Area formation in morphosyntax

Self Cite

Finding the boundaries of linguistic variants and studying transitions between variants are key interests in classical linguistic geography. However, the definition of boundaries in areal linguistics is vague, and a quantitative characterization of transitions at the interface between dialectal variants is missing. We conceptualize these transitions as gradients, aiming to quantitatively account for the transition patterns which are traditionally only implicitly inferred from visualizations. Fitting of logistic functions in different spatial scopes (profiles as well as surfaces) is proposed as an approach to model the transition at the interface between the dominant usage areas of dialectal variants. Logistic functions can accommodate the breadth of boundary concepts, ranging from sharp isoglosses to transitions with different gradualities. The parameters of the fitted logistic models as well as supplementary measures then allow for the quantitative characterization and comparison of transitions across variables. To demonstrate the proposed methodology, we use Swiss German syntactic data on dialectal variables with a single transition zone.

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Diffusion Of Language Change; Transition Zonesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

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A gradient perspective on modeling interdialectal transitions

Jeszenszky

Stoeckle

Glaser

et al. 2018

Self Cite

“…An important novelty in modern dialectology is the interest in a wider structural range, including morphosyntax (Bart, Glaser, Sibler & Weibel, 2013;Glaser, 2013;Szmrecsanyi, 2008), discourse, and pragmatics (Pichler & Hessen, 2016). As speakers' intuitions about formal or high-level phenomena are not easily captured with traditional questionnaires, extending the scope of research was only possible thanks to new methods of data collection.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Borders and boundaries in Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian: Twitter data to the rescue

Ljubešić¹,

Petrović

Samardžić

2018

In this paper we deal with the spatial distribution of 16 linguistic features known to vary between Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian. We perform our analyses on a dataset of geo-encoded Twitter status messages collected in the period from mid-2013 to the end of 2016. We perform two types of analyses. The first one finds boundaries in the spatial distribution of the linguistic variable levels through the kernel density estimation smoothing technique. These boundaries are then plotted over the state borders for a visual comparison. The second analysis deals with linguistic distance between the states. The groupings of linguistic variables and countries are calculated given the state borders and the Jensen-Shannon divergence between distributions of the 16 variables within each state. This analysis is completed with a measure of variable consistency for each country. These analyses are intended to show the extent to which current state borders correspond to linguistic boundaries. They suggest that Croatia and Serbia still represent the two extremes, reflecting a history of normative divergences, while Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro, depending on the variable, lean to one or the other side.

“…In numerous studies, language has been shown to vary according to a number of extralinguistic factors such as the age (Sankoff & Blondeau 2007;Labov, Rosenfelder & Fruehwald 2013) and regional origin of the speaker (Glaser 2013;Grieve, Speelman & Geeraerts 2013), among many others. From perception studies, on the other hand, we know that listeners draw upon linguistic variation to infer social information about the speaker.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception of speaker age and speaker origin in a sound change in progress: The case of /s/-aspiration in Andalusian Spanish

Ruch

2018

This paper addresses the question whether listeners possess sociolinguistic knowledge of regional variation in a sound change affecting /s/ + voiceless stop sequences in Andalusian Spanish. We tested whether speakers from Seville and Granada were perceived as more Sevillian-sounding and as younger when a stimulus contained the novel phonetic variant, a post-aspirated stop. Word-medial syllable-final /s/ was manipulated in such a way that two stimuli of the same speaker differed only in whether they contained pre-aspiration ([eh.ˈtaŋ.ko]) or post-aspiration ([e.ˈthaŋ.ko]). Andalusian listeners rated the same speaker as younger and as more Sevillian-sounding when the stimulus contained a post-aspirated stop. The recognition of a speaker’s actual dialect was particularly high when the innovative variant was embedded in a Seville speaker’s speech, confirming earlier work that indexicality is context-specific. The results suggest that Andalusian listeners possess knowledge of the regional variation and the sound change and use this variation in social perception.