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| Anglo-Frisian
Insular Germanic
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| Geographic distribution: |
Originally, the British Isles and the North Sea coast from Friesland to Jutland; today worldwide |
| Genetic classification: |
Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Anglo-Frisian |
| Subdivisions: | |
The Anglo-Frisian languages (sometimes Insular Germanic) are a group of Ingvaeonic West Germanic languages consisting of Old English, Old Frisian, and their descendants. The Anglo-Frisian family tree is:
- Anglo-Frisian
The Anglo-Frisian languages are distinguished from other West Germanic languages partially by the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law, Anglo-Frisian brightening and by the palatalization of Proto-Germanic *k to a coronal affricate before front vowels: cf. English cheese and West Frisian tsiis to Dutch kaas and German Käse, or English church and West Frisian tsjerke to Dutch kerk and German Kirche. Early Anglo-Frisian formed a Sprachbund with Old Saxon, which is counted among the Low Saxon-Low Franconian languages.
The German linguist Friedrich Maurer rejected Anglo-Frisian as a historical subdivision of the Germanic languages. Instead, he proposed North Sea Germanic or Ingvaeonic, a common ancestor of Old Frisian, Old English and Old Saxon. This view has gained wide acceptance in historical linguistics.citation needed
Examples
Compare the words for the numbers one to ten in the Anglo-Frisian languages.
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Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 11 August 2008, at 15:23.
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