Reduction of Survey Sites in Dialectology: A New Methodology Based on Clustering

Many language change studies aim for a partial revisitation, i.e., selecting survey sites from previous dialect studies. The central issue of survey site reduction, however, has often been addressed only qualitatively. Cluster analysis offers an innovative means of identifying the most representative survey sites among a set of original survey sites. In this paper, we present a general methodology for finding representative sites for an intended study, potentially applicable to any collection of data about dialects or linguistic variation. We elaborate the quantitative steps of the proposedmethodology in the context of the “Linguistic Atlas of Japan” (LAJ). Next, we demonstrate the full application of the methodology on the “Linguistic Atlas of German-speaking Switzerland” (Germ.: “Sprachatlas der Deutschen Schweiz”—SDS), with the explicit aim of selecting survey sites corresponding to the aims of the current project “Swiss German Dialects Across Time and Space” (SDATS), which revisits SDS 70 years later. We find that depending on the circumstances and requirements of a study, the proposed methodology, introducing cluster analysis into the survey site reduction process, allows for a greater objectivity in comparison to traditional approaches. We suggest, however, that the suitability of any set of candidate survey sites resulting from the proposed methodology be rigorously revised by experts due to potential incongruences, such as the overlap of objectives and variables across the original and intended studies and ongoing dialect change

Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop on NLP for Similar Languages, Varieties and Dialects (VarDial 2018)

Peer reviewe

Evolutionary cartographies of language diversification: Quantitative approaches to the geolinguistic mapping of the Kayanic languages (Central Borneo)

Why are there so many languages in the world and how did this diversity come about? Every day, humans around the world speak over 7,000 languages. One of the most impactful theories describing the processes and mechanisms of language diversification is that of the Linguistic Niche Hypothesis (Lupyan & Dale 2010). The Linguistic Niche Hypothesis suggests that languages adapt to their environments (Lupyan & Dale 2010: 1). Lupyan and Dale describe it, stating that just as biological organisms are shaped by ecological niches, languages structures...adapt to the environment (niche) in which they are being learned and used (2010: 1). Taking the Kayanic languages of Borneo—a subgroup that shows variegated patterns of diversity (reportedly, homogeneity among some dialects while stark heterogeneity among others)—this study aims to test the claims of the Linguistic Niche Hypothesis. Within this framework, I have proposed an innovative taxonomy which identifies ten main language environments or ecological niches, adding to language ecology theory: (1) physical niche, (2) social niche (3) cultural niche, (4) symbolic niche, (5) cognitive niche, (6) linguistic niche, (7) technological niche, (8) developmental niche, (9) bio-corporeal niche, and (10) genetic niche. This study will focus on physical, social, cultural, and linguistic niches—niches which have emerge as most salient in the creation of linguistic diversity within the Kayanic subgroup

Evolutionary Cartographies Of Language Diversification: Quantitative Approaches To The Geolinguistic Mapping Of The Kayanic Languages (Central Borneo)

Why are there so many languages in the world and how did this diversity come about? Every day, humans around the world speak over 7,000 languages. One of the most impactful theories describing the processes and mechanisms of language diversification is that of the Linguistic Niche Hypothesis (Lupyan & Dale 2010). The Linguistic Niche Hypothesis suggests that languages adapt to their environments (Lupyan & Dale 2010: 1). Lupyan and Dale describe it, stating that “just as biological organisms are shaped by ecological niches, languages structures...adapt to the environment (niche) in which they are being learned and used” (2010: 1). Taking the Kayanic languages of Borneo—a subgroup that shows variegated patterns of diversity (reportedly, homogeneity among some dialects while stark heterogeneity among others)—this study aims to test the claims of the Linguistic Niche Hypothesis. Within this framework, I have proposed an innovative taxonomy which identifies ten main language environments or ecological niches, adding to language ecology theory: (1) physical niche, (2) social niche (3) cultural niche, (4) symbolic niche, (5) cognitive niche, (6) linguistic niche, (7) technological niche, (8) developmental niche, (9) bio-corporeal niche, and (10) genetic niche. This study will focus on physical, social, cultural, and linguistic niches—niches which have emerge as most salient in the creation of linguistic diversity within the Kayanic subgroup

Geolinguistic variation of Hebridean Gaelic: the role of nominal morphology

This thesis investigates the geographical variation of inflectional markers used in noun phrases by speakers of Scottish Gaelic. I focus on the traditional vernacular and therefore the data represent the speech of older L1 speakers from one of the language’s heartlands: the Hebridean archipelago. I interviewed 41 speakers above the age of 50 from 18 locations on 10 islands and used dialectometric methods to analyse the data. This thesis contributes to Gaelic and linguistic research by providing: (1) an updated account of morphological and geographical variation in the traditional Gaelic vernacular; (2) further evaluation of quantitative analyses of morphology and macrolevel variation; (3) a theory of the hierarchy of inflectional markedness for Gaelic; and (4) a critical geolinguistic approach to the study of Gaelic and morphology applied to quantitative and qualitative data. The fieldwork component of this research consisted of a sociolinguistic interview, an elicitation task, and a questionnaire to collect contributors’ demographic background and linguistic attitudes. I interrogated the data with regression, cluster, and correlation analyses. The results from these analyses were visualized on maps. The results show that location is a powerful predictor of morphological variation. Locations, as a predictor, are explored through their demographic, topographic, and social context. Gaelic is a minority language under pressure from varieties of English and Scots, and therefore I also explore typological (e.g. contact-induced change) and sociolinguistic (e.g. hypercorrection) contact phenomena as explanations for morphological variation. This thesis presents evidence of considerable morphological variation within localized varieties of Gaelic. The results indicate that more northerly islands are generally more conservative in their treatment of nominal morphology, while more southerly islands are generally more innovative. These patterns correlate to some extent with the percentage of the local population that speak Gaelic, which suggests that conservative forms are supported in communities with greater densities of Gaelic speakers. Lewis is an exception in that it is the most northerly island, with some of the largest proportions of Gaelic speakers in the archipelago. Yet nominal morphology in Lewis cannot be classified as either ‘conservative’ or ‘innovative’. I argue that these patterns can be explained by segmental phonology, historical localisms, and typological phenomena (e.g. independent co-occurrence). Based on the findings from the statistical and critical analyses, I propose that: (1) typological and sociolinguistic phenomena (e.g. phonological variation and hypercorrection respectively) can account for variation; (2) variation can be explained by a hierarchy of markedness (in which more salient morphological markers are more prevalent); and (3) contact phenomena may be interacting with the hierarchy of markedness at both a linguistic and sociolinguistic level. The findings do not suggest morphosyntactic convergence from contact. Rather, much of the variation appears to be conditioned by the internal typological structures of Gaelic

concepts - methods - visualization

While Darwin’s grand view of evolution has undergone many changes and shown up in many facets, there remains one outstanding common feature in its 150-year history: since the very beginning, branching trees have been the dominant scheme for representing evolutionary processes. Only recently, network models have gained ground reflecting contact-induced mixing or hybridization in evolutionary scenarios. In biology, research on prokaryote evolution indicates that lateral gene transfer is a major feature in the evolution of bacteria. In the field of linguistics, the mutual lexical and morphosyntactic borrowing between languages seems to be much more central for language evolution than the family tree model is likely to concede. In the humanities, networks are employed as an alternative to established phylogenetic models, to express the hybridization of cultural phenomena, concepts or the social structure of science. However, an interdisciplinary display of network analyses for evolutionary processes remains lacking. Therefore, this volume includes approaches studying the evolutionary dynamics of science, languages and genomes, all of which were based on methods incorporating network approaches