Norwegian Dialect Syntax- NorDiaSyn: Grammatical variation - new isoglosses and new media

-

Traditional studies of dialects have focussed on lexical issues, sound and inflection, but have looked less at structural issues. Therefore, there is a dire need for more knowledge on the syntactic structures of the dialects and their interplay with other aspects of the grammar, and on the variation and geographical mapping of such features, so-called isoglosses. In this project, we have two research goals: 1) investigate structural features of 100 dialects in Norway to map grammatical isoglosses, 2) res earch in depth two syntactic phenomena that show variation geographically, morphologically and syntactically: expletive subjects and w-questions. To obtain this, we have two infrastructure resource goals: 1) collect Norwegian dialect speech data from 50 m easuring points (which gives 100 points altogether), 2) build a searchable corpus and database with Norwegian and Scandinavian dialect data, and with integrated audio, video and maps. The research will take place in an environment of scholars in Norway a nd the Nordic countries, and European research centres. The corpus and database will be a valuable research resource for present and future linguists. Dialect studies are important for many reasons: - Linguistically, dialectology is important. Dialect s tudies can be seen as a linguistic laboratory, where several variables are constant while one can vary, making possible very detailed questions on relationships between phenomena. Such new knowledge can make our knowledge of the human language greater. - Dialects represent Norwegian culture and history; studying them is important to increase the knowledge of our heritage. - Education and school material on dialects suffers from lack of knowledge, especially of grammatical structure and present use. Our corpus and database will be a very good basis for new educational methods and and new knowledge. - Speech technology needs transcribed dialect speech to develop good tools for the physically impaired and dyslexics.