Linguistic Geography Research Articles

Per Larssons »Öfversikt af Färsmålen»

Per Larsson (1860–1933) was one of the most productive and reliable surveyors of dialects and folk traditions in Sweden’s southernmost province of Scania (Skåne) in the late 19th century. Though he would never publish a scientific work and much less make a career in academia, he laid much of the foundation for what eventually became the Scanian dialect collections of the present-day Institute for Language and Folklore in Sweden. Along with lexical collections comprising several thousand glosses, he wrote several descriptive works on Scanian dialects with an emphasis on the sound system. These were never published in Larsson’s lifetime. Nevertheless, they are indeed relevant to linguists with an interest in Scanian and South Swedish dialect geography. The present work is a commented edition of one of Larsson’s dialect descriptions, namely that of the dialects of the district of Färs in South-East Scania.

Book review: Greg Niedt, New Directions in Linguistic Geography: Exploring Articulations of Space

Book review: Greg Niedt, <i>New Directions in Linguistic Geography: Exploring Articulations of Space</i>

Vocabulary Development and Kinship Level of Javanese Dialect: Dialect Geography Studies

This study aims to explore the extent of vocabulary and kinship changes in Javanese dialects in Yogyakarta Special Region between 2019 and 2023. Data tapping was conducted at a number of observation points, namely in the villages of Kebonrejo (Kulonprogo), Pakem Binangun (Sleman), Segoroyoso (Bantul), Planjan (Gunungkidul), and Ngringin (Gunungkidul). The data were obtained using the basic Morris Swadesh vocabulary, the universal vocabulary of the world's languages. By looking at the data obtained from the same observation points in 2019 and 2023, it is possible to compare the vocabulary developed in Javanese dialects. From the data comparison, it is also possible to compare the level of kinship between dialects to see if there is a shift in their status from different speech, subdialect, dialect, or language. The data were obtained by tapping method with recording and note-taking techniques, then analyzed by comparison, introspection, and dialectometry methods, and presented by formal methods in the form of tables and figures and informal methods in the form of ordinary narratives. The results show changes in vocabulary and kinship levels caused by internal elements, namely vocabulary development, heterogloss, and dialectometry, and external language, namely factors of dialect supporting communities, dialect area development, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE NAMES OF NUTS IN THE DIALECTS OF THE MIDDLE BUG AREA

The article deals with the linguistic analysis of the names of nuts preserved in the dialects of the Middle Bug area. The object of the study is the specified layer of botanical vocabulary. The subject of the study is the phonetic, lexical-semantic and grammatical features, etymology and spatial distribution of colloquial names of nuts, their varieties (including Juglans regia L., Corylus avellana L., Arachis hypogaea L.), fruits and cultivars. The sources of the factual material are audio recordings of vernacular speech, made in 74 settlements of the Middle Bug area during the period of 2014–2016. The article uses general scientific methods of research: analysis, synthesis and observation. The expeditionary method made it possible to communicate directly with informants and record live vernacular speech using a voice recorder. Such special linguistic research methods as questionnaires and interviews contributed to the documentation of dialect speech. The descriptive method was used in the analysis of colloquial speech, while the method of linguistic geography made it possible to illustrate the areology of the recorded floranomens. We managed to record and introduce into scientific circulation 54 floranomens (taking into account descriptive constructions, phrases, diminutive forms and phonetic variants of some words), including 43 names for Juglans regia L., its fruits and cultivars, 5 names for Corylus avellana L. and 3 names for Arachis hypogaea L. Floranomens for hazel and peanut were documented on occasion. At the same time, we carried out a multilevel linguistic analysis of the corresponding floranomens, taking into account their phonetic, accentual, lexical-semantic, and partially syntactic features; clarified the motivation and etymology of the names, documented their spatial distribution in the Middle Bug area. We have provided samples of colloquial speech that complement and specify the information on nut cultivation in the surveyed area and are also valuable in terms of dialectology, phonetics, lexicology, grammar, ethnography, horticulture, etc. We drew parallels between colloquial vocabulary and the vocabulary represented in the Ukrainian literary language. The prospect of further research lays in the continuation of the description of the names of fruit trees in the dialects of the specified area.

Euclide, the crow, the wolf and the pedestrian: distance metrics for linguistic typology.

It is common for people working on linguistic geography, language contact and typology to make use of some type of distance metric between lects. However, most work so far has either used Euclidean distances, or geodesic distance, both of which do not represent the real separation between communities very accurately. This paper presents two datasets: one on walking distances and one on topographic distances between over 8700 lects across all macro-areas. We calculated walking distances using Open Street Maps data, and topographic distances using digital elevation data. We evaluate these distance metrics on three case studies and show that from the four distances, the topographic and geodesic distances showed the most consistent performance across datasets, and would be likely to be reasonable first choices. At the same time, in most cases, the Euclidean distances were not much worse than the other distances, and might be a good enough approximation in cases for which performance is critical, or the dataset cover very large areas, and the point-location information is not very precise.

A Project to Collect and Study the Language of a Group of Contemporary Tihama Al-Hijaz Tribes

A project aimed at collecting and studying the language of a group of contemporary Tihama tribes in the Hijaz, namely: Fahm tribe, Hudhayl tribe, and Banu Kinana (Al-Jahadla). These tribes inhabit the southern region of Makkah al-Mukarramah in the western part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and reside in close proximity, despite the scattered nature of their homes, as indicated by demographic and geographical studies. Renowned for their eloquence, these tribes' language holds significant importance in contemporary linguistic research. The project is structured around two main aspects, each branching into secondary auxiliary facets: firstly, gathering linguistic material used by the mentioned tribes in various daily life situations and communication contexts, and secondly, conducting a linguistic study on the phonetic, morphological, grammatical, and semantic levels based on the collected field data. The research addresses a fundamental problem: monitoring linguistic phenomena in the study sample to answer key questions such as the roots of these phenomena in the classical level of Arabic, their developmental trajectory, and the pathways they traversed to attain their present-day usage. The study yielded crucial results, notably the abundance of morphological phenomena within the tribes, with some maintaining their traditional form while others have evolved. These variations appear in patterned forms in the contemporary dialects of the study environment. The research also revealed the presence of phenomena influenced by multiple linguistic sources. Emphasizing the significance of linguistic geography in achieving planned results, the study recommends further scientifically valuable research in the realm of applied linguistics. Additionally, it suggests that specialized research centers and language academies focus on dialects within the realms of first eloquence.

Between Linguistic Geography and Structural Linguistics

In this paper, we follow the development of Coseriu’s conceptual tools for variational linguistics during the 1950s. Our starting point is Pisani’s notion of “isogloss”, which Coseriu initially regarded as a core idea for his own approach and yet progressively abandoned in favour of the more structuralist-oriented notion of “functional language”, adopted in the wake of Louis Hjelmslev’s framework, through Leiv Flydal’s mediation. Finally, we speculate about the reasons and the implications of Coseriu’s failing to acknowledge Uriel Weinreich as an important source for variational linguistics.

Diatopic variation in digital space

The availability of large amounts of social media text offers tremendous potential for studies of diatopic variation. A case in point is the linguistic geography of Texas, which is at present insufficiently described in traditional dialectological research. This paper summarises previous work on diatopic variation in Texas English on the basis of Twitter and presents an approach that foregrounds functional interpretability over a maximally clear geographical signal. In a multi-dimensional analysis based on 45 linguistic features in over 3 million tweets from across the state, two dimensions of variation are identified that pattern in geographically meaningful ways. The first of these relates to creative uses of typography and distinguishes urban centres from the rest of the state. The second dimension encompasses characteristics of interpersonal, spoken discourse and shows an East-West geographical divide. While the linguistic features of relevance for the dimensions are not generally considered in dialectological research, their geographic patterning reflects major tendencies attested in the literature on diatopic variation in Texas.[1] [1]I am grateful to Alex Rosenfeld for sharing his data with me. This work was initially presented at a panel on Twitter in sociolinguistic research at NWAV 49, organised by Stef Grondelaers and Jane Stuart-Smith. I would like to thank both of them for giving me this opportunity and the attendees of the panel, especially Lars Hinrichs and Alex Rosenfeld, for fruitful discussion. Finally, my gratitude goes to Erling Strudsholm and Anita Berit Hansen for their invitation to participate on the Coseriu Symposium and their patience in organising this special issue.

Geografi Dialek Bahasa Dayak di Kecamatan Sepauk Hulu Kabupaten Sintang Provinsi Kalimantan Barat

This research on dialect geography applies a synchronic comparative linguistic approach with interpretations based on historical linguistic differentiation. The study, which focuses on phonological and lexical aspects, was conducted to determine the linguistic distance between the Dayak languages used by the people who identify themselves as Sekubang and Seberuang residing in the Sepauk Hulu District. The data presented and discussed in this study consist of responses from 21 research informants related to 829 lexical question glosses. This data was obtained through interviews conducted by the researcher with research informants in each observation area. The method used in data analysis is the synchronic comparative method, applying dialectometric formulas and inter-village triangles. The results of the data analysis, which disregards phonological differences between observation areas, show differences in dialect, subdialect, and speech. Based on the analysis and findings in this study, it can be concluded that the Sekubang and Seberuang languages are the same. However, locally, they identify themselves as separate languages. Therefore, to affirm the similarity between these two Dayak variants, the term "Seberuang language" is introduced as a replacement for the names of both languages. This designation is based on the schematic depiction of the broader Seberuang language usage area compared to the Sekubang language usage area.

Anthroponimical Motivation in Animal Names (on the material of Slavic Linguistic Atlas); original title: Антропонимическая мотивация в названиях животных (на материале «Общеславянского лингвистического атласа») [Antroponimčeskaja motivacija v nazvanijax

The materials of Slavic Linguistic Atlas lexical and word-formation series enable to research not only the vocabulary of the Slavic languages and their semantic and word-formation phenomena but also motivational models of nomination. Their consideration in the frames of one thematic group with the usage of linguistic geography methods enables to make conclusions on the inner form of some words whose origin is disputable. For instance, the first volume of the atlas Animal World includes significant number of animal names derived from human names. Their analysis has resulted in some etymological versions concerning the Slovene word martȋnček ‘lizard’ and Ukrainian ра́влик, ла́врик ‘snail’. The first one, as well as Chroat. martinak, martinčec ‘cliff lizard’, is offered to derive from cognate names of insects and worms who live in grape vines and bunches: cf. Slov. martȋnec ‘grape worm’, martinec ‘caterpillar of grape tortrix’, martíncelj ‘grape vine worm’, хорв. martinac ‘grape tortrix’. They in their turn may be the derivatives of the name Martin as it is known that on St. Martin’s Day (November 11) viticulturists and vintners are celebrated. So we can make a careful assumption that the fauna representatives were named after him. As for the relation of the meanings ‘worm’, ‘insect (its larva)’ and ‘lizard’, it is proved by language material. Namely, Slavic Linguistic Atlas includes numerous examples of the meanings ‘lizard’ and ‘worm’ combination in one word. Concerning Ukr. ра́влик, ла́врик ‘snail’, arguments for the relation with the name Лавр are given. In particular, there is a regular coincidence of snail and ladybird names: cf. ‘ladybird’ – (petr)-ik-ъ (Belarus.), (ivan)-ьč-ik-ъ, (van)-ьk-a (Rus.), (lavrjen)-ъk-ъ (Pol.); ‘snail’ – (petr)-ik-ъ (Ukr.), (ivan)-ьč-ik-ъ (Ukr., Rus.), (ivan)- ьk-a (Ukr.), (lavr)-ik-ъ (Ukr.). Moreover, these lexical groups are united by the names of cattle: cf. ‘snail’ – korv-uš-ьk-a, vol-ik-ъ (Rus.), vȏlek (Slov.), elen-ь (Rus.); ‘ladybird’ – korv-uš-ьk-a, bož-ьj-A korv-uš-ьk-a, bog-ov-A korv-uš-ьk-a (Rus.), bož-ьj-Ь vol-ik-ъ, bož-ьj-Ь vol-ьk-ъ (Slov.), elenь, elen-ъk-a (Ukr.). So we can suppose that the names with the stems korv-, vol- and elen-, common for snail and lizard, resulted in the further convergence of their nominations and in the shift of ladybird names related to the anthroponyms Петр, Иван and Лавр (Лаврентий) towards snail.

Preverbal clitic clusters in the Tanzanian Rift Valley revisited

Abstract This paper examines preverbal clitic clusters in the Tanzanian Rift Valley, an area of high linguistic diversity with representatives of the Bantu, Cushitic, and Nilotic families, as well as Sandawe (possibly a distant member of the Khoi-Kwadi family), and the language isolate Hadza. An earlier work (Kießling, Roland, Maarten Mous &amp; Derek Nurse. 2008. The Tanzanian Rift Valley area. In Bernd Heine &amp; Derek Nurse (eds.), A linguistic geography of Africa, 186–227. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) identified preverbal clitic clusters as a widespread feature across many languages of the Rift Valley, and posited the preverbal clitic cluster as a feature characteristic of a ‘Tanzanian Rift Valley Area’. The current paper provides further detail on preverbal clitic clusters across the languages of the region and examines possible routes of development for these structures. From this analysis, the picture that emerges is complex: contact scenarios cannot be restricted to ones in which West Rift Cushitic or its predecessor languages are the only models for the development of a preverbal clitic cluster and, in the case of Sandawe (and perhaps the Datooga varieties), it appears as if the development of a preverbal clitic cluster cannot be linked to contact at all. In terms of what this means for the ‘areality’ of the Tanzanian Rift Valley, this paper forgoes discussions about geographical delineation or arguments for or against a ‘Tanzanian Rift Valley Area’ in favour of highlighting the individual historical events (c.f. Campbell, Lyle. 2017. Why is it so hard to define a linguistic area? In Raymond Hickey (ed.), The Cambridge handbook of areal linguistics, 19–39. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) that may have given rise to preverbal clitic clusters in the languages of our sample, as well as encouraging continued investigation into the nature of these histories, both from a linguistic and interdisciplinary perspective.

External Innovation in Javanese Vocabulary of Banten Dialect (A Study of Dialect Geography)

&lt;p&gt;This research is aimed to describe and to explain external innovation in the variant categories of word classes found in the usage of Banten dialect of Javanese language at the border of Serang Regency, Banten Province. The research problem formulation in this research was the external innovation and categories found in the usage of the Banten dialect of Javanese language at the border of Serang Regency, Banten Province. This research used a qualitative descriptive of observation method with the techniques of engaging in conversation and contact or mutual conversation with the technique of simultaneous conversation. This technique was then followed by note-taking, both from the interlocutors and language assistants. The research was conducted in eight villages in the districts of Pamarayan, Pontang, Tanara, and Anyer. The sample informants in each village consisted of 2 native speakers of the Banten dialect of Javanese language. The research instrument used for interviewing was a list of 314 questions. The findings of this research indicate that each region exhibited symptoms of external innovation, namely the loanwords from the contact with other language at the border of Serang Regency, such as the loanwords of Sundanese, Javanese, Betawi, and Lampung vocabulary. Variant categories of word classes are also found, such as nouns, adjectives, verbs, directional words, conjunctions, agreement words, and question words. Suggestions that could be considered in this research include creating an etymology dictionary or a dialect dictionary. Those two dictionaries are considered necessary because currently, the influence of other language might lead to convergence, and therefore documentation is needed for further study or the preservation of the language in the future&lt;/p&gt;

Substrate Words Examined from the Perspective of Linguistic Geography (III)

In this article we have proposed to present results of the research of the layer of autochthonous words from the Romanian language, namely the letter C (căciulă – ciucă). It is about research from the perspective of the linguistic geography of the substrate words căciulă, călbează/gălbează, căpuşă, cătun, ceafă, cioară, cioc, ciucă in the Romanian language spoken east of the Prut, according to the data provided by linguistic atlases (ALM, ALRR. Bas., ADCC/ОКДА), dialect texts, the dialectological archive/Dialectal dictionary, etc., elaborated by researchers from Chisinau. The identification of native words from the Romanian-speaking area in the east of the Prut with those from the vocabulary of the Daco-Romanian dialects on the right of the Prut, but also with those from the southern dialects – Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, IstroRomanian – allow us to note some similarities regarding their character as preservers of old elements in the lexical field.

Tools of Collecting and Recording Linguistic Data

This study aims to defining the most important scientific tools approved in the field research aimed at recording original language materials from the native speakers. This matter concerns three main tools: questionnaire, inquiries by phone, and investigation through the Internet. This study explains the operational methodology by which using these methods, and their importance in the field of sociolinguistics in general, and the field of linguistic geography in particular, as well as the shortcomings observed in each method, and the recommendations regarding using these tools in field research related to the creation of an atlas for the Arabic language.

The Archived Dialect Heritage and Its Modern Existence

The report presents the dialect archives in the Department for Bulgarian Dialectology and Linguistic Geography of the Institute of Bulgarian Language "Prof. L. Andreychin" of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, which include authentic dialect lexis from different regions of the Bulgarian language territory, collected for more than 70 years. The process of collecting dialect material in a card-index and its use in lexicographic and linguo-geographical scientific works is described. The ways for enriching the archived dialectal heritage with new lexical units and the modern means for its preservation and popularization (digitalization, creation of interactive dictionaries, interactive maps, etc.) are indicated. The importance of dialect archives for the study of the history of the Bulgarian literary language and of the traditional folk culture is emphasized.

PROBLEM QUESTIONS in a process of the teaching LINGUISTIC GEOGRAPHY IN universities

In the article, an author attempted to specify the concept of dialect words as object of learning in the high school. The course «Ukrainian Linguistic Geography» is one of the leading places in the system of higher education disciplines. Possession of the Ukrainian literary norm is a primary task for a student-philologist, but one cannot ignore the fact that it was through the dialectal language that the Ukrainian literary language was formed and exists. The course «Ukrainian Linguistic Geography» in high school should familiarize students with Ukrainian dialectology as a science. Lecturer has inform to students find out subject, tasks, meaning and system of terms, teaches students to freely orient on the dialectological map of Ukraine, analyze dialectal texts, acquaint them with phonetic, morphological, lexical peculiarities of dialects of the Ukrainian language, develop skills of writing dialectal texts in phonetic transcription. In the process of presenting the theoretical and practical material of the course «Ukrainian Linguistic Geography», a number of problem points arise from the principles of analysis and representation of dialectal material. The author analyses the different and common features between linguistic geography and dialectology and takes aims to explore the core methodological and theoretical approaches of linguistic geography. Linguistic geography and dialectology are characterized by a number of common and distinctive features. First of all, it is found in the sources, purpose, subject, object, study conditions, methods of analysis. In the article there were determinate the main purpose, methods of research, sources of linguistic geography as a separate linguistic discipline. In both branches of linguistics the spatial variations of dialect language is object of interest and the visualization of language in spatial constructions is therefore also of growing significance. Accumulation of knowledge about the spatial distribution of linguistic phenomena, about the core and periphery structure language led to the formed of linguistic geography. Ukrainian linguistic geography is a separate linguistic discipline that emerged from dialectology in the nineteenth century and achieved development in the twentieth century. The high achievement of the modern Ukrainian school of linguistic geography was the publication of the three-volume Atlas of the Ukrainian language. Since linguistic geography is not only one of the domains with a lengthy tradition, it is also one of the most progressive fields in linguistics. In general, the course «Ukrainian Linguistic Geography» arranges the students theoretical knowledge, promotes creativity in independent work of students, development of skills of scientific researches, which must be thoroughly mastered by the future teacher-verb. Key words: linguistic geography, dialectology,teaching methods of the Ukrainian language, high school, atlas, core, periphery, vibrations zone, isogloss, contact zone.

Euclide, the crow, the wolf and the pedestrian: distance metrics for linguistic typology

It is common for people working on linguistic geography, language contact and typology to make use of some type of distance metric between lects. However, most work so far has either used Euclidean distances, or geodesic distance, both of which do not represent the real separation between communities very accurately. This paper presents two datasets: one on walking distances and one on topographic distances between over 8700 lects across all macro-areas. We calculated walking distances using Open Street Maps data, and topographic distances using digital elevation data. We evaluate these distances. We evaluate these distance metrics on three case studies and show that topographic distance tends to outperform the other distance metrics, but geodesic distances can be used as an adequate approximation in some cases.

Subgrouping in a ‘dialect continuum’: A Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of the Mixtecan language family

AbstractSubgrouping language varieties within dialect continua poses challenges for the application of the comparative method of historical linguistics, and similar claims have been made for the use of Bayesian phylogenetic methods. In this article, we present the first Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of the Mixtecan language family of southern Mexico and show that the method produces valuable results and new insights with respect to subgrouping beyond what the comparative method and dialect geography have provided. Our findings reveal potential new subgroups that should be further investigated. We show that some unexpected groupings raise important questions for phylogenetics and historical linguistics about the effects of different methods of primary data gathering and organization that should be considered when interpreting subgrouping results.

Multilingual and Multi-Generational Italian Identity in a Netflix Series: Subtitling Generazione 56k (2021) into English

This paper reports an investigation into the representation of “Italianness” in the recent Netflix Italian series Generazione 56k, which was exported to English-speaking countries. This series deals with characters from different generations and displays regional varieties. This qualitative study examined the macro- and micro-strategies used in the creation of English subtitles for the first season. The focus is on key functions of telecinematic discourse, i.e., characterisation, realism, and humour, realised through the use of (a) multilingualism in the broadest sense, including geographical dialects, and (b) multi-generational language (colloquialisms, “unconventional language”, particularly, teenage and youth language, and taboo). Findings reveal a tendency towards neutralisation strategies in the English subtitles. Even considering the constraints inherent in the subtitling mode, these strategies do not successfully represent “Italianness” with its local geographical diversity, and only partially convey the representation of multi-generational language, also affecting humour. The themes engaging millennials, however, are expressed and might be appreciated by an international audience. In the light of our analysis and conclusions, it may be interesting to understand whether younger generations, increasingly accustomed to “multilingualism” especially in Netflix programmes, would also envisage a different subtitling experience.

Dialect differences and linguistic divergence

Abstract This article presents a new type of comparative linguistic survey, analyzing (socio)linguistic variation in a database of 1,155 grammatical constructions drawn from 42 diverse languages. We focus in particular on variation in the expression of grammatical meanings, and the extent to which grammatical variation differentiates geographic dialects. This is the first study we know of to present a systematic, crosslinguistic survey of dialect differentiation. We identify three main structural types of grammatical variation—form, order, and omission—and find that in situations of close contact between dialects, where signaling of distinct group identities is more relevant, form variables are more likely to differentiate dialects than the other two types. Order and omission variables usually only differentiate dialects that have minimal contact. Our survey suggests that social signaling may have a substantial role in the divergence of grammars, and provides systematic support for previous proposals regarding convergence and divergence under contact.