- Dutch1
- Frisian
- Saterfrisian
- Afrikaans
-
- Phonology
- Segment inventory
- Phonotactics
- Phonological processes
- Phonology-morphology interface
- Word stress
- Primary stress in simplex words
- Monomorphemic words
- Diachronic aspects
- Generalizations on stress placement
- Default penultimate stress
- Lexical stress
- The closed penult restriction
- Final closed syllables
- The diphthong restriction
- Superheavy syllables (SHS)
- The three-syllable window
- Segmental restrictions
- Phonetic correlates
- Stress shifts in loanwords
- Quantity-sensitivity
- Secondary stress
- Vowel reduction in unstressed syllables
- Stress in complex words
- Primary stress in simplex words
- Accent & intonation
- Clitics
- Spelling
- Morphology
- Word formation
- Compounding
- Nominal compounds
- Verbal compounds
- Adjectival compounds
- Affixoids
- Coordinative compounds
- Synthetic compounds
- Reduplicative compounds
- Phrase-based compounds
- Elative compounds
- Exocentric compounds
- Linking elements
- Separable complex verbs (SCVs)
- Gapping of complex words
- Particle verbs
- Copulative compounds
- Derivation
- Numerals
- Derivation: inputs and input restrictions
- The meaning of affixes
- Non-native morphology
- Cohering and non-cohering affixes
- Prefixation
- Suffixation
- Nominal suffixation: person nouns
- Conversion
- Pseudo-participles
- Bound forms
- Nouns
- Nominal prefixes
- Nominal suffixes
- -aal and -eel
- -aar
- -aard
- -aat
- -air
- -aris
- -ast
- Diminutives
- -dom
- -een
- -ees
- -el (nominal)
- -elaar
- -enis
- -er (nominal)
- -erd
- -erik
- -es
- -eur
- -euse
- ge...te
- -heid
- -iaan, -aan
- -ief
- -iek
- -ier
- -ier (French)
- -ière
- -iet
- -igheid
- -ij and allomorphs
- -ijn
- -in
- -ing
- -isme
- -ist
- -iteit
- -ling
- -oir
- -oot
- -rice
- -schap
- -schap (de)
- -schap (het)
- -sel
- -st
- -ster
- -t
- -tal
- -te
- -voud
- Verbs
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Univerbation
- Neo-classical word formation
- Construction-dependent morphology
- Morphological productivity
- Compounding
- Inflection
- Inflection and derivation
- Allomorphy
- The interface between phonology and morphology
- Word formation
- Syntax
- Preface and acknowledgements
- Verbs and Verb Phrases
- 1 Characterization and classification
- 2 Projection of verb phrases I:Argument structure
- 3 Projection of verb phrases II:Verb frame alternations
- Introduction
- 3.1. Main types
- 3.2. Alternations involving the external argument
- 3.3. Alternations of noun phrases and PPs
- 3.3.1. Dative/PP alternations (dative shift)
- 3.3.1.1. Dative alternation with aan-phrases (recipients)
- 3.3.1.2. Dative alternation with naar-phrases (goals)
- 3.3.1.3. Dative alternation with van-phrases (sources)
- 3.3.1.4. Dative alternation with bij-phrases (possessors)
- 3.3.1.5. Dative alternation with voor-phrases (benefactives)
- 3.3.1.6. Conclusion
- 3.3.1.7. Bibliographical notes
- 3.3.2. Accusative/PP alternations
- 3.3.3. Nominative/PP alternations
- 3.3.1. Dative/PP alternations (dative shift)
- 3.4. Some apparent cases of verb frame alternation
- 3.5. Bibliographical notes
- 4 Projection of verb phrases IIIa:Selection of clauses/verb phrases
- 5 Projection of verb phrases IIIb:Argument and complementive clauses
- Introduction
- 5.1. Finite argument clauses
- 5.2. Infinitival argument clauses
- 5.3. Complementive clauses
- 6 Projection of verb phrases IIIc:Complements of non-main verbs
- 7 Projection of verb phrases IIId:Verb clusters
- 8 Projection of verb phrases IV: Adverbial modification
- 9 Word order in the clause I:General introduction
- 10 Word order in the clause II:Position of the finite verb (verb-first/second)
- 11 Word order in the clause III:Clause-initial position (wh-movement)
- Introduction
- 11.1. The formation of V1- and V2-clauses
- 11.2. Clause-initial position remains (phonetically) empty
- 11.3. Clause-initial position is filled
- 12 Word order in the clause IV:Postverbal field (extraposition)
- 13 Word order in the clause V: Middle field (scrambling)
- 14 Main-clause external elements
- Nouns and Noun Phrases
- 1 Characterization and classification
- 2 Projection of noun phrases I: complementation
- Introduction
- 2.1. General observations
- 2.2. Prepositional and nominal complements
- 2.3. Clausal complements
- 2.4. Bibliographical notes
- 3 Projection of noun phrases II: modification
- Introduction
- 3.1. Restrictive and non-restrictive modifiers
- 3.2. Premodification
- 3.3. Postmodification
- 3.3.1. Adpositional phrases
- 3.3.2. Relative clauses
- 3.3.3. Infinitival clauses
- 3.3.4. A special case: clauses referring to a proposition
- 3.3.5. Adjectival phrases
- 3.3.6. Adverbial postmodification
- 3.4. Bibliographical notes
- 4 Projection of noun phrases III: binominal constructions
- Introduction
- 4.1. Binominal constructions without a preposition
- 4.2. Binominal constructions with a preposition
- 4.3. Bibliographical notes
- 5 Determiners: articles and pronouns
- Introduction
- 5.1. Articles
- 5.2. Pronouns
- 5.3. Bibliographical notes
- 6 Numerals and quantifiers
- 7 Pre-determiners
- Introduction
- 7.1. The universal quantifier al 'all' and its alternants
- 7.2. The pre-determiner heel 'all/whole'
- 7.3. A note on focus particles
- 7.4. Bibliographical notes
- 8 Syntactic uses of noun phrases
- Adjectives and Adjective Phrases
- 1 Characteristics and classification
- 2 Projection of adjective phrases I: Complementation
- 3 Projection of adjective phrases II: Modification
- 4 Projection of adjective phrases III: Comparison
- 5 Attributive use of the adjective phrase
- 6 Predicative use of the adjective phrase
- 7 The partitive genitive construction
- 8 Adverbial use of the adjective phrase
- 9 Participles and infinitives: their adjectival use
- 10 Special constructions
- Adpositions and adpositional phrases
- 1 Characteristics and classification
- Introduction
- 1.1. Characterization of the category adposition
- 1.2. A formal classification of adpositional phrases
- 1.3. A semantic classification of adpositional phrases
- 1.3.1. Spatial adpositions
- 1.3.2. Temporal adpositions
- 1.3.3. Non-spatial/temporal prepositions
- 1.4. Borderline cases
- 1.5. Bibliographical notes
- 2 Projection of adpositional phrases: Complementation
- 3 Projection of adpositional phrases: Modification
- 4 Syntactic uses of the adpositional phrase
- 5 R-pronominalization and R-words
- 1 Characteristics and classification
- Phonology
-
- General
- Phonology
- Segment inventory
- Phonotactics
- Phonological Processes
- Assimilation
- Vowel nasalization
- Syllabic sonorants
- Final devoicing
- Fake geminates
- Vowel hiatus resolution
- Vowel reduction introduction
- Schwa deletion
- Schwa insertion
- /r/-deletion
- d-insertion
- {s/z}-insertion
- t-deletion
- Intrusive stop formation
- Breaking
- Vowel shortening
- h-deletion
- Replacement of the glide w
- Word stress
- Clitics
- Allomorphy
- Orthography of Frisian
- Morphology
- Inflection
- Word formation
- Derivation
- Prefixation
- Infixation
- Suffixation
- Nominal suffixes
- Verbal suffixes
- Adjectival suffixes
- Adverbial suffixes
- Numeral suffixes
- Interjectional suffixes
- Onomastic suffixes
- Conversion
- Compositions
- Derivation
- Syntax
- Verbs and Verb Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Unergative and unaccusative subjects
- Evidentiality
- To-infinitival clauses
- Predication and noun incorporation
- Ellipsis
- Imperativus-pro-Infinitivo
- Expression of irrealis
- Embedded Verb Second
- Agreement
- Negation
- Nouns & Noun Phrases
- Classification
- Complementation
- Modification
- Partitive noun constructions
- Referential partitive constructions
- Partitive measure nouns
- Numeral partitive constructions
- Partitive question constructions
- Nominalised quantifiers
- Kind partitives
- Partitive predication with prepositions
- Bare nominal attributions
- Articles and names
- Pronouns
- Quantifiers and (pre)determiners
- Interrogative pronouns
- R-pronouns
- Syntactic uses
- Adjective Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Complementation
- Modification and degree quantification
- Comparison by degree
- Comparative
- Superlative
- Equative
- Attribution
- Agreement
- Attributive adjectives vs. prenominal elements
- Complex adjectives
- Noun ellipsis
- Co-occurring adjectives
- Predication
- Partitive adjective constructions
- Adverbial use
- Participles and infinitives
- Adposition Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Complementation
- Modification
- Intransitive adpositions
- Predication
- Preposition stranding
- Verbs and Verb Phrases
-
- General
- Morphology
- Morphology
- 1 Word formation
- 1.1 Compounding
- 1.1.1 Compounds and their heads
- 1.1.2 Special types of compounds
- 1.1.2.1 Affixoids
- 1.1.2.2 Coordinative compounds
- 1.1.2.3 Synthetic compounds and complex pseudo-participles
- 1.1.2.4 Reduplicative compounds
- 1.1.2.5 Phrase-based compounds
- 1.1.2.6 Elative compounds
- 1.1.2.7 Exocentric compounds
- 1.1.2.8 Linking elements
- 1.1.2.9 Separable Complex Verbs and Particle Verbs
- 1.1.2.10 Noun Incorporation Verbs
- 1.1.2.11 Gapping
- 1.2 Derivation
- 1.3 Minor patterns of word formation
- 1.1 Compounding
- 2 Inflection
- 1 Word formation
- Morphology
- Syntax
- Adjectives and adjective phrases (APs)
- 0 Introduction to the AP
- 1 Characteristics and classification of APs
- 2 Complementation of APs
- 3 Modification and degree quantification of APs
- 4 Comparison by comparative, superlative and equative
- 5 Attribution of APs
- 6 Predication of APs
- 7 The partitive adjective construction
- 8 Adverbial use of APs
- 9 Participles and infinitives as APs
- Nouns and Noun Phrases (NPs)
- 0 Introduction to the NP
- 1 Characteristics and Classification of NPs
- 2 Complementation of NPs
- 3 Modification of NPs
- 3.1 Modification of NP by Determiners and APs
- 3.2 Modification of NP by PP
- 3.3 Modification of NP by adverbial clauses
- 3.4 Modification of NP by possessors
- 3.5 Modification of NP by relative clauses
- 3.6 Modification of NP in a cleft construction
- 3.7 Free relative clauses and selected interrogative clauses
- 4 Partitive noun constructions and constructions related to them
- 4.1 The referential partitive construction
- 4.2 The partitive construction of abstract quantity
- 4.3 The numerical partitive construction
- 4.4 The partitive interrogative construction
- 4.5 Adjectival, nominal and nominalised partitive quantifiers
- 4.6 Kind partitives
- 4.7 Partitive predication with a preposition
- 4.8 Bare nominal attribution
- 5 Articles and names
- 6 Pronouns
- 7 Quantifiers, determiners and predeterminers
- 8 Interrogative pronouns
- 9 R-pronouns and the indefinite expletive
- 10 Syntactic functions of Noun Phrases
- Adpositions and Adpositional Phrases (PPs)
- 0 Introduction to the PP
- 1 Characteristics and classification of PPs
- 2 Complementation of PPs
- 3 Modification of PPs
- 4 Bare (intransitive) adpositions
- 5 Predication of PPs
- 6 Form and distribution of adpositions with respect to staticity and construction type
- 7 Adpositional complements and adverbials
- Verbs and Verb Phrases (VPs)
- 0 Introduction to the VP in Saterland Frisian
- 1 Characteristics and classification of verbs
- 2 Unergative and unaccusative subjects and the auxiliary of the perfect
- 3 Evidentiality in relation to perception and epistemicity
- 4 Types of to-infinitival constituents
- 5 Predication
- 5.1 The auxiliary of being and its selection restrictions
- 5.2 The auxiliary of going and its selection restrictions
- 5.3 The auxiliary of continuation and its selection restrictions
- 5.4 The auxiliary of coming and its selection restrictions
- 5.5 Modal auxiliaries and their selection restrictions
- 5.6 Auxiliaries of body posture and aspect and their selection restrictions
- 5.7 Transitive verbs of predication
- 5.8 The auxiliary of doing used as a semantically empty finite auxiliary
- 5.9 Supplementive predication
- 6 The verbal paradigm, irregularity and suppletion
- 7 Verb Second and the word order in main and embedded clauses
- 8 Various aspects of clause structure
- Adjectives and adjective phrases (APs)
-
- General
- Phonology
- Afrikaans phonology
- Segment inventory
- Overview of Afrikaans vowels
- The diphthongised long vowels /e/, /ø/ and /o/
- The unrounded mid-front vowel /ɛ/
- The unrounded low-central vowel /ɑ/
- The unrounded low-central vowel /a/
- The rounded mid-high back vowel /ɔ/
- The rounded high back vowel /u/
- The rounded and unrounded high front vowels /i/ and /y/
- The unrounded and rounded central vowels /ə/ and /œ/
- The diphthongs /əi/, /œy/ and /œu/
- Overview of Afrikaans consonants
- The bilabial plosives /p/ and /b/
- The alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/
- The velar plosives /k/ and /g/
- The bilabial nasal /m/
- The alveolar nasal /n/
- The velar nasal /ŋ/
- The trill /r/
- The lateral liquid /l/
- The alveolar fricative /s/
- The velar fricative /x/
- The labiodental fricatives /f/ and /v/
- The approximants /ɦ/, /j/ and /ʋ/
- Overview of Afrikaans vowels
- Word stress
- The phonetic properties of stress
- Primary stress on monomorphemic words in Afrikaans
- Background to primary stress in monomorphemes in Afrikaans
- Overview of the Main Stress Rule of Afrikaans
- The short vowels of Afrikaans
- Long vowels in monomorphemes
- Primary stress on diphthongs in monomorphemes
- Exceptions
- Stress shifts in place names
- Stress shift towards word-final position
- Stress pattern of reduplications
- Phonological processes
- Vowel related processes
- Consonant related processes
- Homorganic glide insertion
- Phonology-morphology interface
- Phonotactics
- Morphology
- Syntax
- Afrikaans syntax
- Nouns and noun phrases
- Characteristics of the NP
- Classification of nouns
- Complementation of NPs
- Modification of NPs
- Binominal and partitive constructions
- Referential partitive constructions
- Partitive measure nouns
- Numeral partitive constructions
- Partitive question constructions
- Partitive constructions with nominalised quantifiers
- Partitive predication with prepositions
- Binominal name constructions
- Binominal genitive constructions
- Bare nominal attribution
- Articles and names
- Pronouns
- Quantifiers, determiners and predeterminers
- Syntactic uses of the noun phrase
- Adjectives and adjective phrases
- Characteristics and classification of the AP
- Complementation of APs
- Modification and Degree Quantification of APs
- Comparison by comparative, superlative and equative degree
- Attribution of APs
- Predication of APs
- The partitive adjective construction
- Adverbial use of APs
- Participles and infinitives as adjectives
- Verbs and verb phrases
- Characterisation and classification
- Argument structure
- Verb frame alternations
- Complements of non-main verbs
- Verb clusters
- Complement clauses
- Adverbial modification
- Word order in the clause: Introduction
- Word order in the clause: position of the finite Verb
- Word order in the clause: Clause-initial position
- Word order in the clause: Extraposition and right-dislocation in the postverbal field
- Word order in the middle field
- Emphatic constructions
- Adpositions and adposition phrases
Nouns bear the grammatical feature number, which has two values in Frisian: singular and plural. Actually, dealing with number boils down to a treatment of the plural; the singular is always morphologically unmarked, since as a rule the bare stem and the singular of Frisian nouns have the same form. It is worth mentioning that Modern West Frisian does not show any sign of a dual. This is different for North Frisian, spoken in the north of Germany, at least with respect to pronouns. For some information, see the extra The North Frisian dual.
The plural is primarily expressed by suffixation. There are two regular and productive suffixes: -en and -s, which are usually distributed according to the criterion whether or not the final syllable of the singular bears stress. Examples are par pear > parren and apel apple > apels. The criterion also holds for complex words, although some suffixes select their own plural ending. It is tempting to assume that also the final schwa of so many Frisian nouns belongs to this stock. These nouns show the otherwise unexpected ending -en, for example in tsjerke church > tsjerken. Some historical phonological processes caused a vowel change in the stem: breaking (e.g. foet foot > fuotten) and shortening (e.g. lân land > lannen) in particular have left their marks on Frisian plural formation on a fairly large scale. Lengthening is rare, and can be attributed to Dutch influence. To some extent, there is variation between the regular suffixes. The noun earm arm, for example, can both have earmen and earms as its plural form. The latter plural is impossible in Dutch; the differences with Dutch are summarized in a special section.
Another peculiarity of Frisian is the possibilty of double plurals, although this only happens to a limited extent. An example is red-en-s, of the singular reed skate. The suffix -e (i.e. bean bean > beane) and what could be called a zero suffix (skiep sheep > skiep) also belong to the irregular plural formation. Also vowel change is possible: ko cow > kij. As can be seen, part of these irregular plurals resemble the English cognates, and there are more examples of this kind. More irregularity can be found in the plurals of the words man man and frou woman and their compounds, which may show a plural element -lju (next to regular -en).
Loans partly form a separate system in plural formation, since they may inherit endings from their Greek, Latin or French origin. Separate systems can also be found in minor Frisian varieties; the dialect of the island of Schiermonnikoog is especially interesting since it has maintained the older three-way gender system.
Finally, some typical uses will be discussed. One of them is measure nouns, which sometimes do not show a plural ending although this could be expected on semantic grounds. An example is trije mingel/*mingels molke three litres of milk. Something comparable is the collective use of singular nouns referring to animals, for instance in der rôt sit yn 'e weet the rat.SG sit-3SG in the wheat there are rats in the wheat. Another peculiarity are the socalled pluralia tantum, i.e. plurals without a singular, as mûzels measles (cf. *mûzel). Finally, some attention will be paid to the formation of singulatives from mass nouns, for example by way of diminutive formation, as in ark tools > arkje tool.
Most of the North Frisian varieties had a dual which was in use up to the 19th century. The variety of Heligoland and the southern varieties on the mainland do not have this (at least, there is no record of its existence). On the other hand, in some areas the dual persisted up to the mid 20th century, especially in Sölring, the variety of the island Sylt. (See Hoekstra (2011) for myths around the dual in its final period). The general form of the dual was the following:
Person | Nominative dual | Object dual |
1 | wat | onk |
2 | jat | jonk |
(with possible alternation of the vowel throughout the varieties, for example unk/junk for Sölring object forms).
The dual was also used in an 'inclusory construction' as in Wat an Carline we.two and Carline Carline and me). Sölring had a third-person dual form, which led to a slightly different paradigm and obviously was a rather recent innovation:
Person | Nominative dual | Object dual |
1 | wat | unk |
2 | at | junk |
3 | jat | - |
Hoekstra (2011) gives a detailed overview of the dual in North Frisian, including a discussion about the origin of the Sölring third-person dual. He also mentions some myths that emerged around the phenomenon, probably due to its curiosity.
[This extra is written by Hauke Heyen (Kiel)]
- Regular plural formation
- The plural of complex words
- Vowel changes in the stem
- Variation of -en and -s
- Some differences with Dutch in the choice of the plural ending
- Double plurals
- Irregular plural formation
- The plural of loanwords
- The plural in some minor Frisian varieties
- The plural of measure nouns
- Collective use of singular nouns
- Pluralia tantum
- The formation of singulatives
The regular plural is formed by adding one of the suffixes -en or -s to the noun. The general rule for the distribution of these endings is as follows: the suffix -s appears after nouns ending in an unstressed vowel or a syllable consisting of a schwa plus sonorant (-el, -er, -en, -em). The plural suffix -en appears elsewhere.
The following examples with the ending -s all have more than one syllable, with stress on the first one:
Singular with unstressed final syllable | Plural with -s |
tuba tuba | tubas |
jierdei [jIdi] birthday | jierdeis |
domeny vicar | domenys |
auto car | auto's |
oehoe eagle owl | oehoes |
Aldegea (name of a village) | Aldegeas |
merje mare | merjes |
rûzje fight | rûzjes |
leppel spoon | leppels |
sipel onion | sipels |
fiter shoe string | fiters |
otter otter | otters |
koken kitchen | kokens |
rekken bill | rekkens |
biezem broom | biezems |
lichem body | lichems |
The nouns kristen christian and heiden heathen have a plural ending -en (kristenen, heidenen), possibly under the influence of the language of the Church, which is almost exclusively Dutch. If heiden means gipsy; uncultivated, bad person, then it has a regular plural heidens.
A few nouns, in which final -je derives from the suffix -inge historically, may have kept the original ending -en, sometimes next to the synchronically regular ending -s: penje penny > penjen/penjes; skelje shilling > skeljen/skeljes; dealje plank, deal > dealjen/dealjes. Compare also the following pluralia tantum with a similar historical background: skealjen/skealjes scales; twiljen twins; raanjen tricks, pranks; Alderheljen All Saints, All Hallows.
Furthermore, the word widdo widow has widdo's as well as the plural form widdowen. In the South-East of the language area the plural of hynder horse is hyns (with truncation of -er).
After a stressed syllable, the ending is -en:
Singular with stressed final syllable | Plural |
krie crow | krieën |
aai egg | aaien |
liuw lion | liuwen |
boer farmer | boeren |
tsjil wheel | tsjillen |
sok sock | sokken |
rút window-pane | ruten |
ring ring | ringen |
kers candle; cherry | kersen |
skúf slide | skuven |
Thus far, the examples presented nicely fit the main pattern that -en follows stressed syllables and -s is attached to unstressed ones. However, there is a class of exceptions. In contrast to nouns ending in schwa plus sonorant, which regularly take -s, nouns with a final schwa plus obstruent take -en:
Singular with final schwa + obstruent | Plural |
jilmes alms | jilmesen |
sokses sucker | soksesen |
trekpot [trɛpət] teapot | trekpotten [trɛpətən] |
andert answer | anderten |
swédrik thymus | swédriken |
estrik floor tile | estriken |
In fact, this patterns with the stress criterion, which can also be translated into an instruction that addition of a plural morpheme may not lead to a constant or even higher sonority. After an obstruent, the sonority would not decrease by a following /s/, however. That may be the reason why -en is selected instead.
Prefixed and compound nouns have the same plural ending as their head, i.e. as their right-hand element. Suffixations usually form their plural according to the same rules as simplex words. Some suffixes may, however, select a plural ending contrary to the general rule.
The idea of such a selection is significant in order to explain an otherwise important exception to the stress rule. This exception is the many nouns that have a final schwa (but not those ending in -je): one would expect the suffix -s, but they rather take -en:
Singular ending in -e | `Plural |
tsjerke church | tsjerken |
râne edge | rânen |
hikke gate | hikken |
tine tooth (of a fork) | tinen |
lodde spade | lodden |
bokse (trouser-)leg | boksen |
tynge message | tyngen |
holle head | hollen |
This behaviour may be explained if it is assumed that the ending -e has suffix-like properties. It also seems to determine the gender of these nouns, which is common, and as a suffix it might also select the plural ending -en. That -e selects the plural ending -en and is not simply truncated before the plural suffix (as, for example, in the case of diminutive formation), is shown by an example as rigele row, line > rigelen. If -e had been truncated here, the plural ending would have been -s.
Loan words with a final schwa which have become naturalized get the ending -en as well. Others keep the ending -s with which they are imported, and there is also a large mixed category where speakers waver:
Loans with final schwa | Plural |
masine machine | masinen |
ballade ballead | balladen |
metoade method | metoaden |
fitamine vitamine | fitaminen |
kassette cassette | kassetten/kassettes |
antinne aerial, antenna | antinnen/antinnes |
sonate sonata | sonaten/sonates |
kojoate coyote | kojoates |
file traffic jam | files |
dame lady | dames |
Proper names that end in a schwa, such as Jelle or Oebele, when used as count nouns, get the plural ending -s, in accordance with the general rule:
Wy ha trije Jelles / Oebeles yn 'e famylje | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
we have three Jelle-PL / Oebele-PL in the family | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Our family counts three members with the name Jelle / Oebele |
The kinship terms pake grandfather and beppe grandmother, that function as proper names as well, waver between -s and -en, if they are used as count nouns: paken/pakes and beppen/beppes. Another exception is jonge boy, which has jonges as plural form, possibly under influence of Dutch jongen-s boy-PL, or under analogical pressure of famke girl > famkes.
Most other suffixes ending in a schwa select the plural ending -en as well, but a few also irregularly take the suffix -s:
Suffix | Reference | Singular | Plural |
-e | -e | deade dead man/woman | deaden |
-te | -te | sykte illness | sykten |
-tme | -tme | berchtme moantain range | berchtmen |
-ske | -ske | kammeraatske (girl)friend | kammeraatskes |
-ert | -ert | leffert coward | lefferts |
-e | -e | fioeliste female violin player | fioelistes |
In the last case, the ending -s may have been chosen for semantic reasons; the plural ending -en would obscure the difference between male fioelist and female fioeliste.
The suffix -ier takes the irregular plural -s if it denotes a human being, but has the regular ending -en if it refers to a thing. Compare:
Singular | Plural |
bankier banker | bankiers |
koerier courier | koeriers |
portier porter, doorkeeper | portiers |
portier door | portieren |
fisier vizier | fisiers |
fisier visor | fisieren |
formulier form | formulieren |
An exception is ofsier officer > ofsieren.
The final conclusion can be that most Frisian plurals form a trochaic pattern. Striking exceptions are nouns ending in a schwa plus obstruent, as exemplified above.
A considerable number of nouns having a centralizing diphthong as their stem show breaking of this vowel in the plural form ending in -en. Breaking refers to the transition of /iə/ to /jI/, of /Iə/ to /jɛ/, of /uə/ to /wo/ and /oə/ to /wa/. Furthermore, there is the single case /yə/ > /jö/ in flues membrane; fleece > fljuzzen.
In the table below some examples of the main patterns will be given. Breaking is reflected in the orthography in the case of /uə/ > /wo/, spelled as <oe> - <uo>. If the broken vowel is followed by a single consonant, this is doubled in the spelling of the plural. Below, the broken vowel is emphasized:
Breaking | Singular | Plural |
/iə/ > /jI/ | trie(d) thread | triedden |
priem knitting needle | priemmen | |
trien tear | triennen | |
hier hair | hierren | |
kies molar | kiezzen | |
/Iə/ > /jɛ/ | heak hook | heakken |
peal pole | peallen | |
beam tree | beammen | |
tean toe | teannen | |
feart canal | fearten | |
sleat ditch | sleatten | |
/uə/ > /wo/ | hoed hat | huodden |
stoel chair | stuollen | |
spoen chip of wood | spuonnen | |
toer tower | tuorren | |
goes goose | guozzen | |
foet foot | fuotten | |
/oə/ > /wa/ | koal cabbage; cole | koallen |
hoarn horn | hoarnen | |
soan son | soannen | |
doar door | doarren | |
hoas stockings | hoazzen | |
/yə/ > /jö/ | flues membrane; fleece | fljuzzen |
It should be noted that breaking is not applied consistently. Shortening, by which long vowels may turn into short ones, again before -en, is irregular in a similar fashion. A selection follows below; all possible changes are represented, as are the possible final consonants, which was also the case in the table of breaking above:
Shortening | Singular | Plural |
/u:/ > /u/ (or /y/) | mûs mouse | mûzen |
hûs house | huzen | |
/e:/ > /I/ | beest beast; animal; cow | bisten |
/ɛ:/ > /ɛ/ | mês knife | messen |
heak hook (dial.) | heakken | |
/ɔ:/ > /ɔ/ | hân hand | hannen |
stôk stick | stokken | |
rôt rat | rotten | |
/a:/ > /a/ | kaam comb | kammen |
slaab bib | slabben | |
baarch pig | bargen |
The pronunciation /hɛ:k/ for heak hook can be found in the east of the language area (more details can be found in shortening).
Dutch had a historical rule of lengthening in open syllable which in a number of words of that language has led to a vowel alternation in the plural form. Usually, the Frisian vowel is left unchanged in comparable cases. For example, the plural of Dutch dak /dak/ roof is lengthened to daken /da:kən/, where the plural of the homophonous singular remains short in Frisian: dak /dak/ > dakken /dakŋ̩/.
Still, a few nouns in Frisian show lengthening of the stem in the plural:
Lengthening | Singular | Plural |
/I/ > /e:/ | lid member | leden |
/ɛ/ > /e:/ | gebed prayer | gebeden(s) |
/ɔ/ > /oə/ | god god | goaden |
gebod command | geboaden(s) |
These lengthenings must have occurred under Dutch influence (note the religous or administrative context of the concepts involved). It also applies to foreign, and expecially scientific, words like neutron neutron > neutroanen, demon demon > demoanen or gen gen > genen. On the plural of foreign words ending in -or, see point 4 in the list below.
Finally, it should be stressed that the vowel changes dealt with above have an additional feature: they occur as a side-effect of the marking of the plural by a plural suffix. This is different with a few (rare) cases in which vowel change is the sole marker of plurality. These will be dealt with in the section on irregular plural formation below.
The plural of the noun lid only lengthens to leden if it has the meaning member, clearly under Dutch influence. There is another word lid lid, cover that pluralizes in a regular way: lidden. The word lid can also mean part of the body, limb. In that case, the plural is also irregular, i.e. lea, a contraction of Old Frisian litha (in those days a regular plural of singular lith).
Nouns ending in a liquid ( /l/ or /r/) plus /m/ may take the plural -en as well as -s. The former occurs more in the West of the province, the latter more in the East. Compare:
Singular | Plural |
swolm ulcer | swolmen/swolms |
psalm psalm | psalmen/psalms |
helm helmet | helmen/helms |
skelm rascal | skelmen/skelms |
earm arm | earmen/earms |
stoarm storm | stoarmen/stoarms |
noarm norm | noarmen/noarms |
foarm form | foarmen/foarms |
term intestine | termen/terms |
wjirm worm | wjirmen/wjirms |
skerm screen | skermen/skerms |
berm verge, roadside | bermen/berms |
This variation is due to the fact that nouns ending in -lm and -rm may undergo schwa insertion; more information on its phonological aspects can be found in schwa insertions in coda clusters and especially in word-final sequences of a liquid and a nasal. The result of this process may have been lexicalized in the East, thus leading to underlying forms like /swoləm/ for swolm ulcer or /tɛrəm/ for term intestine. As a consequence, like all nouns ending in schwa + sonorant, they get the plural ending -s.
A similar variation between the two plural endings is found with nouns ending in the sequence -eil:
Singular | Plural |
neil nail | neilen/neils |
fleil flail | fleilen/fleils |
dweil mop | dweilen/dweils |
seil sail | seilen/seils |
Again, the eastern variants with -s may have undergone schwa insertion between the glide, i.e. the second part of the diphthong /ai/ and /l/.
Fleil flail has a variant flalje, with metathesis of /j/ and /l/. The same metathesis is also found in raljes rails.
Another case of variation is to be found in nouns of more than one syllable ending in -ing. They can take the plural -en or -s. Compare:
Singular in -ing | Plural |
hjerring herring | hjerringen/hjerrings |
feriening club, organization | ferieningen/ferienings |
ketting chain | kettingen/kettings |
riedling riddle | riedlingen/riedlings |
feroaring change | feroaringen/feroarings |
oersetting translation | oersettingen/oersettings |
This variation can probably be ascribed to a conflict between a morphological criterion (the suffix -ing, or -ling, selecting the ending -en) and the regular phonology-based rule of adding -s to an unstressed syllable. If -ing itself is preceded by an unstressed syllable, i.e. if it gets secondary stress, it always has a full vowel underlyingly. Nouns in which -ing appears in this stress configuration then appear to have a strong preference for the plural ending -en:
Singular | Plural |
iepening opening | iepeningen |
tekening drawing | tekeningen |
wrakseling struggle | wrakselingen |
utering utterance | uteringen |
In these examples, the syllable with -ing is always preceded by a syllable containing a schwa, cf. tekening /te:kənIŋ/ drawing.
A semantic exception to the possibility of variation are those nouns that denote a human being or an animal. These always take the plural ending -en. Compare:
Singular | Plural |
kening king | keningen |
wytsing viking | wytsingen |
haadling chieftain | haadlingen |
learling pupil | learlingen |
deadeling wet, wimp | deadelingen |
hokling yearling (heifer/calf) | hoklingen |
wezeling weasel | wezelingen |
A few, mostly archaic, nouns have the suffixal variant -inge. These nouns invariably take the plural ending -en. Examples are printinge printing > printingen and rispinge harvest > rispingen.
It should be noted that the -s-plural with nouns ending in -ing is in a state of flux, so that for some speakers the stress condition (no secondary stress) and the semantic condition (no human reference) may be less rigid than described here. Moreover, in Standard Frisian the -s-ending is sometimes preferred to the -en-ending, because of the fact that Dutch always has the plural ending -en in these cases.
There is some debate about the linguistic background of the variation. Veen (1984-2011: -ing I, II; -ling I) ascribes it to a different pronunciation of the suffix, as [Iŋ] or [əŋ], respectively. The former would opt for -en, the latter for -s (see also Riemersma (1979:33)). This is criticized by Hoekstra (2011:288), who states that the suffix builds an unstressed syllable anyway. As an alternative, he assumes that the plural ending -en is selected by the suffix.
The uncertainty about the choice of the plural ending can also be read off from the two dialect maps in Paardekooper (1992:62). Both endings can be found across the whole language area, possibly with a slight bias for -en in the west and -s in the east.
Dutch has the same two plural suffixes -en and -s and the same major distribution rule as Frisian. Nevertheless, the two languages show a number of differences in the choice of the plural ending:
- A number of nouns ending in a schwa + sonorant in Dutch can have the ending -en, mostly next to regular -s. The two plural forms often show stylistic or semantic differentiation. The Frisian counterparts invariably have the ending -s. Compare:
Frisian singular Frisian plural Dutch singular Dutch plural wûnder miracle wûnders wonder wonderen