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Frisian Languages
The Frisian languages ( or ) are a closely related group of West Germanic languages, spoken by about 400,000 Frisian people, who live on the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. The Frisian languages are the closest living language group to the Anglic languages; the two groups make up the Anglo-Frisian languages group and together with the Low German dialects these form the North Sea Germanic languages. However the close genetic relationship between English and Frisian is not reflected in the linguistic distances between the modern languages, which are not Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible. Geographical and historical circumstances have caused the two languages to drift apart linguistically.Charlotte Gooskens & Wilbert Heeringa: The Position of Frisian in the Germanic Language Area, 2012, pp 21-22. There are three different branches of Frisian, which are usually called ''Frisian languages'', despite the fact that dialects within those b ...
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West Frisian Language
West Frisian (; ), or simply Frisian ( ; ), is a West Germanic language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland () in the north of the Netherlands, mostly by those of Frisians, Frisian ancestry. It is the most widely spoken of the Frisian languages. In the study of the evolution of English language, 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 languages, Anglo-Frisian branch of the West Germanic family. Name The name "West Frisian" is only used outside the Netherlands, to distinguish this language from the closely related Frisian languages of East Frisian language, East Frisian, including Saterland Frisian language, Saterland Frisian, and North Frisian language, North Frisian spoken in Germany. Within the Netherlands, however, "West Frisian" refers to the West Frisian Dutch, West Frisian dialect of the Dutch language while the We ...
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Frisian People
The Frisians () are an ethnic group indigenous to the coastal regions of the Netherlands, north-western Germany and southern Denmark. They inhabit an area known as Frisia and are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia (which was a part of Denmark until 1864). The Frisian languages are spoken by more than 500,000 people; West Frisian is officially recognised in the Netherlands (in Friesland) while North Frisian and Saterland Frisian are recognised as regional languages in Germany. Name There are several theories about the origin of the name of the Frisians, which is derived from ''Frisii'' or ''Fresones'', names used by the Romans to describe a Germanic tribe that inhabited the same region but disappeared during the 5th century before the appearance of the Frisians. Most probably the name is derived from the verb ''fresare'' in Vulgar Latin, meaning 'milling, cutting, grooving, crushing, removing shells'; ...
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Districts Of Germany
In 13 German states, the primary administrative subdivision higher than a '' Gemeinde'' (municipality) is the () or (). Most major cities in Germany are not part of any ''Kreis'', but instead combine the functions of a municipality and a ''Kreis''; such a city is referred to as a () or (). ''(Land-)Kreise'' stand at an intermediate level of administration between each state () and the municipalities () within it. These correspond to level-3 administrative units in the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 3). Previously, the similar title Imperial Circle () referred to groups of states in the Holy Roman Empire. The related term was used for similar administrative divisions in some German territories until the 19th century. Types of districts The majority of German districts are "rural districts" (German: , ), of which there are 294 . Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants (and smaller towns in some states) do not usually belong to a district, b ...
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Groningen (province)
Groningen ( , ; ; ; ) is the northeasternmost provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands. It borders on Friesland to the west, Drenthe to the south, the Germany, German state of Lower Saxony to the east, and the Wadden Sea to the north. As of January 2023, Groningen had a population of about 596,000, and a total area of . Historically the area was at different times part of Frisia, the Francia, Frankish Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Dutch Republic, the precursor state of the modern Netherlands. In the 14th century, the city of Groningen became a member of the Hanseatic League. The provincial capital and the largest city in the province is the Groningen, city of Groningen (231,299 inhabitants). Since 2016, René Paas has been the King's Commissioner in the province. A coalition of GroenLinks, the Labour Party (Netherlands), Labour Party, ChristianUnion, People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, Democrats 66, and Christian Democratic Appeal forms the exec ...
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Schiermonnikoog
Schiermonnikoog (; ) is an island, a municipality and national park in the Northern Netherlands. Schiermonnikoog is one of the West Frisian Islands, and is part of the province of Friesland. It is situated between the islands of Ameland and Rottumerplaat. The island is long and wide and is the site of the Netherlands' first national park. The only village on the island is also called Schiermonnikoog. Around 943 people permanently reside on the island, making the municipality both the least populated and the least densely populated in the Netherlands. Because the island is small and flat, only 200 islanders have taken out the special licence allowing them to keep their own car, with the result that the few streets are virtually car-free. Roughly 300,000 people visit the island every year, staying in the 5,500 beds available in holiday homes, apartments and hotels. Most visitors, however, are day trippers (about 4,000 a day in July and August alone), with the result that after ...
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Terschelling
Terschelling (; ; Terschelling dialect: ''Schylge'') is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and an island in the northern Netherlands, one of the West Frisian Islands. It is situated between the islands of Vlieland and Ameland. Wadden Sea, Wadden Islanders are known for their resourcefulness in using anything and everything that washes ashore. With few trees to use for timber, most of the farms and barns are built with masts recovered from shipwrecks. The islands are surrounded by shipwrecks, and even today many containers wash ashore that have blown off the decks of container ships in the North Sea. The main source of income on Terschelling is tourism. There is some agriculture, but a large part of the island has become a nature reserve. Terschelling is well known for the yearly Oerol Festival during which theatre performances are played throughout the island, making use of its landscape and nature. Terschelling can be reached by ferry from the mainland Frisia ...
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West Frisian Islands
The West Frisian Islands (, ; ) are a chain of islands in the North Sea off the Dutch coast, along the edge of the Wadden Sea. They continue further east as the German East Frisian Islands and are part of the Frisian Islands. From west to east the islands are: Noorderhaaks, Texel, Vlieland, Richel, Griend, Terschelling, Ameland, Rif, Engelsmanplaat, Schiermonnikoog, Simonszand, Rottumerplaat, Rottumeroog, and Zuiderduintjes. The islands Noorderhaaks and Texel are part of the province of North Holland. The islands Vlieland, Richel, Griend, Terschelling, Ameland, Rif, Engelsmanplaat, and Schiermonnikoog are part of the province of Friesland. The small islands Simonszand, Rottumerplaat, Rottumeroog, and Zuiderduintjes belong to the province of Groningen. The Frisian Islands are nowadays mostly famous as a holiday destination. Island hopping is possible by regular ferries from the mainland and by specialised tour operators. Cycling is the most favourable means of transp ...
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Provinces Of The Netherlands
There are twelve provinces ( or ; Grammatical number#Overview, sing.  ) of the Netherlands representing the administrative layer between the cabinet of the Netherlands, national government and the municipalities of the Netherlands, local governments, with responsibility for matters of subnational or regional importance. The most populous province is South Holland, with just over 3.8 million inhabitants , and also the most densely populated province with . With 391,124 inhabitants, Zeeland has the smallest population. However Drenthe is the least densely populated province with . In terms of area, Friesland is the largest province with a total area of . If water is excluded, Gelderland is the largest province by land area at . The province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht is the smallest with a total area of , while Flevoland is the smallest by land area at . In total about 10,000 people were employed by the provincial administrations in 2018. The provinces of the Netherlan ...
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Mutual Intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intelligibility is sometimes used to distinguish languages from dialects, although sociolinguistic factors are often also used. Intelligibility between varieties can be asymmetric; that is, speakers of one variety may be able to better understand another than vice versa. An example of this is the case between Afrikaans and Dutch. It is generally easier for Dutch speakers to understand Afrikaans than for Afrikaans speakers to understand Dutch. In a dialect continuum, neighbouring varieties are mutually intelligible, but differences mount with distance, so that more widely separated varieties may not be mutually intelligible. Intelligibility can be partial, as is the case with Azerbaijani and Turkish, or significant, as is the case with Bul ...
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North Sea Germanic Languages
North Sea Germanic, also known as Ingvaeonic ( ), is a subgrouping of West Germanic languages that consists of Old Frisian, Old English, and Old Saxon, and their descendants. These languages share a number of commonalities, such as a single plural ending for all persons of the verb, the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law, common changes to the Germanic vowel ''*a'', a plural form ''-as'', and a number of other features which make scholars believe they form a distinct group within West Germanic. It is debated whether the shared features of North Sea Germanic are inherited from a common proto-language or formed via later contact and influence. Additionally, the membership of the group is sometimes debated. Some scholars exclude Low German for lacking a number of features associated with North Sea Germanic. Other scholars include Dutch for sharing some features with the group. Name The name Ingvaeonic derives from ancient Roman sources such as Tacitus, who describes a tribal group cal ...
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Low German
Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" refers to the altitude of the areas where it is typically spoken. Low German is most closely related to Frisian languages, Frisian and English language, English, with which it forms the North Sea Germanic group of the West Germanic languages. Like Dutch language, Dutch, it has historically been spoken north of the Benrath line, Benrath and Uerdingen line, Uerdingen isoglosses, while forms of High German languages, High German (of which Standard German is a standardized example) have historically been spoken south of those lines. Like Frisian, English, Dutch and the North Germanic languages, Low German has not undergone the High German consonant shift, as opposed to Standard German, Standard High German, which is based on High German langu ...
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Anglic Languages
The Anglo-Frisian languages are a proposed sub-branch of the West Germanic languages encompassing the Anglic languages ( English, Scots, extinct Fingallian, and extinct Yola) as well as the Frisian languages ( North Frisian, East Frisian, and West Frisian). While this relationship had considerable support historically, many modern scholars have criticized it as a valid phylogenetic grouping. Instead, they believe that the Ingvaeonic languages comprised a dialect continuum which stretched along the North Sea, finally diverging into distinct languages – Old English, Pre–Old Frisian, and Old Saxon – during the Migration Period in the 5th century. There are still proponents of an Anglo-Frisian node in the West Germanic tree, citing strong archeological and genetic evidence for the comingling of these groups. In the 1950s, Hans Kuhn argued that the two languages diverged at the Ingvaeonic level, but later "converged". He argued that this convergence explained the strikin ...
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