Anglo-Frisian languages

The Anglo-Frisian languages are a subdivision of the Germanic Languages      Dutch (West Germanic)      High German (West Germanic)      Anglic group or Insular Anglo-Frisian (West Germanic)      Frisian group or Continental Anglo-Frisian (West Germanic)      East North Germanic      West North Germanic      Line dividing the North from West Germanic languages.

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
  • Anglic group (Insular Anglo-Frisian)
    • English
    • Scots
    • Yola (extinct)
  • Frisian group (Continental Anglo-Frisian)
    • West Frisian
    • Saterland Frisian (East Frisian)
    • North 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]}.

[edit] Examples

Compare the words for the numbers one to ten in the Anglo-Frisian languages.