Frisian, Northern
A language of Germany
| Population | 10,000 (Stephens 1976). Ethnic population: 60,000 (Stephens 1976). |
| Region | Schleswig-Holstein, coastal strip between Eider River south and Wiedau River north; adjacent islands Föhr, Amrum, Sylt, Norstrand, Pellworm, the ten islands of Halligen group, and Helgoland. |
| Alternate names | Nordfriesisch |
| Dialects | Mooringer (Mooringa, Mainland Frisian), Ferring (Fohr-Amrum), Sölreng (Sylt), Helgoland. Ferring dialect is actively used. Not intelligible to Eastern Frisian [frs] of Germany or Western Frisian [fry] of the Netherlands except by a few educated bilingual speakers of Western Frisian. Lexical similarity: 70% between the Mooringer dialect and Standard German, 55% with English, 66% with Eastern Frisian [frs], the Föhr dialect has 69% with Standard German, 62% with English, 68% with Western Frisian [fry], 73% with Eastern Frisian [frs], 86% with the Mooringer dialect, 91% with the Amrum dialect; the Sylt dialect has 64% with Standard German, 61% with English, 79% with the Mooringer dialect, 85% with the Föhr dialect. |
| Classification | Indo-European, Germanic, West, Frisian |
| Language use | The Sölreng dialect is nearly extinct. Home. Mainly older adults. Positive attitude. Some proficiency in Standard German, Low Saxon [nds], or English. |
| Language development | Literacy rate in L1: Few read Frisian. Grammar. Bible portions: 1954. |
| Writing system | Latin script. |
| Comments | Education is in Standard German only. Commerce and religious services in German. |
Ethnologue: Web |
Ethnologue: Print |
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