Clay Frisian (West Frisian: Klaaifrysk) is a dialect of the West Frisian language spoken in the northwestern part of the Dutch province of Friesland. It has been the primary dialect of written West Frisian since the nineteenth century as a result of its high status. Historically, this region has been the centre of commerce and politics, further contributing to Clay Frisian's primacy. Compared to other West Frisian dialects, there are few if any differences in morphology or syntax but there are slight variances in lexicon.
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Phonological differences
The largest difference between Clay Frisian and the eastern Wood 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:
Lexical differences
Some lexical differences between Clay Frisian and Wood Frisian include: