Dialect Lexicography
The Dutch Language Institute (INT) is responsible for the management, development and provision of several dialect-related services, such as the Database of the Southern Dutch Dialects (DSDD) and the The Lexical Database of Dutch Dialects (eWND).
Database of the Southern Dutch Dialects
The Database of the Southern Dutch Dialects as it is currently available to the public is part of the first phase of the interconnection of Dutch dialect data. The second phase is concerned with the integration of the Dictionary of Zeeland Dialects (WZD), an alphabetically ordered dictionary. This requires a different approach than the three onomasiological dictionaries that form the foundations of the database.
The ultimate goal is the provision of a dialect and vernacular language portal for all dialects of Dutch. First and foremost, this entails that the existing Database of the Southern Dutch Dialects will be expanded upon with dialect dictionaries from the entire Dutch language area, both onomasiological and semasiological dictionaries. The institute is currently working on two pilot projects (on Bildts and West-Overijssels) to further integrate semasiological dictionaries in a Database of the Dutch dialects.
In the future, this extensive database may be linked to the alphabetical dictionaries available at Woordenbank.be and the Lexical Database of Dutch Dialects currently hosted by the INT.
Apart from providing a search application, the Database of the Southern Dutch Dialects also provides access to a map that can be used to visualize dialect data.
Dialect resources
The INT offers infrastructure and support to vernacular language organizations to help them in the description and provision of their language-related cultural heritage.
The INT is a partner in the project Spoken Corpus of the Southern Dutch Dialects (GCND), which is being developed at Ghent University. The project is aimed towards the further disclosure of a collection of dialect recordings from 786 different locations in Belgium, France and the Netherlands, recorded between 1963 and 1976 (available at dialectloket and the Nederlandse Dialectbank).
Further information and links:
- Database of the Southern Dutch Dialects
- Lexical Database of Dutch Dialects
- Spoken Corpus of the Southern Dutch Dialects
- Limburgs luisteren
- Stichting Nederlandse Dialecten