Intergenerational Language Transmission of Frisian and Low Saxon in the Netherlands

An important mechanism for language maintenance is transmission from parents to their children. This mechanism is stronger for the regional language Frisian than it is for Low Saxon in the northern Netherlands. In this study, we assessed many variables potentially associated with parental language transmission for these regional languages. We analyzed questionnaire responses from around 25,000 Frisian and Low Saxon speakers participating in the Lifelines cohort study. Transmission was strongly associated with whether their children's other parent speaks the same language, and with the frequency of language use in different social contexts. Other important factors included language attitudes and the degree of urbanization of the respondent's neighborhood. Taken together, these findings suggest that language maintenance for Frisian and Low Saxon could potentially be bolstered by adequately stimulating positive language attitudes and the use of the language in different social contexts by both the government and smaller societal organizations.