A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Best practices for spatial language data harmonization, sharing and map creation-A case study of Uralic
Authors: Rantanen Timo, Tolvanen Harri, Roose Meeli, Ylikoski Jussi, Vesakoski Outi
Publisher: PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
Publication year: 2022
Journal: PLoS ONE
Journal name in source: PLOS ONE
Journal acronym: PLOS ONE
Article number: e0269648
Volume: 17
Issue: 6
Number of pages: 19
ISSN: 1932-6203
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269648
Web address : https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0269648
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/176549843
Despite remarkable progress in digital linguistics, extensive databases of geographical language distributions are missing. This hampers both studies on language spatiality and public outreach of language diversity. We present best practices for creating and sharing digital spatial language data by collecting and harmonizing Uralic language distributions as case study. Language distribution studies have utilized various methodologies, and the results are often available as printed maps or written descriptions. In order to analyze language spatiality, the information must be digitized into geospatial data, which contains location, time and other parameters. When compiled and harmonized, this data can be used to study changes in languages' distribution, and combined with, for example, population and environmental data. We also utilized the knowledge of language experts to adjust previous and new information of language distributions into state-of-the-art maps. The extensive database, including the distribution datasets and detailed map visualizations of the Uralic languages are introduced alongside this article, and they are freely available.
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