51 research outputs found

    Investigating the Relatedness of the Endangered Dogon Languages

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    In this article we apply up-to-date methods of quantitative language comparison, inspired by algorithms successfully applied in bioinformatics to decode DNA and determine the genetic relatedness of humans, to language data in an attempt to shed light on the current situation of a family of languages called Dogon, which are spoken in Mali, West Africa. Our aim is to determine the linguistic subgroupings of these languages, which we believe will shed light on their prehistory, highlight the linguistic diversity of these groups and which may ultimately inform studies on the cultural boundaries of these languages

    Bangime: secret language, language isolate, or language island? A computer‐assisted case study

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    We report the results of a qualitative and quantitative lexical comparison between Bangime and neighboring languages. Our results indicate that the status of the language as an isolate remains viable, and that Bangime speakers have had different levels of language contact with other Malian populations at various points throughout their history. Bangime speakers, the Bangande, claim Dogon ancestry. The Bangande portray this connection to Dogon through the fact that the language has both recent borrowings from neighboring Dogon varieties and more rooted vocabulary from Dogon languages spoken to the east from whence the Bangande claim to have come. Evidence of multilayered long‐term contact is clear: lexical items have even permeated even core vocabulary. However, strikingly, the Bangande are seemingly unaware that their language is not intelligible with any Dogon variety. We hope that our fiindings will influence future studies on the reconstruction of the Dogon languages and other neighboring language varieties to shed light on the mysterious history of Bangime and its speakers

    Bangime: secret language, language isolate, or language island? A computer‐assisted case study

    Get PDF

    Bangime: secret language, language isolate, or language island?

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    We report the results of a qualitative and quantitative lexical comparison between Bangime and neighboring languages. Our results indicate that the status of the language as an isolate remains viable, and that Bangime speakers have had different levels of language contact with other Malian populations at different time periods. Bangime speakers, the Bangande, claim Dogon ancestry, and the language has both recent borrowings from neighboring Dogon varieties and more rooted vocabulary from Dogon languages spoken to the east from whence the Bangande claim to have come. Evidence of multi-layered long-term contact is clear: lexical items have even permeated even core vocabulary. However, strikingly, the Bangande are seemingly unaware that their language is not intelligible with any Dogon variety. We hope that our findings will influence future studies on the reconstruction of the Dogon languages and other neighboring language varieties to shed light on the mysterious history of Bangime and its speakers

    Using Gabmap

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    AbstractGabmap is a freely available, open-source web application that analyzes the data of language variation, e.g. varying words for the same concepts, varying pronunciations for the same words, or varying frequencies of syntactic constructions in transcribed conversations. Gabmap is an integrated part of CLARIN (see e.g. http://portal.clarin.nl). This article summarizes Gabmap's basic functionality, adding material on some new features and reporting on the range of uses to which Gabmap has been put. Gabmap is modestly successful, and its popularity underscores the fact that the study of language variation has crossed a watershed concerning the acceptability of automated language analysis. Automated analysis not only improves researchers’ efficiency, it also improves the replicability of their analyses and allows them to focus on inferences to be drawn from analyses and other more abstract aspects of that study

    Using Gabmap

    Get PDF
    Gabmap is a freely available, open-source web application that analyzes the data of language variation, e.g. varying words for the same concepts, varying pronunciations for the same words, or varying frequencies of syntactic constructions in transcribed conversations. Gabmap is an integrated part of CLARIN (see e.g. http://portal.clarin.nl). This article summarizes Gabmap's basic functionality, adding material on some new features and reporting on the range of uses to which Gabmap has been put. Gabmap is modestly successful, and its popularity underscores the fact that the study of language variation has crossed a watershed concerning the acceptability of automated language analysis. Automated analysis not only improves researchers’ efficiency, it also improves the replicability of their analyses and allows them to focus on inferences to be drawn from analyses and other more abstract aspects of that study.</p

    Bridging the gap between individual interactions and areal patterns

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    Synopsis: Contact linguistics is the overarching term for a highly diversified field with branches that connect to such widely divergent areas as historical linguistics, typology, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and grammatical theory. Because of this diversification, there is a risk of fragmentation and lack of interaction between the different subbranches of contact linguistics. Nevertheless, the different approaches share the general goal of accounting for the results of interacting linguistic systems. This common goal opens up possibilities for active communication, cooperation, and coordination between the different branches of contact linguistics. This book, therefore, explores the extent to which contact linguistics can be viewed as a coherent field, and whether the advances achieved in a particular subfield can be translated to others. In this way our aim is to encourage a boundary-free discussion between different types of specialists of contact linguistics, and to stimulate cross-pollination between them

    Language contact: Briding the gap between individual interactions and areal patterns

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    Contact linguistics is the overarching term for a highly diversified field with branches that connect to such widely divergent areas as historical linguistics, typology, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and grammatical theory. Because of this diversification, there is a risk of fragmentation and lack of interaction between the different subbranches of contact linguistics. Nevertheless, the different approaches share the general goal of accounting for the results of interacting linguistic systems. This common goal opens up possibilities for active communication, cooperation, and coordination between the different branches of contact linguistics. This book, therefore, explores the extent to which contact linguistics can be viewed as a coherent field, and whether the advances achieved in a particular subfield can be translated to others. In this way our aim is to encourage a boundary-free discussion between different types of specialists of contact linguistics, and to stimulate cross-pollination between them
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