The ScanDiaSyn database

The database to be developed within ScanDiaSyn will be the first pan-Scandinavian dialect collection ever!

• The database will contain transcribed and tagged dialect material linked up with sound files.
• The material will comprise both free speech and results from  questionnaires, systematically collected from a set of measure points evenly distributed across the Scandinavian dialect continuum (about 100 points in Norway, about 100 in Sweden, about 20 in Denmark, about 10 in the Faroe Islands, and about 20 in Iceland).
• Each measure point will have at least 4 informants distributed over the variables [±young] and [±female], but in some cases a measure point may have a higher number of informants (cf. SweDia 2000 with 12 informants at each measure point).
  
• The database will be generally available for searches through a user-friendly interface with the internet.
  
• The search interface will allow searches for both word forms as well as grammatical categories, and it will of course be possible to search for geographical and other non-linguistic variables.
• It will be possible to do searches across the individual Scandinavian languages, a feature which requires a well-functioning inter-Scandinavian lexicon (alligned wordlists) (ScanLex).
• The database and the interface will contain a dynamic map application which allows the individual researcher to genereate maps according to his or her needs and desires (and which crucially allows efficient visualization of co-variation between grammatical phenomena).
  
• As far as possible and feasible existing dialect material will be included in the database (e.g. Cordiale  and SweDia 2000).