North Frisian language

Spoken in

Indo-European Germanic West Germanic North Seeger Manic Friesian

Frr

Frisian Frisian language or short names of the dialects of Frisian spoken on the mainland coast of Schleswig-Holstein district of North Friesland, on the offshore islands of Fohr, Amrum, Sylt and the islets and on Helgoland. Set the northern branch of the Frisian language group dar. There are ten North Frisian dialects and about ten thousand speakers.

Classification

Next relatives of the North Frisian are the two other Frisian languages: Sater Frisian as the only remaining remnant of East Frisian in the northwest of Lower Saxony and West Frisian, which is spoken in the north of the Netherlands. Together, the three languages of the Frisian language group.

Closely related to the Frisian is English. Previously, Frisian and English were often summarized in an Anglo - Frisian language group. Today, English and Frisian are usually classified together with the Low German language as a North Sea Germanic languages. This is also closely related to the Frisian languages Low German but has taken a different development has old Saxon times and lost many North Sea Germanic features.

Dialects

Overview

The North Frisian dialects can be divided into two groups: Inselnordfriesisch and Festlandnordfriesisch; the spoken to the islets dialect belongs to the North Frisian mainland. One usually distinguishes between the following ten main dialects spoken since the beginning of the scientific exploration of the North Frisian in the 19th century:

Inselnordfriesisch Sylt Frisian ( Sölring )
Foehr - Amrumer Frisian ( Fering - Öömrang )
Helgoland Frisian ( Halunder )

Wiedingharder Frisian
Bökingharder Frisian (including Mooring )
Karrharder Frisian
Norder Goes Harder Frisian
Means Goes Harder Frisian
Southshore Goes Harder Frisian ( extinct since 1981 )
Halligfriesisch

The dialects of the mainland and the islands are quite different, as they were minted in different centuries of the Frisian immigrants. Around 800 were the islands of Sylt, Amrum, Fohr and Helgoland, settled the mainland and the holms in a second wave of immigration from about 1100.

These different influences of the neighboring languages come to the individual dialects. On Sylt, Fohr and Amrum and in the north part of the North Frisian mainland a stronger jütischer influence on the dialects can find on the rest of the mainland and on Helgoland, the influence of Low German is stronger. Furthermore, the individual dialect areas also had little contact with each other, so that could hardly compensate dialects arise. In addition, there was no cultural center in northern Friesland, whose dialect would be a Leitmundart can develop.

Samples

The following table provides an insight into the differences and similarities.

Extinct dialects

The North Frisian dialects on the eiderstedt Peninsula were abandoned until the 17th century in favor of the Low German language. Eiderstedt was in contrast to the northern Harden economically strong and prosperous and had aligned in many ways to the southern neighbor down the German-influenced areas. In the 16th century there was also a strong Dutch immigration.

Similarly, it went to on the island beach, which was destroyed by the Burchardiflut in 1634. On the eastern fragment of the island, now known as North beach, did not succeed in surviving population under its own power, embank their country. So many Frisian inhabitants left the island or could not linguistically prevail against the mostly coming from the Netherlands Neusiedl. On Pellworm, the western fragment Strand, on the other hand succeeded in re- damming quickly. So got to Pellworm until the 18th century the Frisian language until these also there was the changes in the population structure to the victim. The old Frisian Strander was probably related to the holm Frisian next.

Also similar to the holm Frisian was the Wyk Frisian, which is spoken in Wyk auf Foehr, until the city was completely gone over to the Low German. The Wyk dialect probably developed from the dialects of the immigrants from the island beach and the islets.

Of the known recently extinct dialects with the death of the last speaker on October 10, 1981, the Southshore Goes Harder Frisian, other dialects are threatened with extinction. It is also assumed that even north of the present German - Danish border North Frisian is spoken.

Self-designation

Due to the numerous dialects there was originally no common self-designation for the North Frisian language. So the Wiedingharder and the holm Friesen call their language Freesk that Bökingharder frasch that Karrharder fräisch and Goes Harder also fräisch or freesch. While all of these expressions in German " Frisian " mean the self-designation is all based on the corresponding island in the island dialects and agrees therefore Sölring with the dialect names, fering, Öömrang and Halunder match. " Frisian " would read about in Föhrer dialect " fresk ".

As a dialect cross- designation, the North Frisians finally agreed on the word Friisk, which is based on the West Frisian frysk self-designation. This term can thus be found today, especially in official names, if the whole of the North Frisians or the North Frisian dialects is meant about the Nordfriisk Instituut, at the Friisk Foriining or when Friisk Gesäts. The section north of the Frisian Council, however, has retained its traditional name " Frasche Rädj " in the moor inger dialect.

Phonology

Despite the large differences between the North Frisian dialects there are in phonology also some features that are pronounced more or less in all dialect areas. To the reduction of a i is one, the almost completely carried out in the central dialects in the peripheral dialects but only E or reached ä. An example is the word for fish: Mooring fasch, Fering - Öömrang fask but Sölring FESK (see Ndt Fish / Fisk, Engl fish, Dän fisk, Ndl vis. ).

The situation is similar with the lenition of voiceless plosives p, t, k, which become voiced plosives in position between two vowels, and finally partially become voiced fricatives. The lenition is primarily present in the central dialects, is know as the example for the verb to see: Mooring Waase, Fering - Öömrang wed, Sölring weet, Halunder wet (see Westfrs witte, Ndt beting. . ).

From High German, the North Frisian dialects differ a whole by a more extensive vowel and consonant system. Allen dialects in the consonant an additional Palatalreihe common, which is unusual for a Germanic language. In the Westföhrer dialect to in recent times is occupied even an additional row meaningful distinctive dental consonants. The overall conclusion is that the island dialects have a relatively complicated consonant system, the mainland dialects, however, have a distinctive vowel system.

Since recently, the phonological system of the North Frisian dialects is under very strong German influence and highly resembles slowly to the system of standard German.

Current Situation

The official language is now mostly worked with a number of speakers 8000-10000 speakers of the North Frisian language in Northern Friesland and on Helgoland. But linguists have partially made of significantly lower numbers of speakers, Nils Århammar estimates in 2007 a number of 5,000 speakers within and between 1,500 and 2,000 speakers outside North Frisia. Accurate surveys of numbers of speakers are not available. In the " Red Book of endangered languages " of the UNESCO North Frisian is classified as " seriously compromised ".

Today especially the Fering, the Öömrang and Mooring still have a significant number of speakers, especially in Föhrer Westerland applies the language community to be relatively intact. The other North Frisian dialects are sometimes critically endangered, especially the Karrharder Frisian, Frisian and the means Goes Harder Halligfriesische.

On Fohr and Amrum still speaks an essential part of the North Frisian island residents. It is estimated the number of speakers on both islands at approximately 3,500 ( approximately 11,000 inhabitants ). In the western villages Föhr and Amrum - except in Wittdün - North Frisian is still widely used as the language spoken. In the east Föhr it was until the recent period from Low German, now generally pushed back rather from standard German.

The Amrumer school ( primary, secondary and junior high school ) called Öömrang Skuul and dedicated to focus on the teachings of Amrumer dialect. On the mainland in Risum exists with the Risum Skole / Risem Schölj a Danish - Frisian primary school.