ABSTRACT
The great linguistic variety in North Friesland is enhanced by the fact that this region is at the historic meeting point of the languages and territorial ambitions of Germany and Denmark. A number of people in North Friesland speak Danish, and that language (particularly the Jutish dialect) has influenced the Frisian spoken there. In addition, Low German, and more recently Standard German, have long served as lingua francas. Consequently, there are quadrilingual villages in which North Frisian, Jutish, Low and High German are all spoken, depending on the speaker and situation.
