You can helpexpand this article with text translated from the corresponding articles inWestern Frisian andNorthern Frisian. (February 2025)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
Machine translation, likeDeepL orGoogle Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
Youmust providecopyright attribution in theedit summary accompanying your translation by providing aninterlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary isContent in this edit is translated from the existing Western Frisian Wikipedia article at [[:fy:Noardfrysk]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template{{Translated|fy|Noardfrysk}} to thetalk page.
Linguistic map of Schleswig in the mid-19th century
North Frisian is aminority language ofGermany, spoken by about 10,000 people inNorth Frisia.[2] The language is part of the larger group of theWest GermanicFrisian languages. The language comprises 10 dialects which are themselves divided into an insular and a mainland group.
The closest relatives of North Frisian are the two other Frisian languages, theSaterland Frisian of north-westernLower Saxony, Germany, and theWest Frisian language spoken in the northernNetherlands. Together, the three sub-groups form the group of Frisian languages.
English is also closely related to Frisian. The two are classified in a commonAnglo-Frisian group, which is grouped among theIngvaeonic languages, together withLow German. The related Low German has developed differently sinceOld Saxon times and has lost many Ingvaeonic characteristics.[4]
The North Frisian dialects can be grouped into two main dialectal divisions: mainland and insular dialects. Altogether, both groups have 10 dialects.[5] Since the beginning of Frisian linguistic studies in the 19th century, the following ten dialects have typically been noted as distinct:
The mainland and insular dialects clearly differ from each other because they were shaped by Frisian immigrants in different centuries. The islands ofSylt,Föhr andAmrum were colonised in around AD 800, and the mainland was settled by Frisians in AD 1100.
There are also various influences of neighbouring languages on the dialects. On Sylt, Föhr and Amrum and in parts of the northern mainland such as Wiedingharde, there is a strongDanish (South Jutlandic) influence, but onHeligoland and the rest of mainland North Frisia, the Low German influence is predominant. Moreover, there has historically been little exchange between the dialects and so hardly anylingua franca could develop and there was no cultural centre in North Frisia for which the dialect could have had a leading role.
The sentence displayed below in many variants reads,"'Shine, old moon, shine!', cried Häwelmann, but the moon was nowhere to be seen and the stars neither; they had all already gone to bed" (based onTheodor Storm'sDer kleine Häwelmann).[6]
"Jucht, üülje moune, jucht!" biiljked Hääwelmoon, ouers e moune wus nargne tu schüns än e stääre uk ai; ja wjarn ål åltumååle tu beed lim.
Despite the differences between the dialects, the Fering and Öömrang are highly similar; in this example nearly identical.
Another source that highlights the differences between all of the main dialects of North Frisian (even extinct ones) aretranslations of the Lord's Prayer.
The following table further demonstrates the similarities and differences between the various dialects.[7]
TheEiderstedt Frisian on theEiderstedt peninsula were abandoned in favour of Low German during the 17th and 18th centuries. In contrast to the northernhundreds, Eiderstedt was economically strong and wealthy and was oriented towards the southern, Low German parts of Schleswig-Holstein. Moreover, there was a strong Dutch immigration during the 16th century.[8]
A similar situation was to be found on the island ofStrand, which was destroyed during theBurchardi flood. The population of the eastern, remaining part of Strand, the modernNordstrand, did not succeed in rebuilding the dikes on their own. Therefore, many Frisian speaking people left their homeland on Strand or were otherwise not able to maintain their native language against mostly Dutch-speaking immigrants. OnPellworm, the western remainder of Strand, the repair of the dikes was quickly accomplished and so the Frisian language was still spoken in the 18th century, until it also vanished due to changes in population structure. The oldStrand Frisian was presumably closest to Halligen Frisian.
Likewise close to Halligen Frisian was the Wyk Frisian that used to be spoken inWyk auf Föhr until the town completely shifted to Low German. The Wyk dialect is thought to have developed from the dialects of immigrants from the Halligen and Strand island.
The dialect that most recently died out is Southern Goesharde Frisian which became extinct with the death of its last speaker in the early 1980s. Other mainland dialects are also facing extinction.
North of the German-Danish border North Frisian was spoken only in some marsh-farms, located directly at the border.[9]
One triphthong sound /uai/ only occurs in the Föhr dialect.
/ia/ and /ua/ do not occur in the Bökingharde (mainland) dialect.
/øi/ and /ɒːi/ only occur in the Föhr dialect.
/aˑi/, /œi/, /ɔˑi/, and /ou/ only occur in the Bökingharde dialect.[10]
Despite the strong differences among the North Frisian dialects, there are still some traits of phonology that are more or less common to all dialects. Among them is the lowering from[ɪ] to[a], which is mostly complete in the central dialects but is only at the stage[ɛ] or[eː] in the periphery. For example, the word "fish" translates to Mooringfasch and Fering-Öömrangfask but Söl'ringfesk (cf. Low German:Fisch/Fisk,Danish:fisk, German:Fisch,Dutch:vis).
The distribution of thelenition of the unvoicedplosivesp,t andk is similar as they have become voiced plosives and partially even developed tofricatives in the central dialects. That can be demonstrated from theverb "to know": Mooringwaase, Fering-Öömrangwed, Sölringweet, Halunderwet (cf. West Frisianwitte, Low Germanweten, Germanwissen).
The North Frisian dialects differ from modernStandard German by a more diverse system ofdiphthongs and consonants. All of the dialects have an additional line ofpalatalizations, which is uncommon for a Germanic language. Until recently, an additional number of dental consonants contrasted phonemically with their alveolar counterparts in thedialect of Föhr. In general, the insular dialects feature a relatively complicated consonantal system, but the mainland dialects have more diverse vowels.
Recently, the phonological system of the North Frisian dialects has been strongly influenced by Standard German and is slowly adapting to its system.[10][specify]
Officially, the number of North Frisian speakers ranges from 8,000 to 10,000[2] but linguists propose significantly lower numbers. In 2007, Århammar estimated a total of 5,000 speakers inside and 1,500 to 2,000 speakers outside North Frisia proper.[5] Exact surveys do not exist.
North Frisian is an endangered language, as in most places, children no longer learn it. In UNESCO'sAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger, North Frisian is classified as "severely endangered".[11] Exceptions are a few villages on the islands ofFöhr andAmrum and theRisum-Lindholm area. Especially in the western parts of Föhr, the language community is still relatively common.[5] The number of speakers on Föhr and Amrum alone is estimated to around 3,500. The other dialects are, in fact, seriously endangered, like Karrharde Frisian, Central Goesharde and Halligen Frisian.
The elementary and grammar school on Amrum is calledÖömrang Skuul and, among other subjects, focuses on teaching the local dialect. Fering is also taught in schools on Föhr and theRisum Skole/Risem Schölj inRisum-Lindholm on the mainland is a combined Danish-North Frisian elementary school.
All speakers of North Frisian are at least bilingual (North Frisian andGerman). Many are trilingual (North Frisian, German andLow German) and, especially along the Danish border, quadrilingualism used to be widespread (North Frisian, Standard German, Low German andSouth Jutlandic).
In Schleswig-Holstein, North Frisian is protected by theEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages as a minority language. On 24 December 2004 a state law became effective in Schleswig-Holstein that recognises the North Frisian language for official use in theNordfriesland district and onHeligoland.[12]
Walker, Alastair G.H.; Ommo Wilts (2001). "Die nordfriesischen Mundarten". In Horst H. Munske (ed.).Handbuch des Friesischen – Handbook of Frisian Studies (in German and English). Tübingen: Niemeyer.ISBN3-484-73048-X.
Hüttenrauch, Tanno; Wehar, Michael (2022).An Online Dictionary for Dialects of North Frisian(PDF). Workshop on Resources and Technologies for Indigenous, Endangered and Lesser-resourced Languages in Eurasia (EURALI) @ LREC2022. European Language Resources Association (ELRA). pp. 88–89.
^Siewertsen, Benny (2004).Friserne - vore glemte forfædre (in Danish). Slot. p. 86.
^Nielsen, Hans Frede (2001). "Frisian and the Grouping of the Older Germanic Languages". In Horst H. Munske (ed.).Handbuch des Friesischen – Handbook of Frisian Studies (in German and English). Tübingen: Niemeyer.ISBN3-484-73048-X.
^"Die Nordfriesen und ihre Sprache" (in German). Nordfriisk Instituut. Archived fromthe original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved5 December 2011. Click on the map to access the regional dialects.
^Steensen, Thomas (2010)."Holländer".Geschichte in Schleswig-Holstein (in German). Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte. Archived fromthe original on 18 January 2015.
^Knottnerus, Otto S. (2008). "De vergeten Friezen - Mislukt pamflet van Benny Siewertsen over een boeiend thema".De Vrije Fries (in Dutch). Leeuwarden: Fryske Akademy.ISBN978-90-6171-0165. in reply to the pamphletSiewertsen, Benny (2004).Friserne – vore glemte forfædre (in Danish). Lyngby: Slot Forlag.ISBN978-87-90476-08-3.
