| Amrum Frisian | |
|---|---|
| Öömrang | |
 A stone displaying a stanza from "Min Öömrang Lun", a traditional song from Amrum island | |
| Native to | Germany |
| Region | Amrum,Nordfriesland |
Native speakers | (undated figure of ca. 800[citation needed]) |
Indo-European
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | amru1234 |
| Linguasphere | 2-ACA-dba[1] |
 North Frisian dialects | |
Amrum Frisian, also known asÖömrang, is thedialect of theNorth Frisian language spoken on the island ofAmrum in theNorth Frisia region ofGermany.Öömrang refers to theÖömrang Frisian name of Amrum, which isOomram. Alongside theFering,Söl'ring, andHeligolandic dialects, it is part of the insular group of North Frisian dialects, and it bares a close resemblance to Fering.Öömrang is spoken by approximately one-third of Amrum's 2,300 inhabitants.
Personal names on Amrum are still greatly influenced by Frisian elements to this day. Notably,hypocorisms and names with two elements are common. Early borrowings were made from theDanish language and the Christianisation of the North Frisians around 1000 A.D. brought a modest influence of Christian and biblical names. In theAge of Sail, Dutch andWest Frisian forms became popular.[2]
Family names were usuallypatronymic, i.e. they were individually created asgenitives from the father's given name. Contrary to the ScandinavianPetersen orPetersson, meaning "Peter's son", an Öömrang name likePeters means "of Peter". This practice was eventually prohibited by the Danish Crown in 1828.[2]
Lars von Karstedt has illustrated the ominous situation of Öömrang today. The usage of Öömrang is now restricted in home domain. It has lost its function in public communication to German and is only spoken in the households with elderly native speakers of Öömrang. One of the biggest driving forces of thelanguage shift is the change of economic structure brought by the tourism industry. The tourists from across Germany crowded into the small island ofAmrum and have quickly taken up the limited housing. Consequently, the rent rapidly increased, driving a lot of the local youngsters out to live in major cities in mainland Germany. Both the influx of English-speaking or German-speaking tourists and tourism employees and the loss of young native speakers are causing drastic decline of the dialect.[3]
Authority control databases: National |
|---|
This article about German culture is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
.png) | This article aboutGermanic languages is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |