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VERBA ALPINA. The Alpine culture area reflected by its multilingualism

Subject Area General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
Software Engineering and Programming Languages
Term from 2014 to 2024
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 253900505
 
Final Report Year 2024

Final Report Abstract

VerbaAlpina has developed a comprehensive geolinguistic-lexicographical system from October 2014 to October 2023. The database from three language families can be accessed via a multifunctional online portal. In a total of three project phases, specific vocabulary from selected conceptual domains typical of the Alpine region was systematically and structurally collected in a relational database. At the end of the project, the lexicographical core data in the database contained over 370,000 data records (individual utterances, morpholexical types, concepts). The database was extracted from language atlases and dictionaries and was supplemented with data contributed by internet users using a crowdsourcing tool. In addition to the lexicographical output, the originally developed project portal represents a substantial result of the project. The portal is based on a WordPress installation that has been expanded to include numerous functions, the most important of which are freely available and reusable in the form of WordPress plugins. VerbaAlpina data can be accessed on the project portal either via an interactive online map or text-based in list format. Data can also be retrieved in different formats and with variable filtering via an API. The use of a relational database and the selected data structure allow access from both a semasiological and onomasiological perspective. In combination with the interactive online map, VerbaAlpina is a language atlas and dictionary in one. As part of the project, there was also a detailed discussion of the consequences and challenges of the full digitalisation of the research process in all its facets - from data collection to publication. This reflection on methods is published in a separate methodology section on the project portal. The VerbaAlpina database was treated in accordance with the FAIR criteria. The structured core database was transferred to the research data repository of the LMU University Library, where it is permanently available for re-use by third parties under an open licence. The software code developed by the project is available on Github. The interactive project portal will continue to be operated by the ITG of the LMU as long as this is technically and staff-wise possible. There are still no standardised procedures or reliable infrastructures in Germany for the continued operation of 'living' systems beyond the end of project funding.

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