een vierde (deel) | one fourth (as in division) (mainly U.S.); one quarter |
Stadsfries aligns with West Frisian, rather than prescriptive Standard Dutch in the usage of the voiceless/f/ and/s/, rather than the voiced/v/ and/z/ in the word-initial position. However, the devoicing of the initial/v/ is now considered standard in the Netherlands, contrary to the devoicing of/z/. Another Frisian feature of Stadsfries is that the word-initial sequence/sx/, found in standard Dutch, is replaced with/sk/, with a velar plosive. Stadsfries has these properties in common with West Frisian, as well as several Dutch dialects.
Theplurals match West Frisian(skip-skippen), as do thediminutives(popke, autootsje, rinkje), except those in Stavers(poppy, autootsy, rinkje), whereHollands rules are followed.
Theverbs are missing two West Frisian weak classes, but do use West Frisian rules for formingpast participles: they never get the affixge- (ik hew maakt; hest dou dat sien?). Stadsfrisian kept the West Frisian pronounsdo, jo and jimme (informal you, formal you, plural you), althoughdo andjo are almost always written asdou andjou. These words can in fact be used as criteria for deciding whether aHollandic-West Frisian mixed dialect can still be considered Stadsfries. The Dutchdialect called "West Frisian" spoken in theWest Friesland region ofNorth Holland for example does not have these words and is therefore considered Hollandic.
There is no standardized, officially recognized spelling for Stadsfries. The very few authors that write in it each use their own spelling conventions. The most commonly used spelling is that in theWoordenboek fan ut Liwwarders (Leeuwarden Dictionary). This spelling convention is closely related to, but more phonetic than West Frisian, and does not use the letterû.
The use of Stadsfries is declining rapidly, especially inLeeuwarden. No more than a quarter of the city's population (approximately 20,000 people) speaks the language, although that percentage is higher in smaller towns. In the first half of the twentieth century the town ofHeerenveen had a local strand of Stadsfries known as Haagjes Fries, spoken especially aroundOranjewoud, near the country home of the Frisianstadhouder.
Use of mostdialects (as well as the West Frisian language) is declining, but because West Frisian is considered prestigious and even recognized as a Dutch national language, Stadsfries has become asociolect of the lower classes, especially in the cities.[citation needed] The transition from dialect to sociolect happened primarily in the 20th century. Around 1900, the Stadsfries dialects were still considered regional strands of Dutch and given a much higher status than Frisian. With the rise ofStandard Dutch in society's upper classes, brought on particularly by education and mass media, Stadsfries stopped being considered a strand of Dutch. Since the lower classes had less exposure to Standard Dutch, they remained as some of the only speakers of Stadsfries.