West Frisian language

Spoken in

• Indo-European Germanic West Germanic North Seeger Manic Friesian West Frisian

Fy

Fry

Fry

The West Frisian language (also Westerlauwersfriesische language, proper name ( Westerlauwersk ) Frisian ) is a in the Dutch province of Friesland ( Fryslân in Frisian ) of approximately 500,000 people spoken West Germanic language. The West Frisian has the status of a second official language. The majority of the inhabitants of the province of Friesland speak West Frisian, but the Frisian literacy rate is low despite bilingual school education.

The term Westerlauwersk refers to the historical linguistic border along the Lauwers, which separated it from the Osterlauwersschen.

Classification

Next relatives are Sater as the only remaining remnant of East Frisian with about 2000 speakers in Saterland and North Frisian with about 10,000 speakers in Schleswig -Holstein. Together, the three languages, the Frisian language group. Next related language is English, formerly Frisian and English were often summarized in an Anglo - Frisian language group. Today, English and Frisian usually together with the Low German language (and sometimes the Dutch language ) are classified as North Sea Germanic languages. The genetically 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. The Dutch also exists within the West Germanic a close relationship, in addition, the two languages ​​for centuries in close contact, which led to different mutual influences.

Language example

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1:

" All was minsken Frij s gelyk yn wear digens en berne rjochten. Hja hawwe ferstân s certain meikrigen s hearre har foar inoar yn oer in boughs fan bruorskip Halden te s te dragen. "

German: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Dissemination

Most speakers of West Frisian live in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands. In 1997, the province name was changed from the provincial government, and has since read officially Fryslân. The province of Fryslân has 643,000 inhabitants (2005); it can understand, 74 % speak, read, 75 %, and write 27% 94 % West Frisian. The majority of the inhabitants of the province of Fryslân, 55 % of the population, the West Frisian as their mother tongue. In the province of Fryslân live about 120,000 people who have learned Frisian as a foreign language. To the west of the province of Groningen, there are also about 4,000 to 6,000 speakers of Westfrieschen in the villages Marum ( Frisian: Mearum ), De Wilp ( De Wylp ), and Opende ( De Grinzer pain ). As a daily colloquial language, Frisian is used in the north- east of the province Friesland of about 80 percent of the population ( in the municipalities Ferwerderadiel, Dantumadiel, Dongeradiel, Kollumerlân, Achtkarspelen and Tytsjerksteradiel ). In the communities of Harlingen, Leeuwarden and Weststellingwerf Frisian is spoken by about 20 to 30 percent of the population. Nowadays, a significant number of Frisian lives outside the province of Fryslân. At the end of the 19th century and shortly after the Second World War there were major waves of emigration. At these times attracted many Frisians in other Dutch provinces or emigrated to countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. Outside the province, there are about 300,000 other speakers ( figures from 1976 ).

Dialects

A distinction is Westerlauwersfriesischen eight dialects. Of these, four are as main dialects which are spoken over a large area and many thousands of people. The other four are used only locally limited and together have only about 1,000 speakers.

The main dialects are:

• Nordhoeks ( in the northeast of the province of Friesland)
• Kleifriesisch ( in the clothing area north-west of Leeuwarden )
• Waldfriesisch ( in the field of Fryske Wâlden in the southeastern province of Friesland and in the adjacent Westerkwartier )
• Südwesthoeks ( in the southwest of the province of Friesland)

The small dialects are

• Hindeloopers ( in Hindeloopen )
• Aasters and
• Westers ( Terschelling )
• Schiermonnikoogsisch ( Schiermonnikoog )

The Standardfriesische based on three quite strongly resembling dialects Nordhoeks, Kleifriesisch and Waldfriesisch.

Stadtfriesisch and other related Dutch dialects

In the larger cities of the province of Fryslân, the so-called Stadtfriesisch is spoken. It is from the perspective of linguistics not Frisian, but a dialect of Dutch, but with strong Frisian influences, in particular in the grammar. The Town Frisian is often combined with the equally Frisian- Dutch mixed dialects Bildt, Ameländisch, Midländisch and Kollumerländisch spoken in the province of Fryslân.

In the province of North Holland there, just north of Amsterdam, between the North Sea and IJsselmeer, a region of West Friesland. It has its name for historical reasons. There, however, no Frisian, but Dutch and Dutch ( Dutch ) dialect is spoken. At most, there is a westfriesisches substrate, ie an influence of the earlier spoken there Frisian. In Dutch called these dialects West-Friesland, while the West Frisian language is referred to only as a frieze.

Frisistik and Frisian

On the academic level, the University of Groningen is the most important university in the Frisistik with a focus the West Frisian language. At the universities of Kiel, Amsterdam and Leiden Friesischkurse be offered as a secondary or electives occasionally. Leeuwarden is the Frisian Academy since 1938 a scientific institution for the study of the Frisian language. Teacher training for secondary level Frisian is offered at the Hogeschool Leeuwarden Noordelijke. For future teachers ( inside ) to the primary schools, there are the three languages ​​teacher training at Stenden Hogeschool.

In the province of Fryslân, there are some entirely friesischprachige kindergartens and nurseries, plus about 120 bilingual facilities for early child care. 1980 the Frisian compulsory subject in primary schools, 1993, it was a compulsory subject in junior high school. In addition, there since 1996, the trilingual primary schools and since 2010, the trilingual secondary schools. In the province of Friesland in 2013, there were about fifty trilingual primary schools, where Frisian, Dutch and English are used as the language of instruction. In the same year there were three trilingual secondary schools.