An Online Dictionary for Dialects of N orth F risian (2022)

Abstract: Language is an essential part of communication and culture. Documenting, digitizing, and preserving language is a meaningful pursuit. The first author of this work is a speaker of Söl’ring which is a dialect of the North Frisian language spoken on the island of Sylt in the North Frisia region of Germany. Söl’ring is estimated to have only hundreds of native speakers and very limited online language resources making it a prime candidate for language preservation initiatives. To help preserve Söl’ring and provide resources for Söl’ring speakers and learners, we built an online dictionary. Our dictionary, called friisk.org, provides translations for over 28,000 common German words to Söl’ring. In addition, our dictionary supports translations for Söl’ring to German, spell checking for Söl’ring, conjugations for common Söl’ring verbs, and an experimental transcriber from Söl’ring to IPA for pronunciations. Following the release of our online dictionary, we collaborated with neighboring communities to add limited support for additional North Frisian dialects including Fering, Halligen Frisian, Karrharder, Nordergoesharder, Öömrang, and Wiedingharder.

## introduction 1.a dialect of north frisian the north frisian language is estimated to currently have 8,000 native speakers across many dialects including fering, halligen frisian, karrharder, nordergoesharder, öömrang, söl'ring, wiedingharder, and more @xcite . the first author of this work is a speaker of söl'ring which is a dialect that is spoken on the island of sylt in the north frisia region of germany.