ALT Explored: Integrating an Online Dialectometric Tool and an Online Dialect Atlas

ALT Explored: Integrating an Online Dialectometric Tool and an Online Dialect Atlas Martijn Wieling+, Eva Sassolini*, Sebastiana Cucurullo*, Simonetta Montemagni* +University of Groningen, CLCG – Netherlands *Istituto di Linguistica Computazionale “Antonio Zampolli” – CNR – Italy E-mail: m.b.wieling@rug.nl, {eva.sassolini,nella.cucurullo,simonetta.montemagni@ilc.cnr.it} Abstract In this paper, we illustrate the integration of an online dialectometric tool, Gabmap, together with an online dialect atlas, the Atlante Lessicale Toscano (ALT-Web). By using a newly created url-based interface to Gabmap, ALT-Web is able to take advantage of the sophisticated dialect visualization and exploration options incorporated in Gabmap. For example, distribution maps showing the distribution in the Tuscan dialect area of a specific dialectal form (selected via the ALT-Web website) are easily obtainable. Furthermore, the complete ALT-Web dataset as well as subsets of the data (selected via the ALT-Web website) can be automatically uploaded and explored in Gabmap. By combining these two online applications, macro- and micro-analyses of dialectal data (respectively offered by Gabmap and ALT-Web) are effectively and dynamically combined. Keywords: dialectometry, digital dialectal resources, interoperability of tools and resources 1. Introduction Computational techniques in the humanities have a long history, dating back to Father Roberto Busa in the late 1940s. Since then, research in the area, initially dubbed as “Humanities computing”, was focused on the development of formalisms suitable for rich text representation (see e.g., the Text Encoding Initiative, or TEI) on the one hand, and the design and implementation of software tools for a wide range of different kinds of textual analysis on the other hand. These two trends were combined in such a way that textual data augmented with annotations were fully searchable by developed tools. Although computational analysis techniques allowed to explore data from different perspectives, under this approach the focus of analysis typically remained on individual data (typically words). Adopting Moretti’s (2013) terminology, we will refer to this type of analysis as “close reading”, which represents a central practice in humanities studies, based on the study of individual features contained in a text as well as their variation and history. Nowadays, the field of “Humanities computing” is increasingly known as “Digital Humanities”. This terminology change is associated with a shift of emphasis from the analysis of individual data to data mining techniques enabling the identification of patterns in large (text) collections. The growth in size and accessibility of digital databases combined with advances in data mining have opened up new ways of creating meaning through what in Moretti’s words is called “distant reading”. Distant reading explicitly ignores the individual features that close reading concentrates on, in favour of detecting large-scale trends, patterns and relationships from wide collections of data. These patterns are not discernable from a single text or detailed analysis. As Burdick et al. (2012) claim, distant reading is therefore not just a “digitization” or “quickener” of classic humanities methodologies. It is, rather, a new way of doing research wherein computational methods allow for novel sets of questions to be posed and answered. Whereas close reading software tools are within reach …

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