Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- languages:amelands_in_the_netherlands_under_construction [2025/10/07 15:23] – [Secondary education] jildoukooke
+++ languages:amelands_in_the_netherlands_under_construction [2025/10/07 16:17] (current) – [Language vitality according to:] jildoukooke
@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ^  [[https://en.wal.unesco.org/|UNESCO]]  ^  [[https://www.ethnologue.com/|Ethnologue]]  ^  [[http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/|Endangered Languages]]  ^  [[https://glottolog.org/| Glottolog]]  ^
-| //-// | //-// | //-// |  //-//  |
+| //n.a.// | //n.a.// | //n.a.// |  //n.a.//  |
 <sup> Click [[manual:colour_codes|here]] for a full overview of the language vitality colour codes. </sup>
@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 Historical evidence also points to west–east asymmetry in the shift from Frisian to the mixed dialect. The Cammingha family, the noble elite based in Ballum, likely played a decisive role in initiating language shift on the island in the sixteenth century ((Dyk, S. (n.d.). //Het Amelands als Fries Nederlands mengdialect. Amelander Historie//. Retrieved September 29 2025, from https://www.amelanderhistorie.nl/products/het-amelands-als-fries-nederlands-mengdialect/)). Early documents suggest that vernacular Dutch gradually replaced Old Frisian from west to east, with Buren being the last area to abandon Frisian ((Dyk, S. (n.d.). //Het Amelands als Fries Nederlands mengdialect. Amelander Historie//. Retrieved September 29 2025, from https://www.amelanderhistorie.nl/products/het-amelands-als-fries-nederlands-mengdialect/)). This is supported by differences in vowel realisations: for example, the word //tijd// appears as //tiid// in Hollum (west) but as //tèèd// in the east, reflecting the fact that eastern Amelands developed later and adopted newer Dutch diphthongisation patterns ((Dyk, S. (n.d.). //Het Amelands als Fries Nederlands mengdialect. Amelander Historie//. Retrieved September 29 2025, from https://www.amelanderhistorie.nl/products/het-amelands-als-fries-nederlands-mengdialect/)). Thus, Amelands is not only characterised by its mixed Frisian–Dutch features but also by strong internal dialect variation, making it unique among the Frisian mixed dialects.
-{{https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Ameland_map.jpg?600}}
+{{https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Ameland_map.jpg?680}}
 //Figure 1:// Map showing Ameland and its different villages ((Open Street Map (2012). //
@@ Line 103: / Line 103: @@
 ==== Institutional support ====
-There is no institutional framework for Amelands language education. Unlike Frisian, which benefits from promotion by the Frisian Academy and statutory protection, Amelands lacks official institutions that actively support its teaching. The only partial involvement comes from cultural initiatives: the Frisian Academy compiled the //Groat Amelander Woa'deboek// in 1987, which indirectly supports the dialect’s visibility, and local foundations such as //De Ouwe Pôlle// publish cultural and historical material ((Van de Velde, H., Duijff, P., Dyk, S., Heeringa, W. J., & Hoekstra, E. (2019). //Fries-Nederlandse contactvariëteiten in Fryslân: Rapport voor de Nederlandse Taalunie//.)). However, these efforts are aimed at preservation and documentation rather than systematic language education.
+There is no institutional framework for Amelands language education. Unlike Frisian, which benefits from promotion by the Frisian Academy and statutory protection, Amelands lacks official institutions that actively support its teaching. The only partial involvement comes from cultural initiatives. Namely, the Fryske Akademy helped compile the first //Groat Amelander Woa'deboek// in 1987, which indirectly supports the dialect’s visibility, and local foundations such as //De Ouwe Pôlle// publish cultural and historical material ((Van de Velde, H., Duijff, P., Dyk, S., Heeringa, W. J., & Hoekstra, E. (2019). //Fries-Nederlandse contactvariëteiten in Fryslân: Rapport voor de Nederlandse Taalunie//.)). However, these efforts are aimed at preservation and documentation rather than systematic language education.
 ==== Financial support ====
 No dedicated financial support exists for the development of Amelands teaching or learning resources. Funding mechanisms that apply to Frisian, for teacher employment, textbook development, and curriculum integration, do not extend to Amelands ((Jansen, M. (2010b). //Language Change on the Dutch Frisian Island of Ameland: Linguistic and sociolinguistic findings//. [PhD-Thesis – Research external, graduation internal, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam]. LOT.)). Occasional support is indirect, such as provincial or local subsidies for cultural projects.
@@ Line 119: / Line 119: @@
 ==== Primary education ====
-In primary schools, Dutch is the sole language of instruction, and the use of Amelands in the classroom is explicitly discouraged ((Jansen, M. (2010a). //Een echte Amelander spreekt dialect//. Amsterdam University Press.)). Teachers, often originating from the mainland, tend to prioritise Standard Dutch, viewing it as essential for later education. Frisian, which became a compulsory school subject elsewhere in the province in 1993, is not taught on Ameland because the island was granted a permanent exemption ((Jansen, M. (2010b). //Language Change on the Dutch Frisian Island of Ameland: Linguistic and sociolinguistic findings//. [PhD-Thesis – Research external, graduation internal, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam]. LOT.)). Instead, local identity primarily is addressed through the //heemkunde project//, which includes lessons about island traditions but not its language. Despite this absence, children continue to use Amelands actively outside formal lessons, with many maintaining bilingual competence in both Dutch and Amelands.
+In primary schools, Dutch is the sole language of instruction, and the use of Amelands in the classroom has been explicitly discouraged for a long time ((Jansen, M. (2010a). //Een echte Amelander spreekt dialect//. Amsterdam University Press.)). Teachers, often originating from the mainland, tend to prioritise Standard Dutch, viewing it as essential for later education. Frisian, which became a compulsory school subject elsewhere in the province in 1993, is not taught on Ameland because the island was granted a permanent exemption ((Jansen, M. (2010b). //Language Change on the Dutch Frisian Island of Ameland: Linguistic and sociolinguistic findings//. [PhD-Thesis – Research external, graduation internal, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam]. LOT.)). Instead, local identity primarily is addressed through the //heemkunde project//, which includes lessons about island traditions but not its language. Despite this general absence, children continue to use Amelands actively outside formal lessons, with many maintaining bilingual competence in both Dutch and Amelands.
+However, recent developments indicate a gradual change. In 2019, the Kardinaal de Jongschool in Nes introduced a pilot trilingual policy, alternating between Dutch, Amelands, and English during different parts of the school week. The project, initiated by teacher and language coordinator Jan de Jong in collaboration with the 3TS network for trilingual schools in Fryslân, aims to familiarise pupils with multiple languages through play and exposure rather than formal lessons. The school received instructional materials and applied for subsidies through the Fryske Akademy to support the initiative ((Roep, J. (2019). //Hoe staat het Amelands ervoor?// Amelander Historie. [[https://www.amelanderhistorie.nl/news/hoe-staat-het-amelands-ervoor/]])). If successful, this approach could serve as a model for integrating Amelands into the island’s education system and for developing a positive multilingual attitude among pupils.
 ==== Secondary education====
-At the Burgemeester Waldaschool in Nes, the island's only secondary school, all subjects are likewise taught in Dutch, and there are no Amelands classes or extracurricular programmes. Most teachers are not native speakers of the dialect, and its use in lessons is generally not permitted ((Jansen, M. (2010b). //Language Change on the Dutch Frisian Island of Ameland: Linguistic and sociolinguistic findings//. [PhD-Thesis – Research external, graduation internal, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam]. LOT.)). However, the vitality of Amelands among adolescents remains strong: a 2002 survey found that 87.9% of students reported speaking it regularly, both at home and with peers ((Jansen, M. (2010a). //Een echte Amelander spreekt dialect//. Amsterdam University Press.)). This demonstrates that the lack of formal instruction has not hindered intergenerational transmission; rather, the school community functions bilingually, with Dutch for education and Amelands for social life.
+At the Burgemeester Waldaschool in Nes, the island's only secondary school, all subjects are likewise taught in Dutch, and there are no Amelands classes or extracurricular programmes. Most teachers are not native speakers of the dialect, and its use in lessons is generally not permitted ((Jansen, M. (2010b). //Language Change on the Dutch Frisian Island of Ameland: Linguistic and sociolinguistic findings//. [PhD-Thesis – Research external, graduation internal, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam]. LOT.)). However, the vitality of Amelands among adolescents remains strong, as a 2002 survey found that 87.9% of students reported speaking it regularly, both at home and with peers ((Jansen, M. (2010a). //Een echte Amelander spreekt dialect//. Amsterdam University Press.)). This demonstrates that the lack of formal instruction has not hindered intergenerational transmission but rather, the school community functions bilingually, with Dutch for education and Amelands for social life.
 ==== Vocational education ====
-Divide into two parts
+There are no vocational courses or training programmes that teach or use Amelands. Vocational education on Ameland, typically focused on service and technical sectors, is conducted in Dutch, and no data exist on the inclusion of Amelands in curricula or workplace training ((Van de Velde, H., Duijff, P., Dyk, S., Heeringa, W. J., & Hoekstra, E. (2019). //Fries-Nederlandse contactvariëteiten in Fryslân: Rapport voor de Nederlandse Taalunie//.)). Although the dialect is widely used in informal communication on the island, it plays no role in professional certification or educational evaluation. Still, given its presence in the local hospitality sector and cultural events, Amelands remains an audible part of community life beyond schooling.
 ==== University education ====
-There is likewise no provision for Amelands in vocational, higher, or adult education. The dialect does not appear in curricula, teacher training, or adult courses, and there are no mechanisms for evaluating competence or accrediting skills. Its presence in education is thus limited to informal use in the school environment and occasional cultural initiatives such as the dialect column in the local magazine ((Jansen, M. (n.d.). //Amelander dialect//. Amelander Historie. Retrieved September 29 2025, from https://www.amelanderhistorie.nl/cultuur/amelander-dialect/)).
+Amelands is not taught or studied as a formal subject at university level. While no academic programmes exist for the dialect itself, it has attracted scholarly attention through linguistic research and documentation, including Jansen’s study ((Jansen, M. (2010b). //Language Change on the Dutch Frisian Island of Ameland: Linguistic and sociolinguistic findings//. [PhD-Thesis – Research external, graduation internal, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam]. LOT.)) and analyses by the Fryske Akademy and other linguists. The //Groat Amelander Woa’deboek// ((Oud, A. G. (2016). //Groat Amelander woa’deboek// (S. Dyk, Ed.). Fryske Akademy en Afûk.)), an extensive dialect dictionary compiled by local researchers, remains a key reference, while more recent initiatives have sought financial support through the Fryske Akademy to develop resources and promote future educational use ((Roep, J. (2019). //Hoe staat het Amelands ervoor?// Amelander Historie. [[https://www.amelanderhistorie.nl/news/hoe-staat-het-amelands-ervoor/]])) ((Van de Velde, H., Duijff, P., Dyk, S., Heeringa, W. J., & Hoekstra, E. (2019). //Fries-Nederlandse contactvariëteiten in Fryslân: Rapport voor de Nederlandse Taalunie//.)). These materials, combined with grammatical and phonological descriptions, could form the foundation for the eventual creation of structured learning tools or courses if institutional interest increases.
-Although formal education does not contribute to the preservation of Amelands, strong home transmission and community use have maintained its vitality. Nearly all Amelanders understand and speak the dialect, and intergenerational transmission rates remain high ((Van de Velde, H., Duijff, P., Dyk, S., Heeringa, W. J., & Hoekstra, E. (2019). //Fries-Nederlandse contactvariëteiten in Fryslân: Rapport voor de Nederlandse Taalunie//.)). Existing resources published by the Fryske Akademy and linguistic researchers, and various linguistic studies of its grammar and phonology, do provide a potential foundation from which structured learning materials could be developed if educational or community interest were to increase.
 ==== Adult education ====
-Divide into two parts
+No adult education programmes currently offer Amelands instruction. Adult learners have no formal opportunities to study the dialect, though local cultural organisations, such as //De Ouwe Pôlle// and //De Amelander// magazine, provide informal avenues for engagement through publications, performances, and dialect writing ((Jansen, M. (n.d.). //Amelander dialect//. Amelander Historie. Retrieved September 29 2025, from https://www.amelanderhistorie.nl/cultuur/amelander-dialect/)). These community-based activities help sustain interest in the language among older speakers despite the absence of structured courses.
+Although Amelands is absent from formal education, its community-based transmission remains remarkably strong. Nearly all islanders understand and speak the dialect, and studies show high rates of intergenerational use ((Van de Velde, H., Duijff, P., Dyk, S., Heeringa, W. J., & Hoekstra, E. (2019). //Fries-Nederlandse contactvariëteiten in Fryslân: Rapport voor de Nederlandse Taalunie//.)). The existence of descriptive resources, including the dictionary and linguistic analyses of its grammar and phonology, provides a promising foundation for developing learning materials should future local or academic interest in teaching Amelands arise.
 ----