The description of the Saterfrisian language will receive support from Japan. Dr. Stephen Laker works at Kyushu University in Fukuoka and has joined the research team of Eric Hoekstra (Fryske Akademy) and Dr. Bouke Slofstra (Lingua Slofstra). Together, they will work on an English-language grammar of Saterfrisian, which should be available on the Taalportaal.org website by the end of the year. Already there are extensive grammars of Dutch, Afrikaans and Frisian.

The grammars on Taalportaal.org are linguistically oriented and mainly serve as reference works for the international research community. Hoekstra will describe the syntax of the Saterfrisian language for Taalportaal, Slofstra will deal with word formation and Laker with phonology. Laker will be supported by Dr. Jörg Peters (Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg), who has already published several insightful studies on the pronunciation and intonation of Saterland Frisian.

About Dr Stephen Laker

Through his studies in English language history and dialectology, Stephen Laker came into contact with Frisian. About twenty years ago, he began studying Old Frisian with Dr Rolf Bremmer at Leiden University. He acquired basic knowledge of Frisian with Dr Siebren Dyk at the University of Amsterdam. He later worked as a lecturer in historical English dialectology at the University of Manchester and is now Professor of English at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan. Over the years, in addition to his research into the English language, he has also published articles on Frisian language history and dialectology. Last week he was a guest speaker at the Saterfrisian Language Day, organised by the Seeltersk-Kontoor fan of the Oldenburgische Landschaft  and the Fryske Akademy.