East Frisian language
Germanic language
East Frisian is one of the Frisian languages. Its last surviving dialect is Saterland Frisian spoken in Saterland in Germany. The language is unrelated to the East Frisian dialect of the Low German language, which is often likewise referred to as "East Frisian".
There once were two main dialects, Ems and Weser. Weser, including the Wursten dialect, Harlingerland dialect and Wangerooge dialect, held out until the 20th century. Ems continues with a couple thousand adult speakers of the Saterland dialect. The other member of the Ems dialect, Upgant Frisian, is extinct.
Phonology
The phonology of East Frisian is linguistically conservative with regards to Old Frisian.
Old East Frisian and its decline
Old East Frisian used to be spoken in East Frisia (Ostfriesland), the region between the Dutch river Lauwers and the German river Weser. The area also included two small districts on the east bank of the Weser, the lands of Wursten and Würden.
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This entry incorporates text from “East Frisian language” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.