Germanic Lexicon Project
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All posts to the message board are moderated.
Following are examples of subjects which are definitely on-topic:
- The internals of the early Germanic languages: their phonology, morphology, and syntax; the historical sound changes; issues in the comparative reconstruction of Proto-Germanic; dicussion of the etymology of particular words in the early Germanic languages, etc.
- Coordinating the volunteer effort for the Germanic Lexicon Project. The major goal is to create free, high-quality, comprehensive documentation of the lexicons of the early Germanic languages. ("Is anybody working on making a text version of Wright's Gothic Grammar?" "I scanned a grammar of Old Swedish; how can I contribute it?")
- Questions about correcting pages in Bosworth/Toller and Cleasby/Vigfusson ("Is it OK to reserve more than one page at a time?" "How do I indicate boldface text?" "Why is the Check form complaining about such-and-such?" "How should I handle the specially formatted text in the second column of page such-and-such?")
- Digitizing historical linguistic materials in general: how to scan and do OCR, how to determine whether a text is out of copyright, etc. It's OK to discuss your own effort even if it's not part of the Germanic Lexicon Project. Share what works for you, ask for advice, etc.
The external history of the early Germanic languages is marginally on topic. For example, if you were discussing the linguistic details of the diversification of the North Germanic dialects, then the historical circumstances of the colonization of Iceland might be relevant.
On the other hand, a message about Norse ships or weapons wouldn't be a very good example of an on-topic post unless it somehow related to some point of lexicography, grammar, or comparative reconstruction. The focus here is on languages and linguistic data, not the general history or culture of the Germanic peoples. However, this distinction is not intended to be an overly rigid one.Examples of posts which will definitely be rejected by the moderators are 1) spam, and 2) personal attacks, and 3) posts espousing racialist ideology.