The
Anglo-Frisian languages (sometimes
Insular Germanic) are a group of
IngvaeonicIngvaeonic, also known as North Sea Germanic, is a postulated grouping of the West Germanic languages that would fork into Old Frisian, Old English and Old Saxon and according to some the local dialect of West-Flanders...
West Germanic languagesThe West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three traditional branches of the Germanic family of languages and include languages such as English, Dutch and Afrikaans, German, the Frisian languages, and Yiddish...
consisting of
Old EnglishOld English , also called Anglo-Saxon, is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary...
,
Old FrisianOld Frisian is a West Germanic language spoken between the 8th and 16th centuries in the area between the Rhine and Elbe on the European North Sea coast. Whether the speakers of Frisian are the immediate descendants of the Frisians of Roman times or immigrants from North Germany and Denmark is...
, and their descendants. The Anglo-Frisian family tree is:
- Anglo-Frisian
- English group (Insular Anglo-Frisian or Anglic)
Anglic can refer to:* Old English and the languages descended from it* a simplified form of spelling intended to make the language more accessible to an international audience. It was invented in 1930 by the Swedish philologist Robert Eugen Zachrisson...
- English
English is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
- Scots
Scots or Lowland Scots is the variety of Germanic language traditionally spoken in lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster. It is not to be confused with Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language varieties traditionally spoken in the Highlands and Hebrides....
- Yola
Yola is an extinct West Germanic language formerly spoken in Ireland. A branch of Middle English, it evolved separately among the English who followed the Norman barons Strongbow and Robert Fitzstephen to eastern Ireland in 1169....
(extinctAn extinct language is a language which no longer has any speakers. Extinct languages may be contrasted with dead languages: no longer spoken as a main language.-Language loss:...
)
- Frisian group (Continental Anglo-Frisian)
- West Frisian
West Frisian is a language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. West Frisian is the name by which this language is usually known outside of the Netherlands, to distinguish it from the closely related Frisian languages of Saterland Frisian and North Frisian,...
- Saterland Frisian (East Frisian)
Saterland Frisian, also known as Sater Frisian or Saterlandic , is the last living dialect of the East Frisian language. It is closely related to the other Frisian languages—North Frisian, which, like Saterland Frisian, is spoken in Germany and West Frisian, which is spoken in the Netherlands.- Old...
- North Frisian
North Frisian is a minority language of Germany, spoken by about 10,000 people in North Frisia. There are two main dialectal divisions: those of the mainland and the insular dialects. There is no standard variety, although some have suggested the mainland Mooring dialect...
The Anglo-Frisian languages are distinguished from other West Germanic languages partially by the
Ingvaeonic nasal spirant lawIn historical linguistics, the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law is a description of a phonological development in some dialects of West Germanic, which is attested in Old English, Old Frisian, and Old Saxon...
, Anglo-Frisian brightening and by the
palatalizationPalatalization or palatalisation generally refers to two phenomena:*As a process or the result of a process, the effect that front vowels and the palatal approximant frequently have on consonants;...
of
Proto-GermanicProto-Germanic , or Common Germanic, as it is sometimes known, is the unattested, reconstructed common ancestor of all the Germanic languages such as modern English, Dutch, Afrikaans, German, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, and Swedish...
to a
coronalCoronal consonants are articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. Only the coronal consonants can be divided into apical , laminal , domed , or sub-apical , as well as a few rarer orientations, because only the front of the tongue has such dexterity...
affricateAffricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :...
before front vowels: cf. English
cheese and West Frisian
tsiis to
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
kaas and
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
Käse, or English
church and West Frisian
tsjerke to Dutch
kerk and German
Kirche. Early Anglo-Frisian formed a
SprachbundA Sprachbund , from the German word for “language union”, also known as a linguistic area, convergence area, diffusion area or language crossroads, is a group of languages that have become similar in some way because of geographical proximity and language contact. They may be genetically unrelated,...
with
Old SaxonOld Saxon, also known as Old Low German, is the earliest recorded form of Low German, documented from the 8th century until the 12th century, when it evolved into Middle Low German. It was spoken on the north-west coast of Germany and in Denmark by Saxon peoples...
, which is counted among the Low Saxon-Low Franconian languages.
The German linguist Friedrich Maurer rejected Anglo-Frisian as a historical subdivision of the Germanic languages. Instead, he proposed
North Sea GermanicIngvaeonic, also known as North Sea Germanic, is a postulated grouping of the West Germanic languages that would fork into Old Frisian, Old English and Old Saxon and according to some the local dialect of West-Flanders...
or Ingvaeonic, a common ancestor of
Old FrisianOld Frisian is a West Germanic language spoken between the 8th and 16th centuries in the area between the Rhine and Elbe on the European North Sea coast. Whether the speakers of Frisian are the immediate descendants of the Frisians of Roman times or immigrants from North Germany and Denmark is...
,
Old EnglishOld English , also called Anglo-Saxon, is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary...
and
Old SaxonOld Saxon, also known as Old Low German, is the earliest recorded form of Low German, documented from the 8th century until the 12th century, when it evolved into Middle Low German. It was spoken on the north-west coast of Germany and in Denmark by Saxon peoples...
.
Examples
Compare the words for the numbers one to ten in the Anglo-Frisian languages.
| Language |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
| English |
one |
two |
three |
four |
five |
six |
seven |
eight |
nine |
ten |
| Scots |
ane
ae |
twa |
three |
fower |
five |
sax |
sieven |
aicht |
nine |
ten |
| Yola |
oane |
twye |
dhree |
vowér |
veeve |
zeese |
zebbem |
ayght |
neene |
dhen |
| West Frisian |
ien |
twa |
trije |
fjouwer |
fiif |
seis |
sân |
acht |
njoggen |
tsien |
| Saterland Frisian (Seeltersk) |
aan |
twäi
twäin
twoo |
träi |
fjauwer |
fieuw |
säks |
soogen |
oachte |
njugen |
tjoon |
| North Frisian (Mooring dialect Mooring or Bökingharde Frisian is a dialect of the North Frisian language spoken in Niebüll and the amt of Bökingharde in the German region of North Frisia. The name Mooring refers to the Risum Bog...
) |
iinj
ån |
tou
tuu |
trii
tra |
fjouer |
fiiw |
seeks |
soowen |
oocht |
nüügen |
tiin |
|