Wood Frisian

Wood Frisian (West Frisian: Wâldfrysk) is a dialect of the West Frisian language spoken in the eastern part of the Dutch province of Friesland, which is called Wâlden (English: "woods"). The dialect is also spoken in parts of Groningen, the province to the east of Friesland.

Comparison with Clay Frisian

Phonological differences

The largest difference between Wood Frisian and the northwestern Clay Frisian dialect are the words my ("me"), dy ("you"), hy ("he"), sy ("she" or "they"), wy ("we"), and by ("by"), which are pronounced in the Wood Frisian as a mi, di, hi, si, wi, and bi and in Clay Frisian as mij, dij, hij, sij, wij, and bij. Other differences are in the pronunciation of the diphthongs ei, ai, and aai which are pronounced ij, ai, and aai in Wood Frisian, but ôi, òi, and ôi in Clay Frisian. Thus, in Wood Frisian, there is no difference between ei and ij, whereas in Clay Frisian, there is no difference between ei and aai.

Other phonological differences include:

English	Dutch	Wood Frisian	Clay Frisian
you (singular)	jij	dû	do
plum	pruim	prûm	prom
thumb	duim	tûme	tomme
naked	naakt	nêken	neaken
crack	kraken	krêkje	kreakje
weak (soft)	week	wêk	weak
grass	gras	gjers	gers
cherry	kers	kjers	kers
calf	kalf	kjel	kel

Lexical differences

Some lexical differences between Wood Frisian and Clay Frisian include:

English	Wood Frisian	Clay Frisian
Saturday	saterdei	sneon
ant	mychammel mychhimmel	eamel eamelder
fleece	flij	flues
sow (pig)	mot	sûch

Westereendersk dialect

In the town of the de Westereen, Zwagerbosch and Twijzelerheide people speak a different kind of Wood Frisian: Westereendersk dialect.