Editing Frisians (section)

== Language ==
[[File:Frisian languages in Europe.svg|thumb|Present-day distribution of the Frisian languages in Europe:
{{legend|#000066|[[West Frisian languages|West Frisian]]}}
{{legend|#3366CC|[[North Frisian language|North Frisian]]}}
{{legend|#0FAFFF|[[Saterland Frisian language|Saterland Frisian]]}}]]
As both the [[Anglo-Saxons]] of England and the early Frisians were formed from similar tribal confederacies, their respective languages were very similar, together forming the [[Anglo-Frisian]] family. [[Old Frisian]] is the most closely related language to [[Old English]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/1887/1937/1/344_121.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070818203737/https://www.openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/1887/1937/1/344_121.pdf |archive-date=2007-08-18 |url-status=live |title=The origin of the Old English dialects revisited |first=Frederik |last=Kortlandt |year=1999 |publisher=[[University of Leiden]]}}</ref> and the modern Frisian dialects are in turn the closest related languages to contemporary English that themselves derive not from Old English (although modern Frisian and English are not mutually intelligible).

The Frisian language group is divided into three mutually unintelligible languages:
*[[West Frisian language|West Frisian]], spoken in the Dutch province of [[Friesland]]
*[[Saterland Frisian language|Saterland Frisian]], spoken in the German municipality of [[Saterland]] just south of [[East Frisia]]
*[[North Frisian language|North Frisian]], spoken in the German region of [[North Frisia]] (within the {{Lang|de|[[Districts of Germany|Kreis]]}} of [[Nordfriesland (district)|Nordfriesland]]) on the west coast of [[Jutland]].

Of these three languages both Saterland Frisian (2,000 speakers) and North Frisian (10,000 speakers)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.landtag.ltsh.de/parlament/minderheitenpolitik/friesische-volksgruppe.html |title=Die friesische Volksgruppe in Schleswig-Holstein |language=de |publisher=Diet of Schleswig-Holstein |access-date=4 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004050947/http://www.landtag.ltsh.de/parlament/minderheitenpolitik/friesische-volksgruppe.html |archive-date=4 October 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> are endangered. West Frisian is spoken by around 350,000 native speakers in Friesland,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://languagecontact.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/ELA/languages/Frisian.html |title=Frisian (North) |work=Archive of Endangered and Smaller Languages |first=Yaron |last=Matras |publisher=[[University of Manchester]]}}</ref> and as many as 470,000 when including speakers in neighbouring Groningen province.<ref name="ethnologue.com"/> West Frisian is not listed as threatened, although research published by Radboud University in 2016 has challenged that assumption.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2116603-friese-taal-met-uitsterven-bedreigd.html |title=Friese taal met uitsterven bedreigd? (Frisian language threatened with extinction?)|language=nl|author=Menno de Galan & Willem Lust |work=[[Nieuwsuur]] |publisher=NOS |date=9 July 2016 |access-date=6 January 2020}}</ref>