The Anglo-Frisian languages are the Anglic (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, Scots, and Yola) and Frisian varieties of the

West Germanic languages The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages). The West Germanic branch is classically subdivided into ...

. The Anglo-Frisian languages are distinct from other West Germanic languages due to several sound changes: besides the

Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law In historical linguistics, the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law (also called the Anglo-Frisian or North Sea Germanic nasal spirant law) is a description of a phonological development that occurred in the Ingvaeonic dialects of the West Germanic langu ...

, which is present in Low German as well,

Anglo-Frisian brightening The phonological system of the Old English language underwent many changes during the period of its existence. These included a number of vowel shifts, and the palatalisation of velar consonants in many positions. For historical development ...

and palatalization of are for the most part unique to the modern Anglo-Frisian languages: * English ''cheese'', Scots ' and West Frisian ', but

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

', Low German ', and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

' * English ''church'', and West Frisian ', but Dutch ', Low German ', ', and German ', though Scots ' * English ''sheep'', Scots ' and West Frisian ', but Dutch (pl. ), Low German , German (pl. ) The grouping is usually implied as a separate branch in regards to the

tree model In historical linguistics, the tree model (also Stammbaum, genetic, or cladistic model) is a model of the evolution of languages analogous to the concept of a family tree, particularly a phylogenetic tree in the biological evolution of species. ...

. According to this reading, English and Frisian would have had a proximal ancestral form in common that no other attested group shares. The early Anglo-Frisian varieties, like

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

and Old Frisian, and the third Ingvaeonic group at the time, the ancestor of Low German

Old Saxon Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Europe). It ...

, were spoken by intercommunicating populations. While this has been cited as a reason for a few traits exclusively shared by Old Saxon and either Old English or Old Frisian, a genetic unity of the Anglo-Frisian languages beyond that of an

Ingvaeonic North Sea Germanic, also known as Ingvaeonic , is a postulated grouping of the northern West Germanic languages that consists of Old Frisian, Old English, and Old Saxon, and their descendants. Ingvaeonic is named after the Ingaevones, a West Ge ...

subfamily cannot be considered a majority opinion. In fact, the groupings of Ingvaeonic and West Germanic languages are highly debated, even though they rely on much more innovations and evidence. Some scholars consider a Proto-Anglo-Frisian language as disproven, as far as such postulates are falsifiable. Nevertheless, the close ties and strong similarities between the Anglic and the Frisian grouping are part of the scientific consensus. Therefore, the concept of Anglo-Frisian languages can be useful and is today employed without these implications. Geography isolated the settlers of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

from Continental Europe, except from contact with communities capable of open water navigation. This resulted in more

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

and Norman language influences during the development of Modern English, whereas the modern Frisian languages developed under contact with the southern Germanic populations, restricted to the continent.

Classification

The proposed Anglo-Frisian family tree is: *Anglo-Frisian ** Anglic ***

**** Northumbrian and Cumbrian (see the article about the

Humber-Lune Line The Humber-Lune Line is a term used for the traditional dialect boundary in England between descendants of Northumbrian Old English to the north and Mercian Old English to the south. It is considered the most significant dialect boundary within t ...

) *** Scots **** Insular Scots **** Northern Scots ****

Central Scots Central Scots is a group of dialects of Scots. Central Scots is spoken from Fife and Perthshire to the Lothians and Wigtownshire, often split into North East Central Scots (Northeast Mid Scots) and South East Central Scots (Southeast Mid Sco ...

****

Southern Scots Southern Scots is the dialect (or group of dialects) of Scots spoken in the Scottish Borders counties of mid and east Dumfriesshire, Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire, with the notable exception of Berwickshire and Peeblesshire, which are, like Ed ...

**** Doric Scots **** Ulster Scots *** Yola ***

Fingalian Fingallian or the Fingal dialect is an extinct Anglic language formerly spoken in Fingal, Ireland. It is thought to have been an offshoot of Middle English, which was brought to Ireland during the Norman invasion, and was extinct by the mid-19 ...

(extinct) ** Frisian *** West Frisian *** East Frisian **** Saterland Frisian (last remaining dialect of East Frisian) *** North Frisian

Anglic languages

Anglic, Insular Germanic, or English languages encompass

and all the linguistic varieties descended from it. These include

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...

Early Modern English Early Modern English or Early New English (sometimes abbreviated EModE, EMnE, or ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transition from Middle E ...

, and Modern English; Early Scots,

Middle Scots Middle Scots was the Anglic language of Lowland Scotland in the period from 1450 to 1700. By the end of the 15th century, its phonology, orthography, accidence, syntax and vocabulary had diverged markedly from Early Scots, which was virtually ...

, and

Modern Scots Modern Scots comprises the varieties of Scots traditionally spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster, from 1700. Throughout its history, Modern Scots has been undergoing a process of language attrition, whereby successive generations ...

; Yola; and the extinct

Fingallian Fingallian or the Fingal dialect is an extinct Anglic language formerly spoken in Fingal, Ireland. It is thought to have been an offshoot of Middle English, which was brought to Ireland during the Norman invasion, and was extinct by the mid ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

English-based creole languages An English-based creole language (often shortened to English creole) is a creole language for which English was the '' lexifier'', meaning that at the time of its formation the vocabulary of English served as the basis for the majority of the cre ...

are not generally included, as mainly only their lexicon and not necessarily their grammar, phonology, etc. comes from Modern and

Frisian languages

The Frisian languages are a group of languages spoken by about 500,000

Frisian people The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal regions of the Netherlands and northwestern Germany. They inhabit an area known as Frisia and are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, E ...

on the southern fringes of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. West Frisian, by far the most spoken of the three main branches, constitutes an official language in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

. North Frisian is spoken on some

North Frisian Islands The North Frisian Islands (''Öömrang'' and '' Fering'' frr, Nuurdfresk Eilunen, ''Söl'ring'' frr, Nuurđfriisk Ailönen, link=no, da, Nordfrisiske Øer, german: Nordfriesische Inseln) are the Frisian Islands off the coast of North Frisia. T ...

and parts of mainland

North Frisia North Frisia (; ; ) is the northernmost portion of Frisia, located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany between the rivers Eider and Wiedau. It also includes the North Frisian Islands and Heligoland. The region is traditionally inhabited by the Nort ...

in the northernmost

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

of Nordfriesland, and also in

Heligoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...

in the

German Bight The German Bight (german: Deutsche Bucht; da, tyske bugt; nl, Duitse bocht; fry, Dútske bocht; ; sometimes also the German Bay) is the southeastern bight of the North Sea bounded by the Netherlands and Germany to the south, and Denmark and ...

, both part of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

state (Heligoland is part of its mainland district of Pinneberg). The

East Frisian language East Frisian is one of the Frisian languages. Its last surviving dialect is spoken in Saterland in Germany. There were once two main dialects, ''Ems'' and ''Weser''. Weser, including the Wursten and Wangerooge dialects, held out until the 20 ...

is spoken in Saterland in Germany.

Anglo-Frisian developments

The following is a summary of the major sound changes affecting vowels in chronological order. For additional detail, see

Phonological history of Old English The phonological system of the Old English language underwent many changes during the period of its existence. These included a number of vowel shifts, and the palatalisation of velar consonants in many positions. For historical developmen ...

. That these were simultaneous and in that order for all Anglo-Frisian languages is considered disproved by some scholars. # Backing and nasalization of West Germanic ''a'' and ''ā'' before a nasal consonant # Loss of ''n'' before a spirant, resulting in lengthening and

nasalization In phonetics, nasalization (or nasalisation) is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the mouth. An archetypal nasal sound is . In the Internation ...

of preceding vowel # Single form for present and preterite plurals # ''A-fronting'': West Germanic ''a'', ''ā'' > ''æ'', ''ǣ'', even in the diphthongs ''ai'' and ''au'' (see

) # palatalization of

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...

and before front vowels (but not phonemicization of palatals) # ''A-restoration'': ''æ'', ''ǣ'' > ''a'', ''ā'' under the influence of neighboring consonants # ''Second fronting'': OE dialects (except West Saxon) and Frisian ''ǣ'' > ''ē'' # ''A-restoration'': ''a'' restored before a back vowel in the following syllable (later in the

Southumbrian The Southumbrians or 'Suðanhymbre' were the Anglo-Saxon people occupying northern Mercia. The term might not have been used by the Mercians and was instead possibly coined by the Deiran or Bernician people as a territorial response to their ow ...

dialects); Frisian ''æu'' > ''au'' > Old Frisian ''ā''/''a'' # OE breaking; in West Saxon palatal diphthongization follows # ''i''-mutation followed by syncope; Old Frisian breaking follows # Phonemicization of palatals and assibilation, followed by second fronting in parts of West Mercia # Smoothing and back mutation

Comparisons

Numbers in Anglo-Frisian languages

These are the words for the numbers one to 12 in the Anglo-Frisian languages, with Dutch and German included for comparison: * ''Ae'' , is an adjectival form used before nouns.

Words in English, Scots, Yola, West Frisian, Dutch, and German

Alternative grouping

, also known as North Sea Germanic, is a postulated grouping of the

that encompasses

Old Frisian Old Frisian was a West Germanic language spoken between the 8th and 16th centuries along the North Sea coast, roughly between the mouths of the Rhine and Weser rivers. The Frisian settlers on the coast of South Jutland (today's Northern Fri ...

,Also known as ''Anglo-Saxon''. and

. It is not thought of as a monolithic

proto-language In the tree model of historical linguistics, a proto-language is a postulated ancestral language from which a number of attested languages are believed to have descended by evolution, forming a language family. Proto-languages are usually unattes ...

, but rather as a group of closely related dialects that underwent several areal changes in relative unison. The grouping was first proposed in ''Nordgermanen und Alemannen'' (1942) by the German linguist and philologist Friedrich Maurer (1898–1984), as an alternative to the strict tree diagrams that had become popular following the work of the 19th-century linguist

August Schleicher August Schleicher (; 19 February 1821 – 6 December 1868) was a German linguist. His great work was ''A Compendium of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-European Languages'' in which he attempted to reconstruct the Proto-Indo-European languag ...

and which assumed the existence of an Anglo-Frisian group.

Classification

Anglic languages

Frisian languages

Anglo-Frisian developments

Comparisons

Numbers in Anglo-Frisian languages

Words in English, Scots, Yola, West Frisian, Dutch, and German

Alternative grouping

See also

Notes

References

Further reading