For many centuries, Frisian has been strongly influenced by Dutch, and the two language areas share a long intertwined history. As a result, Dutch is the Germanic language most similar to Frisian in practice, even though Frisian is genealogically closer to English and Scots.[3] The degree of mutual intelligibility between Frisian and Dutch is debated, with a 2005cloze test, in which a portion of text is masked and the participant is asked to fill in the masked portion of text, showing that Dutch respondents scored 31.9% when presented with a (West) Frisian text,[5] whereas researchers in 2012 concluded that the linguistic distance between Dutch and theFrisian dialects were slightly smaller than the distances between the Scandinavian languages, which are known to be largely mutually intelligible.[3]
There are three main groups of Frisian varieties:West Frisian,Saterland Frisian, andNorth Frisian. Some linguists consider these three varieties, despite theirmutual unintelligibility, to be dialects of one single Frisian language, whereas others consider them to be a number of separate languages equal to or greater than the number of main branches discussed here.[6] Indeed, the insular varieties of West Frisian are not intelligible to the mainland, and by that standard are additional languages, and North Frisian is also divided into several strongly diverse dialects, which are not all mutually intelligible among themselves. West Frisian is strongly influenced by Dutch. The other Frisian languages, meanwhile, have been influenced by Low German and German.Stadsfries andWest Frisian Dutch are not Frisian, butDutch dialects influenced by West Frisian. Frisian is calledFrysk in West Frisian,Fräisk in Saterland Frisian,[7] andFriisk,fresk,freesk,frasch,fräisch, andfreesch in the varieties of North Frisian.
The situation in the Dutch province of Groningen and the German region ofEast Frisia is similar: The localLow German/Low Saxon dialects ofGronings andEast Frisian Low Saxon still bear some Frisian elements due to East Frisiansubstrate. Frisian was spoken there at one time, only to have been gradually replaced by Low Saxon since the Middle Ages. This local language is now, like Frisian, under threat by standard Dutch and German.
Most Frisian speakers live in theNetherlands, primarily in the province ofFriesland, which since 1997 officially uses its West Frisian name of Fryslân, where the number of native speakers is about 400,000,[8][page needed] which is about 75% of the inhabitants of Friesland.[9][page needed] An increasing number of native Dutch speakers in the province are learning Frisian as a second language.
InGermany, there are about 2,000[10] speakers of Saterland Frisian in the marshySaterland region ofLower Saxony. Saterland Frisian has resisted encroachment fromLow German andStandard German, but Saterland Frisian still remains seriously endangered because of the small size of thespeech community and of the lack of institutional support to help preserve and spread the language.[9]: 1
In theNorth Frisia (Nordfriesland) region of the German state ofSchleswig-Holstein, there were 10,000 North Frisian speakers.[11] Although many of these live on the mainland, most are found on the islands, notablySylt,Föhr,Amrum, andHeligoland. The local corresponding North Frisian dialects are still in use.
West Frisian–Dutch bilinguals are split into two categories: Speakers who had Dutch as their first language tended to maintain the Dutch system of homophony between plural and linking suffixes when speaking West Frisian, by using the West Frisian plural as a linking morpheme. Speakers who had West Frisian as their first language often maintained the West Frisian system of no homophony when speaking West Frisian.
Saterland and North Frisian[12][better source needed] are officially recognised and protected asminority languages in Germany, and West Frisian is one of the two official languages in the Netherlands, the other beingDutch.ISO 639-1 codefy andISO 639-2 codefry were assigned to "Frisian", but that was changed in November 2005 to "Western Frisian". According to the ISO 639 Registration Authority the "previous usage of [this] code has been for Western Frisian, although [the] language name was 'Frisian'".[13]
TheRied fan de Fryske Beweging is an organization which works for the preservation of the West Frisian language and culture in the Dutch province ofFriesland. TheFryske Academy also plays a large role, since its foundation in 1938, to conduct research on Frisian language, history, and society, including attempts at forming a larger dictionary.[8][page needed] Recent attempts have allowed Frisian be used somewhat more in some of the domains of education, media and public administration.[14][page needed] Nevertheless,Saterland Frisian and most dialects of North Frisian are seriouslyendangered[15] andWest Frisian is considered as vulnerable to being endangered.[16] Moreover, for all advances in integrating Frisian in daily life, there is still a lack of education and media awareness of the Frisian language, perhaps reflecting its rural origins and its lack of prestige[17][page needed] Therefore, in a sociological sense it is considered more a dialect than a standard language, even though linguistically it is a separate language.[17][page needed]
ForL2 speakers, both the quality and amount of time Frisian is taught in the classroom is low, concluding that Frisian lessons do not contribute meaningfully to the linguistic and cultural development of the students.[8][page needed] Moreover, Frisian runs the risk of dissolving into Dutch, especially inFriesland, where both languages are used.[14][page needed]
In theEarly Middle Ages the Frisian lands stretched from the area aroundBruges, in what is nowBelgium, to the riverWeser, in northernGermany. At that time, the Frisian language was spoken along the entire southernNorth Sea coast. Today this region is sometimes referred to as Great Frisia or Frisia Magna, and many of the areas within it still treasure their Frisian heritage, even though in most places the Frisian languages have been lost.
Frisian is the language most closely related toEnglish andScots[citation needed], but after at least five hundred years of being subject to the influence ofDutch, modern Frisian in some aspects bears a greater similarity to Dutch than to English; one must also take into account the centuries-long drift of English away from Frisian. Thus the two languages have become less mutually intelligible over time, partly due to the influence which Dutch andLow German have had on Frisian, and partly due to the vast influence some languages (in particularNorman French) have had on English throughout the centuries.
Old Frisian,[9][page needed] however, was very similar toOld English. Historically, both English and Frisian are marked by the loss of the Germanic nasal in words likeus (ús;uns in German),soft (sêft;sanft) orgoose (goes;Gans): seeAnglo-Frisian nasal spirant law. Also, when followed by some vowels, the Germanick softened to ach sound; for example, the Frisian forcheese andchurch istsiis andtsjerke, whereas inDutch it iskaas andkerk, and inHigh German the respective words areKäse andKirche. Contrarily, this did not happen forchin andchoose, which arekin andkieze.[18][19][better source needed]
One rhyme demonstrates the palpable similarity between Frisian and English: "Butter, bread and green cheese is good English and good Frisian," which is pronounced more or less the same in both languages (West Frisian: "Bûter, brea en griene tsiis is goed Ingelsk en goed Frysk.")[20][page needed]
One major difference between Old Frisian and modern Frisian is that in the Old Frisian period (c. 1150 – c. 1550)grammatical cases still existed. Some of the texts that are preserved from this period are from the 12th or 13th, but most are from the 14th and 15th centuries. Generally, all these texts are restricted to legalistic writings. Although the earliest definite written examples of Frisian are from approximately the 9th century, there are a few examples ofrunic inscriptions from the region which are probably older and possibly in the Frisian language. These runic writings however usually do not amount to more than single- or few-word inscriptions, and cannot be said to constituteliterature as such. The transition from the Old Frisian to the Middle Frisian period (c.1550-c.1820) in the 16th century is based on the fairly abrupt halt in the use of Frisian as a written language.
Up until the 15th century, Frisian was a language widely spoken and written, but from 1500 onwards it became an almost exclusively oral language, mainly used in rural areas. This was in part due to the occupation of its stronghold, the Dutch province ofFriesland (Fryslân), in 1498, byAlbert III, Duke of Saxony, who replaced West Frisian as the language of government with Dutch.
Afterwards this practice was continued under theHabsburg rulers of the Netherlands (the German EmperorCharles V and his son, the Spanish KingPhilip II), and even when the Netherlands became independent, in 1585, West Frisian did not regain its former status. The reason for this was the rise ofHolland as the dominant part of the Netherlands, and its language, Dutch, as the dominant language in judicial, administrative and religious affairs.
In this period the great Frisian poetGysbert Japiks (1603–66), a schoolteacher andcantor from the city ofBolsward, who largely fathered modern West Frisian literature and orthography, was really an exception to the rule.
His example was not followed until the 19th century, when entire generations of West Frisian authors and poets appeared. This coincided with the introduction of the so-called newerbreaking system, a prominent grammatical feature in almost all West Frisian dialects, with the notable exception of Southwest Frisian. Therefore, the Modern West Frisian period is considered to have begun at this point in time, around 1820.
A modern West Frisian speaker, recorded in theNetherlands
The revival of the West Frisian Language was led by the poetGysbert Japiks, who had begun to write in the language as a way to show that it was possible, and created a collective West Frisian identity and West Frisian standard of writing through his poetry.[21][page needed] Later on,Johannes Hilarides would build off Gysbert Japiks' work by building on West Frisian orthography, particularly on its pronunciation; he also, unlike Japiks, set a standard of the West Frisian language that focused more heavily on how the common people used it as an everyday language.[21][page needed]
Perhaps the most important figure in the spreading of the West Frisian language wasminister Joost. H. Halbertsma (1789–1869), who translated many works into the West Frisian language, such as the New Testament[21][page needed] He had however, like Hilarides, focused mostly on the vernacular of the West Frisian language, where he focused on translating texts, plays and songs for the lower and middle classes in order to teach and expand the West Frisian language.[21][page needed] The compiled literary work ofthe Halbertsma brothers (Joost,Tjalling, andEeltje),Rimen en Teltsjes, is regarded as the standard Frisian literary work. This had begun the effort to continuously preserve the West Frisian language, which continues unto this day. It was however not until the first half of the 20th century that the West Frisian revival movement began to gain strength, not only through its language, but also through its culture and history, supporting singing and acting in West Frisian in order to facilitate West Frisian speaking.[17][page needed]
It was not until 1960 that Dutch began to dominate West Frisian in Friesland; with many non-Frisian immigrants into Friesland, the language gradually began to diminish, and survives now only due to the constant effort of scholars and organisations.[21][page needed] In recent years, it has been the province of Friesland, rather than the language itself, that has become a more important part of the West Frisian identity; as such, the language has become less important for cultural preservation purposes.[22][page needed] It is especially written West Frisian that seems to have trouble surviving, with only 30% of the West Frisian population competent in it;[22][page needed] it went out of use in the 16th century and continues to be barely taught today.[23][page needed]
Frisian-language signs
Bilingual signsHindeloopen inFriesland (Netherlands) with the West Frisian name above and the Dutch below
Bilingual sign inNiebüll inNorth Frisia (Germany) with the German name above and the North Frisian name below
Bilingual sign in Ramsloh,Saterland (Germany) with the German name above and the East Frisian name below
The Standard Dutch translation from the Dutch Bible Society
Us Heit, dy't yn de himelen is
Our Father, which art in Heaven
Onze Vader die in de hemelen zijt,
jins namme wurde hillige.
Hallowed be thy Name.
Uw naam worde geheiligd;
Jins keninkryk komme.
Thy Kingdom come.
Uw Koninkrijk kome;
Jins wollen barre,
Thy will be done,
Uw wil geschiede,
allyk yn 'e himel sa ek op ierde.
in earth as it is in Heaven.
gelijk in de hemel alzo ook op de aarde.
Jou ús hjoed ús deistich brea.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Geef ons heden ons dagelijks brood;
En ferjou ús ús skulden,
And forgive us our trespasses,
en vergeef ons onze schulden,
allyk ek wy ferjouwe ús skuldners.
As we forgive them that trespass against us.
gelijk ook wij vergeven onze schuldenaren;
En lied ús net yn fersiking,
And lead us not into temptation;
en leid ons niet in verzoeking,
mar ferlos ús fan 'e kweade.
But deliver us from evil.
maar verlos ons van de boze.
Want Jowes is it keninkryk en de krêft en de hearlikheid oant yn ivichheid. "Amen"
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.
Want van U is het Koninkrijk en de kracht en de heerlijkheid in der eeuwigheid. Amen.
NB: * See alsoWest Frisian language#Sample text. **Which was changed to "who",in earth to "on earth," andthem that to "those who" in the 1928 version of the Church of England prayer book and used in other later Anglican prayer books too. The words given here are those of the 1662 book.
^Though this is the literal translation for "Frisian", the Saterfrisian termFräisk traditionally refers to the East Frisians and theEast Frisian Low Saxon language; cf. Fort, Marron Curtis (1980): Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch. Hamburg, p.45.
^"Gegenwärtige Schätzungen schwanken zwischen 1.500 und 2.500." Marron C. Fort: Das Saterfriesische. In: Horst Haider Munske, Nils Århammar: Handbuch des Friesischen – Handbook of Frisian Studies. Niemayer (Tübingen 2001).
