Anglo-Frisian languages

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Anglo-Frisian
Geographic distribution	Originally England, Scottish Lowlands and the North Sea coast from Friesland to Jutland; today worldwide
Linguistic classification	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic North Sea Germanic Anglo-Frisian
Subdivisions	Anglic Frisian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	angl1264
Approximate present day distribution of the Anglo-Frisian languages in Europe. Anglic:   English   Scots Frisian:   West Frisian   North Frisian   Saterland Frisian Hatched areas indicate where multilingualism is common.

The Anglo-Frisian languages are a proposed sub-branch of the West Germanic languages encompassing the Anglic languages (English, Scots, extinct Fingallian, and extinct Yola) as well as the Frisian languages (North Frisian, East Frisian, and West Frisian). While this relationship had considerable support historically, many modern scholars have criticized it as a valid phylogenetic grouping.^[1][2] Instead, they believe that the Ingvaeonic languages comprised a dialect continuum which stretched along the North Sea, finally diverging into distinct languages – Old English, Pre–Old Frisian, and Old Saxon – during the Migration Period in the 5th century.^[3] There are still proponents of an Anglo-Frisian node in the West Germanic tree, citing strong archeological and genetic evidence for the comingling of these groups.^[4] In the 1950s, Hans Kuhn argued that the two languages diverged at the Ingvaeonic level, but later "converged". He argued that this convergence explained the striking similarity of the two languages while also explaining the issues in chronology. This view has been dismissed as improbable given the geographic divide.^[5]

The Anglo-Frisian languages have been distinguished from other West Germanic languages due to several sound changes: besides the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law, which is present in Low German as well, Anglo-Frisian brightening and palatalization of /k/ are for the most part unique to the modern Anglo-Frisian languages:

• English cheese, Scots cheese and West Frisian tsiis, but Dutch kaas, Low German Kees, and German Käse
• English church, and West Frisian tsjerke, but Dutch kerk, Low German Kerk, Kark, and German Kirche, though Scots kirk
• English sheep, Scots sheep and West Frisian skiep, but Dutch schaap (pl. schapen), Low German Schaap, German Schaf (pl. Schafe)

The grouping is usually implied as a separate branch in regards to the tree model. According to this reading, English and Frisian would have had a proximal ancestral form in common that no other attested group shares. The early Anglo-Frisian varieties, like Old English and Old Frisian, and the third Ingvaeonic group at the time, the ancestor of Low German Old Saxon, were spoken by intercommunicating populations. While this has been cited as a reason for a few traits exclusively shared by Old Saxon and either Old English or Old Frisian,^[6] a genetic unity of the Anglo-Frisian languages beyond that of an Ingvaeonic subfamily cannot be considered a majority opinion. In fact, the groupings of Ingvaeonic and West Germanic languages are highly debated, even though they rely on much more innovations and evidence. Some scholars consider a Proto-Anglo-Frisian language as disproven, as far as such postulates are falsifiable.^[6] Nevertheless, the close ties and strong similarities between the Anglic and the Frisian grouping are part of the scientific consensus. Therefore, the concept of Anglo-Frisian languages can be useful and is today employed without these implications.^[6][7]

Geography isolated the settlers of Great Britain from Continental Europe, except from contact with communities capable of open water navigation. This resulted in more Old Norse and Norman language influences during the development of Late Modern English, whereas the modern Frisian languages developed under contact with the southern Germanic populations, restricted to the continent.