SpoCo – a simple and adaptable web interface for dialect corpora

Abstract

We present SpoCo, a simple, yet effective system for the web-based query of dialect corpora encoded in ELAN that provides users with advanced concordancing functions, as well as the the possibility to edit and correct transcriptions if needed. SpoCo is easy to use and maintain, and can be adapted to different spoken corpora in a straightforward way. Simplicity is emphasized to facilitate use by a wide range of users and research groups, including those with limited technical and financial resources, and encourage collaboration and data exchange across such groups. Relying on existing technology and pursuing a modular architecture, SpoCo is developed bottom-up: it was initially devised for a specific dialect project and is being continually adapted for use in other projects in a network of Slavic dialect projects that cooperate in tool development and data sharing. SpoCo thus takes a middle position between systems that are developed for the purposes of a specific dialect corpus, on the one hand, and general-use systems designed for a wide range of data and usage cases, on the other.

Map Task Corpus of Heritage BCMS spoken by second-generation speakers in Switzerland

“…While the map task corpus platform is created for one specific corpus, its modular structure is adaptable to other resources that have the same transcript or metadata structure. Another advantage of this corpus platform is its simplicity, which is the “key issue in spreading corpus use in and beyond the research community” (von Waldenfels & Woźniak, 2017 , p. 156). As observed by Fandrych et al ( 2016 ), working with corpora of spoken language in an online setting is often challenging for students, researchers, and teachers.…”