ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with an indigenous minority language which is spoken in the Netherlands. It focuses on the sociological climate of Frisian and pays attention to group status, demography and schooling. The chapter describes Frisian’s sociopsychological climate, going into the status of the Frisian language, attitudes toward it, and ethnicity. It contains a sketch of the Frisian interactional climate and also describes aspects of language choice, taking into account both macro and micro perspectives. Frisian has important historical roots and is a very old language indeed. It can be classified into Old (before 1550), Middle and New Frisian (after 1800). In contrast with non-indigenous minority languages, the linguistic distance between Frisian and the dominant national language is relatively small, as both languages belong to the Germanic language family. Traditionally, the linguistic geography of Friesland province has been rather homogeneous. Dutch regional varieties were spoken in the towns and in some border areas, whereas the countryside was generally Frisian-speaking.
