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 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.
Examples
Compare the words for the numbers one to ten in the Anglo-Frisian languages.
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Last updated on Saturday October 11, 2008 at 04:05:26 PDT (GMT -0700)
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