Putting Low German on the Map (of Linguistic Linked Open Data)

Christian Chiarcos, Tabea Gröger, Christian Fäth


Abstract
47 We describe the creation of a cross-dialectal lexical resource for Low German, a regional language spoken primarily in Germany and the Netherlands, based on the application of Linguistic Linked Open Data (LLOD) technologies. We argue that this approach is particularly well-suited for a language without a written standard, but with multiple, incompatible orthographies and considerable internal variation in phonology, spelling and grammar. A major hurdle in the preservation and documentation of and in the creation of educational materials (such as texts and dictionaries) for this variety is its internal degree of linguistic and orthographic variation, intensified by mutually exclusive influences from different national languages and their respective orthographies. We thus aim to provide a “digital Rosetta stone” to unify lexical materials from different dialects through linking dictionaries and mapping corresponding words without the need for a standardvariety. This involves two components, a mapping between different orthographies and phonological systems, and a technology for linking regional dictionaries maintained by different hosts and developed by or for different communities of speakers.
Anthology ID:
2025.ldk-1.8
Volume:
Proceedings of the 5th Conference on Language, Data and Knowledge
Month:
September
Year:
2025
Address:
Naples, Italy
Editors:
Mehwish Alam, Andon Tchechmedjiev, Jorge Gracia, Dagmar Gromann, Maria Pia di Buono, Johanna Monti, Maxim Ionov
Venues:
LDK | WS
SIG:
Publisher:
Unior Press
Note:
Pages:
62–75
Language:
URL:
https://preview.aclanthology.org/ldl-25-ingestion/2025.ldk-1.8/
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Christian Chiarcos, Tabea Gröger, and Christian Fäth. 2025. Putting Low German on the Map (of Linguistic Linked Open Data). In Proceedings of the 5th Conference on Language, Data and Knowledge, pages 62–75, Naples, Italy. Unior Press.
Cite (Informal):
Putting Low German on the Map (of Linguistic Linked Open Data) (Chiarcos et al., LDK 2025)
Copy Citation:
PDF:
https://preview.aclanthology.org/ldl-25-ingestion/2025.ldk-1.8.pdf