DHIL: The Dialect of the Holy Island of Lindisfarne (2014)
Warren Maguire, University of Edinburgh

The DHIL corpus consists of time-aligned orthographic transcriptions and recordings of speakers from Holy Island made by Jörg Berger (see further Berger, Jörg, 1980, The Phonology of the Holy Island Dialect, Bern, Peter Lang) in the early 1970s, and recordings made in 2006 by Warren Maguire (School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh).

The recordings are of interviews, conversations and answers to questionnaires such as the Survey of English Dialects (Orton, Harold and Eugen Dieth, eds., 1962-71, Survey of English Dialects (B): The basic material, Leeds, Arnold & Son).

The speakers are/were natives engaged in traditional occupations, especially fishing, and were mostly born in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The recordings cover topics such as local history, fishing practices, place-names and superstitions, and they provide a unique insight into the traditional island dialect and society of Holy Island.

The DHIL corpus has been constructed by Warren Maguire under a grant from the British Academy (award no. SG112357), between April 2012 and March 2014. Time-aligned orthographic transcriptions have been made of the recordings using the software ELAN.

How to obtain access to the DHIL corpus

The DHIL corpus can be accessed by users through a password-protected portal (link below). In order to gain access, users must complete the DHIL User Agreement Form.

The completed form should be returned by email or post to:

• Warren Maguire: w.maguire@ed.ac.uk
• Warren Maguire
  The Dialect of the Holy Island of Lindisfarne Corpus
  Room 3.07, Dugald Stewart Building
  The University of Edinburgh
  3 Charles Street
  Edinburgh
  Scotland
  EH8 9AD.

Successful applicants will be sent a user ID and password for the download area of this site. The download area provides access to the DHIL transcription files (.eaf and .pfsx ELAN files) and audio (.wav files), and to an interface that provides online access to the time-aligned orthographic transcriptions and corresponding audio files.

To enter the download area click here.