Eastern Friesland “Platt” belongs to the northern division of the Lowlands Saxon (or “Low German”) language, with some unique features due to influences of the East Frisian language it replaced. East Frisian was divided into Ems Frisian and Weser Frisian (Ems and Weser being the rivers forming the former outer boundaries of the East Frisian language area). The borderline between these groups is still recognizable in the distribution of phonological features and vocabulary. The vanishing process of the Frisian language began centuries ago and ended in a few remote places (such as the Isle of Wangerooge) by the end of 19th century. Today, the only remnant of East Frisian is the so-called “Sater Frisian,” with some 1000 speakers in and around the villages of Ramsloh, Scharrel and Strücklingen, an area outside Eastern Friesland, known as “Saterland.”
In Eastern Friesland, the place of Frisian came to be taken by Lowlands Saxon, which itself eventually underwent a process of replacement by German. Lowlands Saxon used to be spoken in an area from the northeastern parts of the Netherlands across Northern Germany all the way to the Baltic countries. Being the language of the Hanseatic Trading League, it was the language of negotiation, commerce and law all around the North Sea and the Baltic Sea during the middle ages. Beginning with the 16th century, political changes led to predominance of German, but Lowlands Saxon remained the language of everyday communication.
Some 50 years ago, East Frisian “Platt” was a fully functioning language in use for everyday communication mainly in the countryside of Eastern Friesland. East Frisian “Platt” then was the first language for most people in the region, German the second for some. But changes in social structure, technology, communication, etc., led to supremacy of German, and today German is the first language for all East Frisian people and “Platt” the second for some of them.
Because there is no longer any need for “Platt” in communication, its use more and more depends on emotional needs and preferences.
East Frisians often define their “national” identity by knowledge of the “Platt” language. It is connected with concepts like home, home country, tradition ...
Despite this, the average speaker does nothing to halt the process of language deterioration. Nowadays, Eastern Friesland “Platt” is highly contaminated by German, and this process keeps accelerating. Few truly proficient speakers remain, and the ones that do are mostly elderly people who, despite better knowledge, also use contaminated speech modes in adaptation to those of other speakers.
There are efforts underway to make “Platt” a subject in kindergartens and schools, but it is doubtful that children learning “Platt” will turn into actual speakers.
In and around the 1970s, Eastern Friesland “Platt” experienced a short-lived renaissance among younger people. It was at that time that I began exploring the potentials of this language for a renewal of local literature other than the usual folksy entertainment and nostalgic schmaltz.
Being dissatisfied with the orthography commonly used for Eastern Friesland “Platt,” I began developing an orthographic system that suits “Platt” phonology and reflects the grammatical structure of this language, since both can be achieved insufficiently using the crude traditional, German-based orthography. This resulted in a practicable orthographic system in about 1975. However, it met with rejection, mainly by those people who worked on or with Eastern Friesland “Platt” along traditional, publicly promoted lines. The most commonly heard argument against my proposal has been that the use of additional diacritical marks would constitute an impediment in teaching and learning. I cannot accept this argument because other people are able to read their languages written with many more diacritics than I propose for Eastern Friesland “Platt.” This experience was one of the reasons for me to stop my efforts and close down work on Eastern Friesland “Platt” for a long time.
In 1998, I was asked for more information by some people that remembered my earlier efforts. Their inquiry caused me to study the matter anew. I corrected some errors left in the 1975-orthography and perfected the entire system. On this basis I started writing an overview of Eastern Friesland “Platt” grammar, morphology and phonology. Meanwhile this is nearly completed. Nevertheless, I learned that there is no real change in the attitude of the East Frisian establishment, while “ordinary people” tell me that they do not find it difficult to read my texts or to understand my view of the language.
Samples
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samples
Author: Holger Weigelt, 2002
Translators: Holger Weigelt & Reinhard F. Hahn, 2002
Further information: http://www.lowlands-l.net (Click on “Resources” and on “Links” or “Offline Material”.)
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