The Formation of Neologisms in a Lesser-used Language: The Case of Frisian

Abstract

In this paper we discuss neologism formation in Frisian, a lesser-used language spoken in the Netherlands. On the basis of an analysis of online news media, it is shown that Frisian neologisms are mainly borrowings (nonce borrowings, adapted loan words, loan translations) from Dutch, the dominant language. We discuss the consequences for the production of the new bilingual online Dutch-Frisian dictionary, which has a medium-sized, standardized, autonomous language as its source language, and a small, dependent and far less standardized target language