Philology

ABSTRACT Greece contains a rich variety of dialects (cf. Kontosopoulos 2006), some of which are used systematically in every-day speech, while others, are restricted to specific groups of elders and are in danger of extinction. Although little studied, remarkable variation appears among Modern Greek dialects not only on the level of phonology and vocabulary, but also on other levels of linguistic analysis, e.g. morphology, syntax, and semantics. Few research centres and associations are interested in written and spoken dialectal data, and publish relevant work; see, among others, the Historical Archive of Refugees (Thessaloniki), the Research Centre for Modern Greek Dialects of the Academy of Athens, the Centre of Asia Minor Studies (Athens). However, no attempt has been made to digitalize, catalogue and encode dialectal data until very recently, when the Laboratory of Modern Greek Dialects of the University of Patras started developing the GREED Database, with the aim to facilitate access to dialectal data, both linguistic and metalinguistic, in order to share dialectal information with the international linguistic community and ultimately preserve a significant linguistic heritage.