The Centre for Groninger Language and Culture is creating a language database for Gronings, a regional language spoken in the north with multiple variants.
According to Dagblad van het Noorden, the Centre announced plans for a Gronings dictionary last year. Gronings has at least six different dialects, and the project participants soon recognized that a single dictionary would not do justice to the regional language. Now, the project’s aim is to create a language data base, as well as a digital dictionary with pronunciation cues and grammar rules.
Goffe Jensma, a professor of Frisian linguistics and literature, is the project leader and says that a broader approach is better suited to the wide variety that exists within Gronings. “We want to create a place online to provide as much information about Gronings as possible”, says Jensma. “Dictionaries aren’t very tolerant. They lay down hard and fast rules about a language and don’t grant the speakers of the language much freedom.”
