Research theme: Multilingualism and Language Learning
Research team: Ruth Kircher / ECMI (principal investigator), Mirjam Vellinga / Afûk (co-investigator), Jelske Dijkstra / Mercator, Fryske Akademy (co-investigator), Suzanne Dekker / Mercator, Fryske Akademy (collaborator), Pavlína Heinzová / ECMI (collaborator).
Duration: 2024-2026
Funding: Research grant from the Province of Fryslân (grant number 02193883)

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. Nonetheless, the number of parents who transmit Frisian to their children has not increased significantly since the 1970s.

Intergenerational transmission in the home plays a crucial role in ensuring the maintenance and revitalisation of minority languages. Recent research in other contexts has revealed that intergenerational minority language transmission is affected by parents’ attitudes towards the minority language itself (and the majority language) as well as by their attitudes towards childhood multilingualism. Moreover, recent research has highlighted the importance of resources to support parents who are raising their children multilingually with minority languages – distinguishing between parent-directed resources (i.e. those providing parents with information about multilingual child-rearing) and child-directed resources (i.e. those promoting children’s multilingual development).  

This project 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.
 

Publications

• Heinzova, P., Dekker, S.V., Dijkstra, J., Vellinga, M., & Kircher, R. (2026, May 29). Predictors of parental attitudes toward Frisian: A comparative study from Nordfriesland and Fryslân. PsyArXiv Preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/n6kbr_v1
• Kircher, R., Dekker, S.V., Dijkstra, J., Heinzova, P., & Vellinga, M. (2026, May 15). Family language policies in Nordfriesland and Fryslân: A study of parental language attitudes and the intergenerational transmission of Frisian. PsyArXiv Preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/fg649_v1
  
   

Publications in preparation

• Dekker, S.V., Dijkstra, J., Vellinga, M., & Kircher, R. (in preparation) A corpus-assisted discourse study of parental attitudes towards Frisian in Fryslân.
• Dekker, S.V., Dijkstra, J., Heinzova, P., Vellinga, M. & Kircher, R. (in preparation) Preparing for minority language transmission: Language management among expecting parents in Fryslân.
• Dijkstra, J., Dekker, S., Heinzova, P., Vellinga, M. & Kircher, R. (in preparation). Family language policy in Fryslân: The role of language-related resources in multilingual child-rearing and minority language transmission in the early years.
• Heinzova, P., Dekker, S.V., Dijkstra, J., Vellinga, M., & Kircher, R. (in preparation). Predictors of parental attitudes toward childhood multilingualism: A comparative study from Nordfriesland and Fryslân.
• Kircher, R., Dekker, S.V., Dijkstra, J., Heinzova, P., & Vellinga, M. (in preparation). The dimensionality and implications of parental attitudes towards childhood multilingualism in Nordfriesland and Fryslân.
   

Presentations

• Kircher, R., Dekker, S.V., Heinzová, P., Vellinga, M., Dijkstra, J., Scarse, Y., Jürgensen, K., & Heck-Lemke, T. (2026, June) “Official and family language policies in Nordfriesland and Fryslân.” Presentation given at the Multidisciplinary Approaches in Language Policy and Planning Conference; Ottawa, Canada.
• Kircher, R. (2026, April) “Raising children with more than one language: The dimensionality, nature, and consequences of parents’ attitudes towards childhood multilingualism.” Keynote given at the 11th Annual Spring Research Conference on Multilingual Acquisition; Barcelona, Spain.
• Heinzová, P., Vellinga, M., Dijkstra, J., Dekker, S.V., Scarse, Y., Heck-Lemke, T., Jürgensen, K., & Kircher, R. (2026, April) “Predictors of parental attitudes to childhood multilingualism: A comparative study from Nordfriesland and Fryslân.” Presentation given at the Bilingualism Matters Symposium; Milan, Italy.
• Kircher, R. (2026, February) “Parental language attitudes and (heritage) language transmission across generations and geographies.” Keynote given at the It Takes a Diaspora to Raise a Language Conference; Los Angeles, United States.
• Heinzová, P., Vellinga, M., Dijkstra, J., Dekker, S.V., Scarse, Y., Heck-Lemke, T., Jürgensen, K., & Kircher, R. (2025, November) “Predictors of parental attitudes to Frisian: A comparative study from Fryslân and Nordfriesland.” Presentation given at the Conference on Frisian Humanities; Ljouwert, Netherlands.
• Heinzová, P., Vellinga, M., Dijkstra, J., Dekker, S.V., Scarse, Y., Heck-Lemke, T., Jürgensen, K., & Kircher, R. (2025, November) “Two contexts, one question: How do parents in Nordfriesland and Fryslân see Frisian?” Presentation given at the Interdisciplinary Centre for European Studies – Europa-Universität Flensburg; Flensburg, Germany.
   

Upcoming presentation

• Kircher, R., Dekker, S.V., Heinzová, P., Vellinga, M., Dijkstra, J., Jürgensen, K., Heck-Lemke, T., & Scarse, Y. (2026, October) “Parental attitudes towards childhood multilingualism in Nordfriesland and Fryslân.” Presentation to be given at the Second International Symposium on Language Ideologies and Attitudes; Lleida, Spain.
   

Research report

More information about the research report based on this project will be provided soon.
 

Event

On 30th November 2026, an event based on the Intergenerational transmission of North Frisian and Intergenerational transmission of West Frisian projects will take place at the Dansk Centralbibliotek for Sydslesvig in Flensburg. More information about this event will be provided soon.
 

The intergenerational transmission of North Frisian

West Frisian, as it is spoken in Fryslân, is closely related to North Frisian, which is spoken in Nordfriesland. In parallel to our study of the intergenerational transmission of West Frisian, Ruth Kircher (the principal investigator of this project) is conducting a study of the intergenerational transmission of North Frisian. This will allow for a comparison of the two Frisian-speaking contexts, and it will yield overarching results that are pertinent for the maintenance and revitalisation of Frisian on both sides of the Dutch-German border. More information about the North Frisian study can be found ​here.