OeDA

Citizens in Austria explore their dialects

*What's the matter?*

"Citizens in Austria research their dialects" is a so-called "civic science" project. We are concerned with the dialects in Austria, i.e. the mother tongues of most Austrians. If you are from Austria - no matter how old you are or where you are from in Austria - download the app and join in! Because as an Austrian, you are automatically a dialect expert: You know your way around best if you have spoken dialect from an early age or at least have heard others in your environment speak dialect. Therefore you know which words are used, how they are pronounced and which grammatical peculiarities occur. You probably know others who still speak the 'very old' dialect. And maybe you not only speak dialect yourself, but are also interested in the peculiarities of other dialects and the differences between the dialects in Austria. This is where our project comes into play: With this app, we want to turn interested people like you into researchers. We are giving you - literally - a 'tool' so that you can explore the peculiarities of your dialect and the dialects in your area and compare them with others. We use the knowledge and data gained in this way to create language cards, which in turn are made freely accessible to you.

*How should it go? ... with the OeDA app!*

The 'tool' mentioned consists of the app specially developed for the project called OeDA. OeDA is an abbreviation for 'Austrian dialect app' and is intended to resemble the expression Oida! remember, which everyone in Austria knows, but may use differently. We make the OeDA app available to you free of charge! You can use it to collect dialect words and sentences in various ways, record speech samples, and then display the words and pronunciation forms you have collected on language cards. You can then use these language cards to identify similarities and differences between dialects in different regions. You can also compare and explore similarities and differences between the ways different generations speak. Differences between the ways of speaking between generations can, for example, indicate a change in dialects. However, change can also be seen in dialect forms from different regions becoming more and more similar to one another.

*What is special about the project?*

The OeDA app is the first dialect app of its kind in Austria. It is designed to be simple and user-friendly and is aimed at you if you are interested in the dialects in Austria. You don't need to have any special prior knowledge. With the OeDA app, we provide you with an easy-to-use tool that you - as a citizen scientist - can use to research dialects yourself.