ScanDiaSyn – Scandinavian Dialect Syntax

ScanDiaSyn - Scandinavian Dialect Syntax is a project umbrella where ten Scandinavian research groups now collaborate to systematically map and study the syntactic variation across the Scandinavian dialect continuum. The ten groups are spread across all of the five Nordic countries and one self-governed area (the Faroe Islands). Three non-Nordic groups and a group working on Finnish dialect syntax are liaised with the project through a NordForsk network.

In addition to scientific dissemination (papers, dissertations etc.) a concrete output from the collaboration will be the first pan-Scandinavian dialect collection ever: The Nordic Dialect Corpus. This corpus will be electronically available for researchers. The main responsibility for building the dialect corpus lies with the Text Laboratory at the University of Oslo. An additional aim is to develop pedagogical overviews on the basis of the investigations in the project.

ScanDiaSyn furthermore constitutes the backbone of the Nordic Center of Excellence in Microcomparative Syntax (NORMS) appointed by NOS-HS for the period august 2005 until July 2010 and hosted by CASTL at the University of Tromsø. The ScanDiaSyn collaboration has otherwise received support from a variety of different sources – see this page for an overview. The network coordinator and project manager for ScanDiaSyn is Dr. Øystein Alexander Vangsnes at the University of Tromsø.

Read more about:

– The objectives
– The network
– The sub-projects
– Activities
– The history
– Methodology
– The database
– Status of the project
– Bibliography

Of current interest!

• FinDiaSyn workshop: On 12-13 November a Workshop on Person, Impersonality and Verb Inflection in Finnic Languages and Dialects is organized at the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland in Helsinki.
• Read the blog from the NORMS fieldwork in Fosen, Norway in September here!
• NorDiaSyn seminar: A kick-off seminar for the Norwegian dialect syntax project will be organized in the morning of 26 November in Trondheim in conjunction with MONS 13.
• A NORMS workshop on Counterfactuality and Auxiliaries in Nordic languages will be organized in Trondheim 7-8 December 2009. Deadline for abstract submission is 30 October. Further information can be found on this page.

ScanDiaSyn and NORMS in the media:

ScanDiaSyn (incl. NORMS) has received considerable attention in the mass media. Below are the most recent news pieces about, with or by members of the network. See this page for older public relation material. (Or click ‘media’ in the left menu.)

• Ofret språket til forskning (‘Sacrificed the language for research’), TV2 news, 4 October 2009.
• Radio news item on dialects and dialect research with Øystein A. Vangsnes, P4 news, 2 October 2009, 07.30.
• Sjekker dialekten (‘Checking the dialect’), Avisa Fremover, 1 October 2009.
• “Førr nåkka jåss!", Bladet Tromsø/Harstad Tidende/Troms Folkeblad, 25 September 2009.
• Ka dialækta det va hær! (‘What dialects there were here!’), Bladet Tromsø/Harstad Tidende/Troms Folkeblad/Brønnøysunds Avis, 24 September 2009.
• Ärums å sturmyötę i Övdalim!, blog at Forskning.no, 25 September 2009.
• Här talas älvdalska (‘This is where Övdalian is spoken’), Språket, Sveriges Radio P1, 25 August 2009.
• Ny storkonferens om språk (‘New big conference about language’), Mora Tidning, 21 August 2009.
• Vi såg ein svart ein hest (‘We saw a black a horse’), Brønnøysunds Avis (banett.no), 24 July 2009.
• Ofret seg for vitenskapen (‘Sacrificed themselves for science’), Lokalavisa Nord-Salten, 19 June 2009.
• Ka folk de va hær!(‘What people there were here!’), Avisa Nordland, 10 June 2009.
• Forskare pratade dialekt med nordvärmlänningar (‘Researchers talked to Northvärmlandians’), Nya Wermlandstidningen 8 May 2009.
• Hôss fôlk i bygda taaler (‘How people in the town speak’), Värmlands Folkblad 8 May 2009.
• Fryksdalsdialekten fingranskas (‘The Fryksdal dialect is investigated in detail’), article and radio interview with Marit Julien, Sveriges Radio Värmland 8 May 2009.
• Dialektforskning i Sørskogbygda: – Beklager en vanskelig prøve (‘Dialect studies in Sørskogbygda: – Sorry, a difficult test’), article on the NORMS fieldwork in Inner Scandinavia, Østlendingen 8 May 2009.
• "Kanskje je kom tel væla for å sørge for at stangedialekta blir tatt vare på for evigheta?" (‘Maybe I came to this world to make sure that the Stange dialect is preserved for eternity?’), article on the NORMS fieldwork in Inner Scandinavia, Hamar Arbeiderblad 6 May 2009.
• Ord blir forskerfôr (‘Words become food for researchers’), note on the NORMS fieldwork in Inner Scandinavia, Glåmdalen, mai 2009.
• Den eksotiske trønderdialekten (‘The exotic Trøndelag dialect’), radio interview with Kristin M. Eide on the syntax of the Trøndelag dialect, Språkteigen, NRK P2, 19 April 2009.
• Hvor er det man sier "E du gammel?" når man vil vite alderen på noen? (‘Where do they say ‘Are you old?’ whey they want to know the age of somebody?’), Dagbladet 21 Ffebruary 2009.
• Lofotdialekten under lupen (‘The Lofoten dialect under the magnifier’), Lofotposten 21 February 2009.
• Forsker på nordiske dialekter (TV clip) (Web article), NRK Nordnytt 18. februar 2009.
• Suopmanat jávkamin Skandinavias, Avvir 14. februar 2009.
• Nordnorske dialekter under lupen (‘North Norwegian dialects under the magnifier’), Nordlys 13 February 2009.
• “Steike, ka dialekta” (‘Damn, what dialects!’), Bladet Tromsø, 13 February 2009.
• – E du gammel? (‘Are you old?’), NRK Nordland 13 February 2009. (Message broadcasted by NTB which eventually turned up in a lot of newspapers across Norway.)
• Ka bila de va hær! (‘What cars there were here!’), Karlsoy.info, 13. februar 2009.