In SooSL Desktop, you can change the dialects in a dictionary project. Click Tools > Dialects to open the Dialects dialog. Then click .

You can make the following changes:

• add a dialect
• change a dialect name or abbreviation
• choose the focal dialect
• delete a dialect

You can also use "dialects" in other ways, to keep track of things that aren't really dialects.

Add a dialect

Click to add a new dialect, then type in its name and abbreviation. For example, you can add "Texas" with the abbreviation "TX".

Click to save your changes, or click to discard them.

Change a dialect name or abbreviation

Double-click a dialect name or abbreviation if you want to change it.

Click to save your changes, or click to discard them.

Choose the focal dialect

In a SooSL dictionary, one dialect is special. We call it the focal dialect. To choose the focal dialect, click the circle next to its abbreviation.

You can use the focal dialect in two different ways.

• You can use it for signs that are used by all dialects in the language. Then, you should give it a name that refers to the whole language. You can just use the name of the language, such as "ASL", the name of the country where it is used, such as "USA", or give it a name like "standard" with an abbreviation "std".
• You can use it for signs that are used in only one dialect. For example it might be the dialect in the capital city, or in a specific deaf school. This is good if most of the signs in a dictionary are from one dialect, but you also include a few signs from other dialects. 

Delete a dialect

Click the trash can next to a dialect if you want to delete it. 

If that dialect is used by signs in your dictionary project, you will see a warning.

If you click (and later click ), those senses will be changed to the focal dialect (in this example, from Arizona to USA).

You will see red strike-through text on the dialect:

(If you change your mind, just click the trash can again.)

Finally, click to save your changes, or click to discard them.

Other uses of "dialects"

You can also set up "dialects" that aren't really dialects. This is a nonstandard use of SooSL. It is not what we designed SooSL to do. Even so, some people have found it helpful to use SooSL this way. If people are interested, we can change SooSL to do these things in better ways. Tell us if you are interested.

• Compare two or more sign languages. Each "dialect" can be a separate language.
• Indicate meaning categories. Each "dialect" can be a meaning category, like food, animals, jobs, etc.
• Indicate the department or organization in a directory of people and their name signs.

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