De dialecten van Ameland en Midsland in vergelijking met het Stadsfries

Abstract

The islands of Ameland and Terschelling, though part of the Dutch province
of Fryslân, must be considered as separate linguistic areas, as the dialects
spoken there differ from those on the mainland and from one another as
well. Even within these dialects themselves there is no homogeneity.
The dialects of Ameland and of the middle part of Terschelling, the latter
of which is known as Midslands, contain both Dutch and Frisian elements.
For that reason, they have often been compared with Stedfrysk, or “Town
Frisian”, which shows the same mixed character. The common historical
background of the Frisian towns justifies the reduction of their dialects to
one and the same denominator. However, considering the fact that for
several centuries the two islands were separated politically from the Frisian
mainland, it is hardly plausible that the inhabitants of Ameland and the
middle part of Terschelling should ever have adopted the language of the
Frisian towns.
Not only close political ties with the provincie of Holland, especially in
the case of the island of Terschelling, where Midsland was the
administrative center, but trading contacts as well must have resulted in a
continuous input of Dutch dialectal elements into the linguistic varieties
spoken on these islands. It can be inferred, therefore, that the dialects of
Ameland and Midsland are the result of a development independent of the
Frisian towns. In this article I present linguistic evidence to support this
hypothesis. In addition, I discuss some methodological difficulties, which
arose during my investigations.