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Parents needed for research on language transmission in early childhood education in Friesland

Mercator

Research projects

Language and multilingualism

Dutch, Frisian, or another language: which language or languages do prospective parents in Fryslân want to speak with their children? And what factors determine this language choice? For research into language transmission in education,

the Afûk, the Mercator European Knowledge Center for Multilingualism and Language Learning (Fryske

Akademy), and the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) are looking for parents who speak Frisian and are expecting their first child or are considering having their first child.

 

With a questionnaire, the researchers want to find out not only what it is like to be a future parent in Fryslân, but also what support future parents would like to receive in terms of language or multilingualism. It does not matter whether parents plan to pass on Frisian to their child or not. The questionnaire is available in Frisian and Dutch.

Transmission of West Frisian

West Frisian has been classified as a vulnerable minority language. In recent decades, it has therefore received increasing protection and promotion through provincial language planning. As a result, West Frisian now has greater institutional support, it is more present in the media and in other public domains, and it is included in school curricula. Moreover, efforts are made to encourage its intergenerational transmission in the home, as the number of parents passing on Frisian to their children is gradually declining.

The project ‘The intergenerational transmission of West Frisian: promoting multilingual child-rearing and supporting (future) parents’ investigates parental language attitudes as well as the use of – and desire for – resources amongst Frisian-speaking parents in Fryslân. Notably, the project focuses on both: parents who decided to transmit Frisian to their children and parents who decided not to transmit Frisian to their children. A key aim of the project is to find out how parents can best be supported throughout the process of multilingual child-rearing.

International cooperation

The questionnaire is part of a research project conducted by researchers from the European Centre for Minority Issues in Germany, Mercator European Research Centre and the Afûk.

Frisian as spoken in Fryslân is closely related to North Frisian as spoken in Nordfriesland (Germany). In parallel with the project on intergenerational Frisian language transmission in the Netherlands, the European Centre for Minority Issues is working on a study of intergenerational North Frisian language transmission. This will ensure that a comparison can be made between the two Frisian-speaking contexts and provide overarching results relevant to language preservation and language revitalisation on both sides of the Dutch-German border.

The project received a research grant from the Province of Fryslân.

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