Typological Database System

The goal of the Typological Database System (TDS) Project is to facilitate access to typological databases developed independently in various research centers. The Project has developed a software system that supports unified queries over  multiple typological databases through a single, consistent web interface.

The TDS Project is being carried out by a research group of the Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics (LOT), with members representing the Universities of Amsterdam, Leiden, Nijmegen, and Utrecht.

The initial phase of the project was started in September 2000.  It has received funding from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and from the participating universities.

The project entered the implementation phase on 1 May 2004. Development is scheduled to run until 31 December 2007, after which the project will be restricted to occasional addition of new databases, maintenance activities, and small improvements.

Steering Committee

    Martin Everaert (UiL-OTS)
    Kees Hengeveld (Chair, U. of Amsterdam)
    Roeland van Hout (U. Nijmegen)
    Pieter Muysken (U. Nijmegen)
    John Nerbonne (U. Groningen)
    Peter Wittenburg (Max Planck Institute Nijmegen)

Principal developers

    Alexis Dimitriadis (Project Manager, UiL-OTS)
    Tamás Bíró (U. of Amsterdam)
    Rob Goedemans (U. of Leiden)
    Adam Saulwick (until August 2006)
    Menzo Windhouwer (U. of Amsterdam)

Participating databases

The principals of the participating component databases are contributing to the project their technical expertise, their evaluation of proposals by the project developers, and the necessary information and technical resources to bring the component databases on-line in the system.

Databases currently accessible

• Amsterdam word-order database (K. Hengeveld)
• Anaphora typology database (A. Dimitriadis, M. Everaert)
• Berlin Database of Intensifiers and Reflexives
  (E. König, V. Gast, D. Hole, P. Siemund, S. Töpper)
• Person-Agreement database (A. Siewierska, D. Bakker)
• SPIN phonological segment inventories (N. Smith)
• StressTyp (R. Goedemans, H. vd Hulst)
• Syllable typology database (H. vd Hulst, E. J. vd Torre)
• Typological Database Nijmegen (L. Stassen)
• UPSID segment inventories (I. Maddieson, R. Goedemans)

Scheduled for integration

• Graz Database on Reduplication (B. Hurch, V. Mattes, O. Konovalova)
• Berlin-Utrecht Reciprocals Survey (E. König, M. Everaert, A. Dimitriadis, V. Gast, T. Hanke, C. Emkow, A. Sevcenco)
• Topic-focus database (K. Hengeveld, E. Aboh)
• SCALA/Spinoza database (M. Klamer, S. Musgrave, H. v Halteren)