Main Content
Citizen Science and the Hesse-Nassau Dialect Dictionary
The questionnaires of the Hesse-Nassau Dialect Dictionary
As the most modern dialect dictionary of its time, the Hesse-Nassau Dialect Dictionary was the first project at the beginning of the 20th century to incorporate the results of questionnaire surveys into the word articles. This approach is known as word-geographical principle and is later used in many other dictionaries.
Next to reference slips, the archive of the Hesse-Nassau Dialect Dictionary contains around 6,500 questionnaires answered by reliable respondents. The information provided in the questionnaires was evaluated and collated by the Hesse-Nassau Dialect Dictionary office. However, not all of the collected data was included in the newly created card index, but only a selection. Thus, the questionnaires still contain untapped information. As the questionnaires are frequently revisited to write dictionary articles and to develop scientific questions, some of the documents are now in a critical state of preservation. Additionally, there are documents whose paper is of poor quality or contains a high percentage of wood.
Transliterating Digital Copies
Although the digitization which makes the questionnaire catalog of the Hesse-Nassau Dictionary accessible as a whole is completed, evaluating and finding comprehensive useage according to modern scientific criteria is still difficult for this extensive data collection. This requires the transliteration of the existing linguistic material, i.e. translating the answers on the questionnaires letter-by-letter into distinctive, machine-readable characters.
For this purpose, we have developed an application with which interested parties can support us in transferring the language material.
Our experience at the Forschungszentrum Deutscher Sprachatlas shows that there are many people interested in this subject who still know the Kurrent script or simply enjoy deciphering manuscripts. Do you want to become a “citizen scientist” as well? By devoting some of your free time, you can make a valuable contribution to science whilst actively engaging with the dialectal diversity of your region. We are looking forward to your participation!
Related Links
