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West Frisian language

West Germanic language spoken in Friesland / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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West Frisian, or simply Frisian (West Frisian: Frysk [frisk] or Westerlauwersk Frysk; Dutch: Fries [fris], also Westerlauwers Fries), is a West Germanic language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland (Fryslân) in the north of the Netherlands, mostly by those of Frisian ancestry. It is the most widely spoken of the Frisian languages.

Quick facts: West Frisian, Pronunciation, Native to, ...
West Frisian
Frisian
Frysk
Westerlauwersk Frysk
Pronunciation[frisk], [ˈvɛstr̩ˌlɔuə(r)s(k) frisk]
Native toNetherlands
RegionFriesland
EthnicityWest Frisians
Native speakers
470,000 (2001 census)[1]
West Frisian
Official status
Official language in
Netherlands
Regulated byFryske Akademy
Language codes
ISO 639-1fy
ISO 639-2fry
ISO 639-3fry
Glottologwest2354
ELPWest Frisian
Linguasphere52-ACA-b
Sprachsituationnordniederlande.png
Present-day distribution West Frisian languages, in the Netherlands
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A West Frisian speaker, recorded in the Netherlands.

In the study of the evolution of English, West Frisian is notable as being the most closely related foreign tongue to the various dialects of Old English spoken across the Heptarchy, these being part of the Anglo-Frisian branch of the West Germanic family.[citation needed]