Editing Frisian languages (section)

==Division==
There are three main groups of Frisian varieties: [[West Frisian language|West Frisian]], [[Saterland Frisian language|Saterland Frisian]], and [[North Frisian language|North Frisian]]. Some linguists consider these three varieties, despite their [[mutual unintelligibility]], to be dialects of one single Frisian language, whereas others consider them to be a number of separate languages equal to or greater than the number of main branches discussed here.<ref>{{cite book |last=Winter |first=Christoph |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics |chapter=Frisian |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2022 |isbn=978-0-19-938465-5 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.938}}</ref> Indeed, the insular varieties of West Frisian are not intelligible to the mainland, and by that standard are additional languages, and North Frisian is also divided into several strongly diverse dialects, which are not all mutually intelligible among themselves. West Frisian is strongly influenced by Dutch. The other Frisian languages, meanwhile, have been influenced by Low German and German. [[Stadsfries]] and [[West Frisian Dutch]] are not Frisian, but [[Dutch language|Dutch]] dialects influenced by West Frisian. Frisian is called ''Frysk'' in West Frisian, ''Fräisk'' in Saterland Frisian,<ref>Though this is the literal translation for "Frisian", the Saterfrisian term ''Fräisk'' traditionally refers to the East Frisians and the [[East Frisian Low Saxon]] language; cf. Fort, Marron Curtis (1980): Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch. Hamburg, p.45.</ref> and ''Friisk'', ''fresk'', ''freesk'', ''frasch'', ''fräisch'', and ''freesch'' in the varieties of North Frisian.

The situation in the Dutch province of Groningen and the German region of [[East Frisia]] is similar: The local [[Low German|Low German/Low Saxon]] dialects of [[Gronings]] and [[East Frisian Low Saxon]] still bear some Frisian elements due to East Frisian [[Substrate (linguistics)|substrate]]. Frisian was spoken there at one time, only to have been gradually replaced by Low Saxon since the Middle Ages. This local language is now, like Frisian, under threat by standard Dutch and German.
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Europe location FRS.png|[[Frisia]] highlighted on a map of Europe
File:Frisia map.svg|Frisia
File:Frisians.png|West and East Frisia were once connected. North Frisia was colonized by Frisians via the North Sea and they first settled on Sylt, Amrum and Föhr.
File:Sprachsituationnordniederlande.png|The languages in the northern Netherlands (in German)
File:LinguisticSituationSchleswigSlesvig.png|Language situation in northern Schleswig-Holstein as it developed since the 19th century
File:NordfriesischeDialekte.png|The North Frisian dialects (in German)
File:Nordfriisk Koord.png|North Frisian map of the North Frisian dialects (1-[[Sylt]], 2a-[[Föhr]], 2b-[[Amrum]])
File:Seelterlound.png|Map of [[Saterland]] (in Saterland Frisian)
File:OosterlauwersFries in hedendaagse gebieden.PNG|The former East Frisian-speaking area
File:Ostfriesland Verkehr-de.svg|[[East Frisia]] (in German)
File:Karteostfriesischedialekte.GIF|The former East Frisian dialects in Lower Saxony (in German)
File:OstfriesischesPlatt.png|The [[East Frisian Low Saxon]] area (colloquially called ''East Frisian'' and formed on an [[East Frisian language|East Frisian]] substratum)
</gallery>

===Speakers===
Most Frisian speakers live in the [[Netherlands]], primarily in the province of [[Friesland]], which since 1997 officially uses its West Frisian name of Fryslân, where the number of native speakers is about 400,000,<ref name="Extra">{{Cite book|title = The Other Languages of Europe: Demographic, Sociolinguistic, and Educational Perspectives|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hvmy_skUPNYC|publisher = Multilingual Matters|date = 2001-01-01|isbn = 9781853595097|first1 = Guus|last1 = Extra|first2 = Durk|last2 = Gorter}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=October 2021}} which is about 75% of the inhabitants of Friesland.<ref name=Bremmer>{{Cite book|title = An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uWYsSOp6g58C|publisher = John Benjamins Publishing|date = 2009-01-01|isbn = 978-9027232557|language = en|first = Rolf Hendrik|last = Bremmer}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=October 2021}} An increasing number of native Dutch speakers in the province are learning Frisian as a second language.

In [[Germany]], there are about 2,000<ref>"Gegenwärtige Schätzungen schwanken zwischen 1.500 und 2.500." Marron C. Fort: Das Saterfriesische. In: Horst Haider Munske, Nils Århammar: Handbuch des Friesischen – Handbook of Frisian Studies. Niemayer (Tübingen 2001).</ref> speakers of Saterland Frisian in the marshy [[Saterland]] region of [[Lower Saxony]]. Saterland Frisian has resisted encroachment from [[Low German]] and [[Standard German]], but Saterland Frisian still remains seriously endangered because of the small size of the [[speech community]] and of the lack of institutional support to help preserve and spread the language.<ref name=Bremmer />{{rp|1}}

In the [[North Frisia]] (''Nordfriesland'') region of the German state of [[Schleswig-Holstein]], there were 10,000 North Frisian speakers.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Konig | first1=E. | last2=van der Auwera | first2=J. | title=The Germanic Languages | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Routledge Language Family Series | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-317-79958-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVBdAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA505 | access-date=2020-02-01 | page=505}}</ref> Although many of these live on the mainland, most are found on the islands, notably [[Sylt]], [[Föhr]], [[Amrum]], and [[Heligoland]]. The local corresponding North Frisian dialects are still in use.

West Frisian–Dutch bilinguals are split into two categories: Speakers who had Dutch as their first language tended to maintain the Dutch system of homophony between plural and linking suffixes when speaking West Frisian, by using the West Frisian plural as a linking morpheme. Speakers who had West Frisian as their first language often maintained the West Frisian system of no homophony when speaking West Frisian.

===Status===
Saterland and North Frisian<ref>''[[w:de:s:Friesisch-Gesetz|Gesetz zur Förderung des Friesischen im öffentlichen Raum]]'' – [[w:de:s:Hauptseite|Wikisource]] {{in lang|de}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=October 2021}} are officially recognised and protected as [[minority language]]s in Germany, and West Frisian is one of the two official languages in the Netherlands, the other being [[Dutch language|Dutch]].
[[ISO 639-1]] code <code>fy</code> and [[ISO 639-2]] code <code>fry</code> were assigned to "Frisian", but that was changed in November 2005 to "[[West Frisian language|Western Frisian]]". According to the ISO 639 Registration Authority the "previous usage of [this] code has been for Western Frisian, although [the] language name was 'Frisian{{'"}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.niso.org/international/SC4/N585.pdf |title=Registration Authority Report 2004-2005 |access-date=2007-11-23 |author=Christian Galinski |author2=Rebecca Guenther |author3=Håvard Hjulstad |pages=4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020020306/http://www.niso.org/international/SC4/N585.pdf |archive-date=2007-10-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The new [[ISO 639]] code <code>stq</code> is used for the [[Saterland Frisian language]], a variety of Eastern Frisian (not to be confused with [[East Frisian Low Saxon]], a [[West Low German]] dialect). The new ISO 639 code <code>frr</code> is used for the [[North Frisian language]] variants spoken in parts of [[Schleswig-Holstein]].

The [http://language-diversity.eu/en/knowledge/regions-of-europe/die-westfriesen-in-den-niederlanden/ Ried fan de Fryske Beweging] is an organization which works for the preservation of the West Frisian language and culture in the Dutch province of [[Friesland]]. The [https://web.archive.org/web/20160125181924/https://www.fryske-akademy.nl/en/thusside/ Fryske Academy] also plays a large role, since its foundation in 1938, to conduct research on Frisian language, history, and society, including attempts at forming a larger dictionary.<ref name="Extra"/>{{Page needed|date=October 2021}} Recent attempts have allowed Frisian be used somewhat more in some of the domains of education, media and public administration.<ref name="Fishman">{{Cite book|title = Can Threatened Languages be Saved?: Reversing Language Shift, Revisited : a 21st Century Perspective|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oScUXmAkRXIC|publisher = Multilingual Matters|date = 2001-01-01|isbn = 9781853594922|first = Joshua A.|last = Fishman}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=October 2021}} Nevertheless, [[Saterland Frisian language|Saterland Frisian]] and most dialects of North Frisian are seriously [[endangered language|endangered]]<ref>Matthias Brenzinger, ''Language Diversity Endangered'', Mouton de Gruter, The Hague: 222</ref> and [[West Frisian language|West Frisian]] is considered as vulnerable to being endangered.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Atlas of languages in danger {{!}} United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization|url = http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/endangered-languages/atlas-of-languages-in-danger/|website = www.unesco.org|access-date = 2015-10-28}}</ref> Moreover, for all advances in integrating Frisian in daily life, there is still a lack of education and media awareness of the Frisian language, perhaps reflecting its rural origins and its lack of prestige<ref name="Deumert">{{Cite book|title = Germanic Standardizations: Past to Present|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NVw9AAAAQBAJ|publisher = John Benjamins Publishing|date = 2003-10-27|isbn = 9789027296306|first1 = Ana|last1 = Deumert|first2 = Wim|last2 = Vandenbussche}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=October 2021}} Therefore, in a sociological sense it is considered more a dialect than a standard language, even though linguistically it is a separate language.<ref name="Deumert"/>{{Page needed|date=October 2021}}

For [[L2 speakers]], both the quality and amount of time Frisian is taught in the classroom is low, concluding that Frisian lessons do not contribute meaningfully to the linguistic and cultural development of the students.<ref name="Extra"/>{{Page needed|date=October 2021}} Moreover, Frisian runs the risk of dissolving into Dutch, especially in [[Friesland]], where both languages are used.<ref name="Fishman"/>{{Page needed|date=October 2021}}