The Low Countries. Jaargang 3
(1995-1996)– [tijdschrift] The Low Countries–
Auteursrechtelijk beschermd
[pagina 285]
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University presented a scenario in which English could well become the dominant lingua franca in the Netherlands in the domains of trade, industry, education and administration. He further envisaged a situation of diglossia, in which the Dutch language would increasingly be relegated to the more informal domains of language use. Early in 1995, Mr Jan Timmer, president of Philips, took this one step further when he advocated a linguistic unification of the European Union, urging Brussels to adopt English as the only language of administration. Meanwhile, others were advocating an intensification of German language teaching in the Netherlands, since Germany is now the dominant power in the European Union and good working relations with this closest neighbour are obviously important. Looking at this debate, it is useful to keep in mind that Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands and Belgium and the natural medium of communication for 20 million native speakers. The language is learned on a large scale by children as their first language, it has a well-established written standard, it is widely used in the media, and there is an extensive and lively literature in Dutch. Moreover, in January 1995 the Dutch and Flemish governments issued a joint declaration emphasising the importance of a full recognition of Dutch as an official language of the European Union. All of this lends support to Uhlenbeck's view that whatever challenges the Dutch language may be facing, the threat of rapid language death is not one of them (see The Low Countries 1993-94: 30). For the time being, the Dutch language is reasonably safe. By contrast, the Frisian language, which is used in the northern province of Friesland, is in a quite different and far more endangered position. Frisian enjoys official status in the province, which is officially bilingual, and use of the language is allowed in a number of domains - the courts, the administration, the education system. But Dutch is clearly the dominant and more prestigious language: the higher someone's socio-economic position, the more likely he or she is to make use of Dutch rather than Frisian. In Friesland today, about half of the 600,000 inhabitants have Frisian as their first language at home. When we include Frisian speakers living elsewhere in the Netherlands, the total number of native speakers Sticker with the Frisian flag and a piece of advice: ‘You can say it in Frisian!’
comes to 400,000. At the same time, there is a continuing influx of non-Frisian speaking immigrants, resulting in Dutch speaking pockets in the towns and the new suburbs. In the countryside, mass tourism and second homes facilitate the further penetration of Dutch. As a result of these developments, there are no monolingual speakers of Frisian any more. Looking at the ecology of Frisian, we note a number of worrying trends. In the schools, children are taught both in Frisian and in Dutch, but 70 of the 580 primary schools have been exempted from the obligation to teach Frisian; while at secondary level, in 1990 there were no candidates for the final school examinations in Frisian (in 1995: 16). There is also a decline in the intergenerational transmission of Frisian: especially in mixed marriages, parents increasingly cease to educate their children in Frisian. Frisian is used in the media, but Frisian television is facing enormous financial difficulties and the two largest newspapers in the province have only one page per week in Frisian; they will not increase this for fear of losing subscriptions. In business, Frisian is used with clients but not in documents; only 10% of the Frisians can write Frisian, even though there is an established written standard. When local authorities in Friesland attempted in the eighties to have their documents published in Frisian only, the Dutch Supreme Court forced them to provide free Dutch translations for those who did not know Frisian. In this unequal diglossic situation, Frisian survives mostly as a spoken language with considerable dialect variation. The standard for Frisian therefore remains fluid, and the language is an easy target for mixing with Dutch. Dutch words and constructions are often unconsciously adopted by Frisian speakers, and Frisian is giving way, especially in the towns, to an urban Dutch dialect with Frisian features. In recent years, moreover, there appears to be a trend away from Frisian: according to a recent survey, between 1980 and 1994 some 40,000 Frisian speakers seem to have abandoned their mother tongue. The various developments sketched above, together with the impact of urbanisation and modernisation, market forces and immigration, may well lead to a situation, in the near future, when Frisian speakers become a minority even in their own province. While all this is cause for serious concern about the future of the Frisian language, we may also note the following positive factors and developments. First of all, the Frisian language enjoys a positive image and the active commitment of those who speak it. There is an active language policy, supported by a sound institutional framework. New immigrants are expected to learn Frisian, and courses are available from the Centre for Frisian Language Education (afuk). The Fryske Akademy in Ljouwert (= Leeuwarden) is an active centre for research in Frisian Studies with an international reputation. The Dutch government has drafted a new law for the use of Frisian in administration, and the Frisians have been officially recognised as a linguistic minority in the European Union. The Frisians are actively involved in the European Bureau | |||||
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for Lesser Used Languages, where they work together with the Welsh, the Basques and the Catalans, among others, to improve the situation of Europe's linguistic and cultural minorities. Diversity of culture and language is, after all, the indispensable spice of European life. In this context, and given the seriousness of the threat faced by the Frisian language, it is of the greatest importance that the Frisian authorities intensify their efforts for the promotion of Frisian language learning, especially among the younger generation. Secondly, there is in the Frisian community, small though it may be, an active and attractive literary and cultural climate. New initiatives are being taken to strengthen the Frisian cultural profile, as when Ljouwert presented itself as the cultural capital of the Frisians with the production, early in 1995, of the first Frisian opera, Rixt. Each year, about a hundred Frisian books are published, ranging from new works of fiction to a succesful series of Frisian Classics, from a translation of Alice yn Wûnderlân to the humorous children's books of Diet Huber, from the poetry of Tsjebbe Hettinga (the Frisian Dylan Thomas) to the work of the poet, critic and novelist Anne Wadman. Recent years have seen the success of two full-length Frisian films, The Dream and The Lighthouse, both made by Pieter Verhoeff, the Frisian Bertolucci. And everywhere in the province there are active local amateur theatre groups keeping alive the tradition of Frisian popular theatre. At the same time, we find a modern and innovative group such as Suver Nuver and its recent taboobreaking production Negro Fear (Negerangst, 1994) in which the emotional complexities of ethnic and race relations were explored by Frisian and black actors, whose performance caused quite a stir when they took it to the Zagreb Theatre Festival in May 1994. Such efforts and initiatives in the field of Frisian cultural and linguistic policy and the production of new and succesful works of art and imagination in Frisian do enhance the quality and diversity of Frisian cultural life. In this respect, they offer a much needed focus of inspiration for the Frisian future.
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Further reading
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AddressesFryske Akademy P.O. Box 54 / 8900 ab Ljouwert / The Netherlands tel. +31 58 213 14 14 / fax +31 58 213 14 09
afuk P.O. Box 53 / 8900 ab Ljouwert / The Netherlands tel. +31 58 213 80 45
Frisian Literary Museum and Documentation Centre P.O. Box 884 / 8901 br Ljouwert / The Netherlands tel. +31 58 212 08 34 / fax +31 58 213 26 72
Stichting It Fryske Boek Dimpte Haven 11 / 9001 ax Grou / The Netherlands tel. +31 566 62 35 00 |
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