North Frisian

North Frisian
Frasch / Fresk / Freesk / Friisk
Bilingual sign in German and North Frisian, respectively, in Husum, Germany
Native to	Germany
Region	Schleswig-Holstein
Native speakers	(10,000 cited 1976)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic North Sea Germanic Anglo-Frisian Frisian North Frisian
Official status
Official language in	Nordfriesland Heligoland
Language codes
ISO 639-2	frr
ISO 639-3
Glottolog	nort2626
Linguasphere	52-ACA-e (varieties: 52-ACA-eaa to -eak & extinct -eba & -ebb)
North Frisian dialects
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

North Frisian is a minority language of Germany, spoken by about 10,000 people in North Frisia. The language is part of the larger group of the West Germanic Frisian languages. The language comprises 10 dialects which are themselves divided into an insular and a mainland group.

North Frisian is closely related to the Saterland Frisian language of Northwest Germany and West Frisian which is spoken in the Netherlands. All of these are also closely related to the English language forming the Anglo-Frisian group.

The phonological system of the North Frisian dialects is strongly being influenced by Standard German and is slowly adapting to that of the German language. With a number of native speakers probably even less than 10,000 and decreasing use in mainland North Frisia, the North Frisian language is endangered. It is protected as a minority language and has become an official language in the Nordfriesland district and on Heligoland island.

The closest relatives of North Frisian are the two other Frisian languages, the Saterland Frisian of north-western Lower Saxony, Germany, and the West Frisian language spoken in the northern Netherlands. Together these three sub-groups form the group of Frisian languages.

The English language is also closely related to Frisian. The two languages are classified in a common Anglo-Frisian group. Anglo-Frisian is grouped among the Ingvaeonic languages together with Low German. The related Low German has developed differently since Old Saxon times and has lost many Ingvaeonic characteristics.