Plattmakers
Encyclopedia
Plattmakers is a Low Saxon
online dictionary project. With more than 14,500 word entries (as of October 2010) its one of the most extensive Low Saxon online dictionaries. As each word entry can be rendered in several different Low Saxon varieties its effectively the most extensive Low Saxon dictionary available.
and each region differs in the way words are written down. The Plattmakers notation stores the word's linguistic features as present at around 700
AD. 700 AD was the time the latest common predecessor was spoken from which all modern Low Saxon dialects developed. The string is then processed by a rendering engine that applies any relevant sound shifts since then in chronological order and thus produces a phonological representation of the modern word. This representation is processed by a second rendering engine that applies modern orthography to the string. The software is thus able to reproduce any word in any dialect and orthography.
The dictionary provides Low Saxon annotations to the Low Saxon words and beside that also gives translations of the words into English
, German
and Dutch
. The interface is available in Low Saxon, English, German and Dutch.
The site divides the Low Saxon language area into 128 subdivisions. For each of them a custom renderer is planned. The site also collects information on the area each word is used in and thus allows to distinguish words of general use from words only in regional use.
Low German
Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
online dictionary project. With more than 14,500 word entries (as of October 2010) its one of the most extensive Low Saxon online dictionaries. As each word entry can be rendered in several different Low Saxon varieties its effectively the most extensive Low Saxon dictionary available.
Features
The most prominent feature of the dictionary is the fact that its entries are stored in a special notation that allows to render them in different ways. The Low Saxon language has no fixed orthographic standardOrthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
and each region differs in the way words are written down. The Plattmakers notation stores the word's linguistic features as present at around 700
700
Year 700 was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 700 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- North America :* The Mount Edziza volcanic complex...
AD. 700 AD was the time the latest common predecessor was spoken from which all modern Low Saxon dialects developed. The string is then processed by a rendering engine that applies any relevant sound shifts since then in chronological order and thus produces a phonological representation of the modern word. This representation is processed by a second rendering engine that applies modern orthography to the string. The software is thus able to reproduce any word in any dialect and orthography.
The dictionary provides Low Saxon annotations to the Low Saxon words and beside that also gives translations of the words into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
. The interface is available in Low Saxon, English, German and Dutch.
The site divides the Low Saxon language area into 128 subdivisions. For each of them a custom renderer is planned. The site also collects information on the area each word is used in and thus allows to distinguish words of general use from words only in regional use.