Phonology & Grammar of Modern West Frisian: With Phonetic Texts and Glossary

Oxford University Press, 1913. — 175 p.In this survey of the language the principal rules of its grammatical inventory have been gathered. It is in the first place intended for England, where the cognate dialects are spoken, the study of which is now being pursued with so much assiduity, but it is also designed for all those who take an interest in the study of languages and especially of Frisian. At the same time I have tried, as far as possible, to satisfy the requirements of the Frisians themselves.For these reasons it contains a concise general treatment of modern West Frisian, more particularly of the main dialect (my own, slightly normalized). It lays claim only to describe this with sufficient exactness and completeness. The elaborate work of Th. Siebs (in Paul's Grundriss), crammed with historica land local details, rendered, for this very reason, such a treatment not superfluous.In order to enhance its usefulness as much as possible, a rather detailed phonetic description and phonetic texts were necessary ; the more so because the Frisian sound-system is extremely complicated and the spelling often illogical.On behalf of those who do not wish to have an intimate knowledge of Frisian phonetics, I have tried to give in the following survey, approximately and with the omission of many details, the hints which are absolutely necessary. If these are mastered, the reader who prefers it may, to begin with at any rate, skip Chapters I and II (on phonetics and spelling) partly or entirely.