Language resources

I'm interested in human languages, and especially in words, dictionaries and "recreational linguistics". For example, I have a small, but gradually growing collection of printed dictionaries and glossaries, some of which focus on strange subjects.

Here are some of the network resources that I have collected until now on these topics.

General

The basic network resource on human languages is the Human Languages Page. It's great, it's massive, it's impressive.

Dutch/Nederlands

These are some pages dedicated to the Dutch language

• Taalthuis Lots of stuff on literature, style and spelling, etc.
• A Dutch course Yes, an on-line course!
• And here's another one too.
• Van Dale is the publisher of the premier Dutch dictionary. Their site has a lot of interesting stuff on Dutch words. They're also one of our esteemed customers. We developed the Rijmrom.
• Onze Taal is on-line with news and advice on tricky Dutch issues.
• Mark van Elswijk collects "neologismen", new Dutch words.
• See the Taal Pagina for a rather extensive collection of links on Dutch language issues
• An introduction to Dutch slang
• An introduction to Dutch grammar and vocabulary

If you want to see how write the dialect from the region I grew up, check this out.

Opperlands

Opperlands is the name for Dutch recreational linguistics. I'd like to have on-line examples of Opperlands, like: the longest Dutch palindrome, the shortest sentence using all characters in the alphabet, the longest sentence consisting of words of increasing length, etc., etc., etc. The book that deal with this are "Opperlandse Taal & Letterkunde" by Battus (Hugo Brandt Corstius). Rudy Kousbroek's translation of a French book by Raimond Queneau (Stijloefeningen) might also be of interest.

Opperlands links on the Net:

• A new link to Floor's page
• Van Dale has started a series of Opperlandse Puzzels

Clearly, this list is too short. So, if you see anything on Opperlands on the net, please let me know.

Recreational linguistics in other languages

• Fun with words A great page with links to all kinds of funny things people do with words. This is the list that this list should list.
• The Internet Anagram Service generates anagrams for you.
• International palindromes discusses palindromes in multiple languages (but mostly English and Finnish).
• The Dialectizer translates your text in dialects, e.g. Jive, Hacker or Swedish Cook

Slang, humor, games, etc.

• Things people said is about what it says; things that people said, but probably didn't intend to... Rinkworks has other fun stuff too.
• Rap dictionary A dictionary about Rap, Hiphop, and all that stuff
• The Alternative Dictionaries Look up and add "4-letter words" in any language you like.
• The UK/US Dictionary Find out what the American words are for some British expressions, including the cockney rhyming slang.
• A.Word.A.Day Home Page Find out how to get an interesting word sent to you every day.
• Internet Anagram Service Find out what an angaram is and make one yourself.
• The Meaning of Liff Douglas Adams' and John Lloyd's collection of new words for well-known, but until now nameless facts, concepts and feelings.
• The meaning of liff A Dutch version of Adam's and Lloyds's original, by Anne Smit.

Miscellaneous terminology

If you know of dictionaries describing the terminology in some obscure community or profession, please let me know. I'll add them to the list.

• ARTFL Project: ROGET Form
• Cell Biology Dictionary at U. Glasgow, UK
• NASA Thesaurus at NASA
• The Dutch Harry Potter Dictionary

Computing terminology

• Jargon, node: Top The Jargon file.
• Computing Dictionary Computing terminology with explanations
• Internet and Unix Dictionary Internet and Unix terminology
• Internet glossary

On-line translation

• LOGOS' online multilingual dictionary that grows through your contributions.

Other collections

• The List of Dictionaries provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of on-line dictionaries and collections. Check it out!

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Mark van Elswijk for various tips. Some of the pointers came from Maarten Bodlaenders dictionary page, for which I don't have the URL at the moment. 

Gert Florijn - 28-03-05