Sater Frisian and Low German - two languages that are still part of everyday life for some people in Lower Saxony. A project at the Institute for German Studies is now collecting local dialects in a digital language atlas.
Lower Saxony is a linguistically diverse Federal State in which many different languages are still spoken today - such as Sater Frisian and Low German. The digital project "Äsop op Platt" aims to document as many local dialects of these minority and regional languages as possible. The co-operation project between the University of Oldenburg and the Ostfriesische Landschaft invites all speakers of Low German and Sater Frisian to take part.
"Äsop op Platt" is part of an international project to document European dialects as well as regional and minority languages. To this end, the University of Paris-Saclay and the interdisciplinary Institute for Digital Sciences at Koblenz University of Applied Sciences have created a digital map with audio files of people from all over Europe. The speakers read the fable "North Wind and Sun" by Aesop in their own dialect. The aim of the study in Lower Saxony is to expand this "sounding atlas" of minority languages in Europe to include the linguistic varieties of Lower Saxony.
"We think that 'Äsop op Platt' is a great opportunity for speakers to actively and easily take part in a project to document their local dialect," says Heike Schoormann, research assistant at the Institute for German Studies in Oldenburg. Low German speakers from East Frisia and Schleswig-Holstein - the latter with the support of Kiel University - have already recorded their respective dialects for the project. The Aesop fable always serves as the basis, which the participants translate into their respective dialects. "The fable has already been used for a large number of scientific studies and language descriptions. It would be wonderful if we could get numerous contributions from speakers from Lower Saxony who would add their own dialect to this linguistic treasure trove," Schoormann continued.
All speakers of Lower Saxony's regional and minority languages can take part without prior consultation. All relevant information is summarised on the project website. Interested parties can find the High German version of Aesop's fable "North Wind and Sun", some tips on sound recording and the opportunity to upload their own audio file including the respective translation.
Every recording is welcome for the project team, as it is the multitude of different dialects that makes up the sounding language atlas. The files are also valuable and helpful for linguistic analyses. "With this project, we not only want to make a contribution to the documentation of the Low German and Sater Frisian dialects, but also to make the diversity of languages and thus the cultural richness of Lower Saxony audible," summarises Grietje Kammler, Head of the Plattdüütskbüro of the Ostfriesische Landschaft.
