Ethnocultural, Educational and Scientific Potential of the Interactive Dialects Map

Abstract

The article analyzes the features of an interactive map of dialects developed by Ukrainian scientists and available on the Internet at dialectmap.org. The client part of the interactive map was created using the React.js library of the JavaScript programming language, and the MOBX state management library was also used. The server side of the information system was written in Ruby programming language using the Ruby on Rails framework. The relational database management system Postgresql was used, and Redis cache was used for caching some frequently used data. Ukrainian universities successfully use the interactive map of dialects to conduct dialectological and ethnolinguistic practices, teach linguistic disciplines, and organize students' research work within linguistic clubs. The information system is a hub that more widely reflects local language features; the map contains materials from various studies created in different periods. The interactive map of dialects has more features than traditional (paper) dialectological atlases, makes the results of dialectological surveys accessible to many people, can hold a large amount of dialect data, and thus contributes to the preservation of linguistic diversity. The interactive map of dialects is developed to represent data from different languages and territories; thus, the project can be expanded to other countries in Europe, Asia, and other continents.