West Frisian languages

Summary

The West Frisian languages are a group of closely related, though not mutually intelligible, Frisian languages of the Netherlands. Due to the marginalization of all but mainland West Frisian, they are often portrayed as dialects of a single language. (See that article for the history of the languages.)

West Frisian
EthnicityWest Frisians
Geographic
distribution
Friesland and Groningen, Netherlands
Linguistic classificationIndo-European
Subdivisions
ISO 639-1fy
ISO 639-2 / 5fry
ISO 639-3fry
Glottologmode1264
Present-day distribution West Frisian languages (blue), in the Netherlands
Notesfry is ISO 639-2 and not ISO 639-5

Languages edit

Not all West Frisian varieties spoken in Dutch Friesland are mutually intelligible. The varieties on the islands are rather divergent, and Glottolog distinguishes four languages:[1]

  • Hindeloopen Frisian (Hylpersk, Dutch Hindeloopers and Molkwerums), an archaic dialect of the peninsular harbour town of Hindeloopen (Hylpen) and the village of Molkwerum on the west coast, is spoken by, at the most, some 300 people.
  • Schiermonnikoog Frisian Skiermûntseagersk, the most endangered West Frisian language, is spoken on the island of Schiermonnikoog (Skiermûntseach) by no more than 50–100 people (out of an island population of 900).
  • Westlauwers–Terschellings
    • Terschelling Frisian (Skylgersk). Westersk and Aastersk are the dialects of the western and eastern parts of the island of Terschelling (Skylge) and have about 800 and 400 speakers respectively.
    • Western Frisian, spoken by over 99% of the West Frisian-speaking population[citation needed]

References edit

  1. ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forke, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2020). "Modern West Frisian". Glottolog 4.3.