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| Survey map of the treated
dialects. |
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| Diagram 1 |
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| Diagram 2 |
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| Diagram 3 |
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| Diagram 4 |
How Frisian is the Frisian language?
P. Kramer
(Paper presented at the Philologists Congress of the Fryske
Akademy, 9th Dec. 1999.
Full text (in Frisian) will appear in "Philologia
Frisica" and abridged in "De Pompeblęden")
Summary. In this study, it is calculated how
much of Old Frisian is preserved in four modern Frisian dialects
in the Netherlands and Germany (see map).
The results are based on the 197 most frequent words, that is on
65% of daily speech.
The result appears in diagram 1, together with
the share of lost words and neologies and of borrowed material
from Dutch/ Low German or other languages.
Diagram 2 presents the Old Frisian content of
modern dialects and diagram 3 the distribution
in frequency classes, from which it is concluded that the 35% of
speech not treated (many less frequent words!) will show about
the same distribution.
Diagram 4 at last shows the content of characteristic
Frisian material in Old Frisian and in the four modern Frisian
dialects as well as in four adjacent non-Frisian dialects in the
Netherlands.