LL-L: "Language planning" (was "Mutual comprehension") LOWLANDS-L, 21.JUL.2000 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: HS Brandsma [hsbrand at jol04.cs.vu.nl]
Subject: LL-L: "Mutual comprehension" LOWLANDS-L, 19.JUL.2000 (01) [E]

koartby skreau Crostoir:

Two points concerning Frisian:

> Indeed. And it is perhaps ironic that many literary
> standards have in fact never been anyone's spoken
> language, being as they often are composites as you
> describe. Many times the literary standard actually
> abolishes some of the more variant or peculiar
> elements of the local languages from which it is
> drawn. For example, Euskara (Basque) is actually seven
> mutually incomprehensible languages, and the standard
> has been drawn from a combination of Bizkaian Euskara
> and Gipuzkoan Euskara. This is understandable given
> that these are the two varieties with the most
> speakers. However, Zuberoa Euskara, which has only
> about 16,000 speakers, maintains an aberrant phonology
> quite removed from other Euskara, and has many
> idiosyncratic features that are absent from other
> Basque languages.
>
> I recall vaguely reading something on the
> establishment of a literary standard for West Frisian,
> where elements were chosen on the basis of difference
> from Dutch. Is this correct? If so, it sounds a good
> idea. Does anyone have any information on so-called
> 'Town Frisian' which was a Dutch-Frisian compromise
> language (isn't that a creole?) spoken in the urban
> areas of Fryslan. Is it still extant? I read of it in
> W B Lockwood's 'A Panorama of Indo-European Languages'
> (1972) in which he mentions 'Town Frisian' as being a
> modern development, presumably as a result of the
> Hollandising policies in Fryslan prior to 1955 when
> Frisian was made official.

The Frisian literary standard is partly chosen to deviate from Dutch,
yes. But first one has to realise that Frisian dialects do not differ
very much. (In this part I mean West Frisian). There are only two or
three really divergent dialects, and these are very small (maybe a few
thousand), and these are spoken in isolated places, like the islands.
The other dialects have only marginal differences, mostly in the sound
of some words. These differences are well-known, and sometimes people
make fun of them a bit, but they do not really hinder comprehension at
all. Only the Su'dwesthoeke dialects give rise to strange looks, as
they miss a lot of the Frisian breaking characteristic for the other
main dialects. (so "futten" instead of "fuotten" eg)
So when the standard arose in the 19th ventury, really any one of the
main dialects could have been chosen (except SWH prob.). Most of the
writers came from the west of the province, which was also the most
prosperous part. So western forms of the words came to predominate.
The trend has been to use three principles in chosing the standard:

Dialect selection: mostly from Klaaifrysk (the western variety)

Purism: select "better Frisian" words: in colloquial speech many words
are replaced by Ducth-isms, different ones with different people
depending on background and sometimes dialect. Eg choose "nea" instead
of "noait", "immen" (originally quite archaic) for "someone". etc.
Also words like "omparter" (for hand-out, at conferences), and
linguistic terminology ("haadwurd" for "noun" etc) can be seen as
purism (not using latinate or English words).

Distancing from Dutch: If the western dialect happens to have a form
close or identical to Dutch, while being historically ok Frisian, it
still might be replaced by a form from another (mostly the Wa^lden)
dialect, if this is more different from the Dutch. A case in point
would be standard Frisian "hiel" (for "whole, also "very"), which is
preferred to Klaaifrysk "heel" (identical to Dutch "heel"). This
applies to other words ending in -iel as well, like "kiel" (throat,
Dutch and Klaaifrysk "keel").

In speech most people use their own dialect forms, as this doesn't
hinder communication (so sometimes people from the Su'dwesthoeke use
more standard, "broken" forms eg), but on more "official" occassions
they will try to use "proper" Frisian, with more purisms and
distancing forms, as a way to mark the identity of the speaker as
someone pro-Frisian. One shouldn't overdo it, though, or one will be
accused of speaking "boekjefrysk" (bookish Frisian)...
In writing the more distant or Klaaifrysk form are preferred, but the
other forms are allowed (but not eg non-broken SWH forms). Some
writers do this to colour their language as it were.
The norm is quite flexible in this respect, and not as rigid as the
Dutch norm. This might be typical for the more "folky" minority
languages of Europe..

As regards to Town Frisian: thsi variety has developped in the 16th
and 17th century from a "Dutch in Frisian mouths": grammatically and
phonologically Frisian, but the words are mostly from Dutch (dialects
of it, mostly western).
It developped after Dutch became official in Frysla^n (about 1550),
and non-Frisians came to govern it. People could then pick up the
language from the officials and also from merchants from Holland.
It's easy to understand for non-Frisians
(mostly), as opposed to normal Frisian. It used to be the koine in the
cities of Frysla^n (at least the ones that are no longer Frisian
speaking). Until last century Frisians who had to speak Dutch actually
spoke Town Frisian, but it gradually became a sociolect of the lower
classes in the cities, and is now mostly a low prestige variety, and
only a minority speaks it still (except maybe in smaller towns like
Harlingen/Harns). Quite a few of my relatives still speak it, but it's
declining rapidly. Sometimes Frisian sounds like Town Frisian with the
amount of Dutch-isms that some younger speakers use.. (a variety
called Ynterferinsjefrysk, which Henk Wolf can tell you all about..)

> Another aspect I am interested in with regards to
> Frisian is whether standard West Frisian has had any
> discernible effect on other forms of Frisian such as
> East Frisian and North Frisian. I'm aware they do not
> share a continuum of territory, but surely West
> Frisian language television can be picked up in Fohr
> and Niebull? I should draw your attention to a report
> on Newsnight (a BBC current affairs programme
> broadcast here at 10:30 pm Monday to Friday) which
> claimed that (in a fit of self-aggrandisement)
> Newsnight had some 50,000 viewers in the Netherlands
> (I can't be sure of the exact figure, but I think it
> was 50,000). Surely then Frisian coverage should be
> able to reach North Frisian areas, right?

Not quite. West Frisian tv can only be received on cable in the
province itself, not even in other parts of the Netherlands.
I myself only rarely see it, living in Amsterdam.
As far as I know, West Frisian has had no influence on the other
varieties, the contacts are far too minimal for that.

Henno Brandsma

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