Dialect Syntax Research Articles

Differential marking of direct objects in Monastirli džudezmu: a case study in Judeo-Spanish morphosyntax

Abstract This article presents a case study on the differential marking of direct objects (DOM) in Balkan Judeo-Spanish, an endangered language (sub)group that still lacks detailed, systematic documentation of its (comparative) morphosyntax. Countering recent claims that the phenomenon is frequently absent in Judeo-Spanish, I demonstrate the robust presence of so-called a-marking as a highly systematic, multi-dimensional DOM strategy in early 20th century fieldwork recordings from the understudied dialect of Monastir (present-day Bitola, North Macedonia). I show that, in our corpus, a-marking in transitive (S)V(S)O(S) structures is primarily regulated by (grammatical) animacy/person and (syntactic) definiteness, such that indefinite DOs are excluded and specificity plays no role. Theoretically, the empirical distribution of a-marking broadly conforms with, yet – crucially – cannot be fully subsumed under, scale-based hierarchies that model DOM in terms of referential prominence. Rather, our findings support the conclusion that a-marking of the DO occurs if and only if the argument is syntactically specified for animacy/person and definiteness. From the typological perspective, the (non-)coincidence of Monastirli a-marking with a co-referential accusative clitic exhibits a hitherto undescribed distribution distinct from other patterns documented for (Balkan) Romance. The present article thus not only advances description of, and inquiry into, the cross-linguistic landscape of DOM, but contributes more broadly to redressing the conspicuous absence of empirical and theoretical investigation into Judeo-Spanish dialect syntax.

On adverbial clauses in Udmurt

This paper presents three types of non-finite adverbial clauses in Udmurt: the ones encoded with the suffixes -(e)mja, -(o)nja, and -(o)ńńa. I propose that these suffixes should be decomposed morphologically and that these non-­finite adverbial clauses are to be analyzed as postpositional phrases. In this way, the paper contributes to the analysis of non-finite adverbial subordination in Udmurt. Moreover, the description of -(o)ńńa-clauses in the Middle Cheptsa dialect, which have not been previously described in the literature, also deepens our knowledge of Udmurt dialectal syntax. Additionally, this study has implications for our understanding of the Udmurt case system, as it makes a novel proposal regarding the adverbial case in Udmurt.

Identifying the dialectal background of American Finnish speakers using a supervised machine-learning model

Abstract This study presents results of two experiments using supervised machine-learning models to examine individual Finnish speakers’ dialectal backgrounds. Data come from interviews conducted with heritage speakers of Finnish in northern Wisconsin and are compared to data from the Finnish Dialect Syntax Archive. The models were constructed and then, following successful validation testing, used to identify the dialectal background of five individual American Finnish speakers. Results showed individual variation in dialectal backgrounds and some correlation to speakers’ likely language input. Our approach offers a new methodological tool for examining speakers’ dialectal backgrounds in situations of language contact.

Dialect word order in the Slovenian Carinthian 18th century books “Duhovna bramba” and “Kolomonov žegen”

The paper analyzes the use of the Slovenian Carinthian word order in the Carinthian early printed books of the mid-18th century – collections of prayers and incantations Duhovna bramba and Kolomonov žegen. The possibility of using them as a source of information about the 18th century Carinthian dialect syntax is considered. Based on significant deviations from the Central Slovenian standard language orthographic norm in Kolomonov žegen and the absence of such deviations in the Carinthian edition of Duhovna bramba, we assume that Kolomonov žegen reflects the Carinthian word order to a greater extent than Duhovna bramba. The work includes a brief description of the analyzed texts and the Carinthian dialects, an analysis of the reflection of the Rosen Valley syntactic features in these texts, and conclusions. The statistical analysis of the texts confirms the assumption that they contain Carinthian word order features. The assumption about their greatest concentration in Kolomonov žegen is not confirmed. According to the statistics, the first part of Duhovna bramba most fully and consistently reflects the Carinthian word order innovations, while its second part demonstrates the most conservative word order. Kolomonov žegen reflects Carinthian syntactic innovations rarely and inconsistently. Such heterogeneity demonstrates completely different views of the Carinthian editors on the admissibility of the inclusion of their native syntactic features into the printed text. These texts reflect the Carinthian word order to varying degrees, which requires caution in their further use as a source of information about the 18th century Carinthian dialect syntax.

Article use in Upper German – a ‘radical’ stage of grammaticalization?

Abstract Despite an increasing interest in German dialect syntax, the study of article use in Upper German (Alemannic and Bavarian) remains a desideratum. This is true in particular for Austrian varieties. The present study focusses on article variation and change in Austrian Upper German and discusses the status of article grammaticalization. To that effect, ‘radical’ cases of article use in Upper German are analysed, i.e. cases considered incorrect in standard German: the use of indefinite articles before mass nouns, of definite articles before proper nouns, and of indefinite articles in the plural. These phenomena are investigated by means of a comprehensive dialect survey (3,599 dialect translations by 163 dialect speakers from 40 research locations). The analysis examines inner-linguistic factors (lexis, semantics, syntax) as well as extra-linguistic factors (dialect areas, age group). The findings reveal a surprisingly high variability and a relatively advanced stage of grammaticalization in some areas, especially Central Bavarian dialects.

Subjektin merkintä tverinkarjalan pidiä-, šuaha- ja voija-konstruktioissa

The article deals with subject expression in Tver Karelian modal constructions, which include a finite form of modal verb pidiä ‘must, have to’, šuaha ‘may, can’ or voija ‘can, may’. Pidiä, šuaha and voija belong to the core modal verbs, not only in Karelian but in other Finnic languages as well, and they are the most frequently and freely used modals to express different kinds of (non-epistemic and epistemic) modalities. According to earlier studies, all aforementioned modals have both unipersonal and multipersonal usages in Eastern Finnic languages, but the variation between the usages has remained largely unknown. This empirical study seeks to answer, 1) how often the pidiä, šuaha and voija constructions contain an overtly expressed subject NP, 2) how the prospective subject NP is marked, and 3) how large a proportion of all pidiä, šuaha and voija constructions are subjectless. The data used represent spoken Tver Karelian from mid-20th century, and as the theoretical and methodological background of the study serves functional dialect syntax.

The Native Speaker in Italian-Dialects Bilingualism: Insights From the Acquisition of Vicentino by Preschool Children.

This paper investigates the bilingualism originating from the native competence of a standard language (Italian) and a vernacular non-standardized local dialect (henceforth, bilectalism). We report results on the comprehension and production of narrative stories by 44 3- to 5-year-old typically developing children exposed to both Italian and Vicentino from birth. Our findings show that all children produced and comprehended Italian. As for the dialect, children can comprehend Vicentino, despite not producing any dialectal element. The study further revealed an implicational scale in dialectal competence: if a child exhibits some productions with dialectal syntax, s/he also produces dialects at the phonological, morphological, and lexical levels. These findings are in line with the dialectological studies on adult speakers: dialectal competence should be arranged along a fine-grained continuum and the dialectal speaker should be considered as a multi-factorial notion. Our study extends this observation to children’s dialectal acquisition.

Dialect syntax in Construction Grammar

Abstract This squib focuses on two main issues. Firstly, it examines the ways in which constructionist approaches to language can bring about an improved theoretical understanding of Double Modals (DMs) in dialects of English. DMs have proved to be a long-lasting, notorious puzzle in formal linguistics, and have not received any general solution today, with much analysis devoted to their constituent structure and their postulated layers of derivation, especially in generative models of language. Usage-based strands of Construction Grammar (CxG) appear to naturally overcome such problems, while conveying a more cognitively and socially realistic picture of such dialect variants. Secondly, and more importantly, we argue that such an improved, constructional understanding of DMs can also contribute to advances in the modeling of dialect syntax in CxG, both theoretically and methodologically. In particular, DMs constitute an interesting case of relatively rare and restricted syntactic constructions in the dialects they appear in, and they are likely to exhibit different rates of entrenchment and network schematicity cross-dialectally. Moreover, the empirical challenges surrounding the measurement of DM usage invite us to refine the methodological concept of triangulation, by sketching a two-step approach with a data-driven study of new types of corpora on the one hand, and a hypothesis-driven experimental account of acceptability in relevant geographical locations on the other.

Dialects, registers and intraindividual variation: Outside the scope of generative frameworks?

AbstractThis article explores intraindividual microvariation in dialect syntax. We argue that in many cases the speaker has internalized a different (sub)grammar for each dialectal variety, in line with the hypothesis of universal bilingualism and parallel grammars argued for by Roeper (1999 et seq.). We discuss the question of how we can distinguish parallel grammars from optionality within one grammar, suggesting that the identification of correlating contextual factors might be a promising criterion. However, we also explore a more subtle type of variation, namely cases where a standard variety influences a potentially more vulnerable non-standard variety in a way that makes it exceedingly difficult for the language user and even for a trained linguist to discern what is what. We discuss whether or not these properties should be analysed as properties of another subgrammar (the standard grammar) or as fully integrated (albeit acquired) properties of the non-standard dialect.

Using social-media data to investigate morphosyntactic variation and dialect syntax in a lesser-used language: Two case studies from Welsh

Data gathered from social media have been used extensively to examine lexical dialect variation in widely used languages such as English and Spanish, but their use to date in morphosyntax and for lesser-used languages has been more limited. This paper tests the usefulness of using data derived from Twitter to address traditional questions in dialect syntax and sociolinguistics. It uses two cases studies from Welsh – the form of the second-person singular pronoun in various syntactic contexts, and the availability of auxiliary deletion – to assess whether datasets based on Twitter data can successfully replicate and enhance results derived by traditional means. The results of the case studies coincide to a large extent with distributions established in existing studies, even ones using entirely different methods, such as dialect questionnaires or acceptability judgment tests. Twitter data also show considerable success in establishing implicational hierarchies and conditioning factors comparable to those typical of the field. Where the results differ from existing studies, the differences may be due to the younger demographics of Twitter users, or to differences in the quantity of data provided by different methodologies. The results produce patterns closer to spoken data than to written data, giving us reasonable confidence in such data as a relatively good proxy for spoken usage of large numbers of language users.

THE EXPRESSION OF ADVERBIAL QUALIFICATON IN THE SPEECH OF PRESCHOOL AND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN FROM VRANJE

This paper analyses the case constructions that preschool and elementary school children from Vranje use to express adverbial qualification. The aim of this paper is to determine which case forms preschool and elementary school children from Vranje use to express the category of adverbial qualification and in which case structures standard language case form enters most easely. The speech of 40 examinees of different age, sex, place of residence, parents’ education was analyzed. The material was collected by the method of spontaneous conversation. Аll recorded case forms are analyzed and described by the descriptive method.The most stable analytical form are determined by the percentage analysis. The conducted analysis showed that preschool and elementary school children from Vranje express the meaning of adverbial qualification by the analytical constructions in fuction of genitives, accusatives, instrumentasl and locatives. They are used to express the meaning of instrumentation, mediativity, comitivity, criteria, distributivity and comparativity. However, under the influence of standard language, the infiltration of flective form was recorded. The standard case form influences most intensively on the analytic construction in the fuction of the genitive. On the other hand, the construction in the fuction of locative is more resistant to the influence of lingustic standard. Considering that the study of the dialect syntax of cases and the speech of children is rarity in dialectological researches, the conducted research is justified and important for further researches in this field and for the teaching of Sebian grammar in Prizren-Timok speaking area.

Viewing dialect change through acceptability judgments: A case study in Shetland dialect

Acceptability judgments are the standard methodology for investigating syntactic variation. While acceptability judgments have been shown to be reliable in cases of assumed stable variation, there has been little discussion of how syntactic change plays out in judgment tasks. This is despite evidence from sociolinguistics that at the end of a change, speakers’ behaviour in production is “unpredictable”. How does this “unpredictability” play out in judgment tasks, where speakers are asked to perform metalinguistic assessments on their use of a changing variable? In this paper, I present the results of acceptability judgment tasks focusing on a particle, –n, available in some biased questions in the Shetland dialect of Scots. This variety has been claimed to be rapidly obsolescing (e.g. Smith & Durham 2011). Combining quantitative analysis of acceptability judgments with qualitative comments made by the speakers, I argue young speakers exhibit perceptual hyperdialectalism in their judgments: extending acceptability of the variable to contexts where older speakers don’t accept it; giving higher ratings than expected given their qualitative comments when the variable is being lost, and generally rating examples which could be perceived as “dialectal” higher. I argue these patterns arise from Preston’s (2013) definition of linguistic insecurity: younger speakers are aware their grammar diverges from a more “traditional” grammar, but the traditional grammar is an important identity marker. These speakers therefore attempt to demonstrate knowledge of an older grammar – but their knowledge is not accurate. These patterns highlight the importance of combining quantitative and qualitative analysis in dialect syntax.

Zenon Klemensiewicz a składnia dialektów polskich i słowiańskich

Zenon Klemensiewicz and the Syntax of Polish and Slavic Dialects
 The paper discusses two issues: 1) Z. Klemensiewicz’s previously unknown research in the area of dialectal syntax, and 2) his dispute with J. Bauer, regarding the inclusion of syntax in Ogólnosłowiański atlas językowy (‘General Slavic linguistic atlas’). It has transpired that the collections of the Archive of Science of PAN and PAU in Cracow contain Klemensiewicz’s materials for Zarys składni polskich dialektów (‘An outline of the syntax of Polish dialects’), excerpted from K. Nitsch’s Wybór polskich tekstów gwarowych (‘A selection of Polish dialectal texts’), as well as the manuscript of the polemic with Bauer’s proposal. It seems probable that, by describing the syntax of Polish dialects, Klemensiewicz wanted to capture the characteristics of the syntax of spoken Polish.

Quantifying geographical variation in acceptability judgments in regional American English dialect syntax

AbstractThe acceptability of many syntactic constructions varies across speakers. In some, but not all cases, such interspeaker variation is due to speakers coming from different dialect regions. However, since neither dialect regions nor acceptability judgments are discrete, it is not always straightforward to determine when variation in a construction’s acceptability is geographically constrained. In this paper, I present one method of making this determination using the Gi* statistic. I apply it to a variety of syntactic constructions, including presentative datives,so don’t I,be done my homework, intensifiers likewickedandhella, anddo-support withhave yet tosentences. Each shows a different geolinguistic profile, revealing different kinds of issues that quantitative analysis can shed light on. The results show fine-grained geolinguistic differences in syntactic acceptability judgments, demonstrating that the Gi* statistic can be fruitfully applied to further our understanding of geographically-based variation in acceptability judgments.

Dialectologie en Nederlandse zinsbouw*

Abstract Dialectology and Dutch syntax This paper argues for a closer collaboration between Dutch dialect syntax research on the one hand and the synchronic study of Standard Dutch grammar on the other. The central claim is that a thorough grasp of morphosyntactic variation in Dutch dialects can substantially enrich both the description and the analysis of Standard Dutch sentence structure. Three case studies are presented in support of this claim: Infinitivus pro Participio (IPP), the clausal template, and word order variation in verb clusters.

Dialect syntax as a testbed for models of innovation and change: Modals and negative concord in the <i>Syntactic Atlas of Welsh Dialects</i>

This paper introduces the pilot project for the Syntactic Atlas of Welsh Dialects, setting out the procedures for data collection and sketching a case study for one variable within the dataset, namely the patterns of negative concord found with the negative modal cau ‘won’t’. This item is a relatively recent innovation, and it is currently undergoing increasing integration into the negative concord system. The atlas fieldwork establishes current patterns of dialect variation, showing significant age variation indicative of change in progress and the rise of negative concord in this context. On the basis of this, it is argued that the diffuse geographical patterns attested are best interpreted as evidence of multiple innovation across a wide area, with new speakers re-implementing the innovation (“multiple reactuation”). A formal analysis is sketched out, treating the change as moving along a pathway of feature change with semantic features shifting to interpretable syntactic features and then to uninterpretable syntactic ones. This analysis is consistent with the dialect patterns and interspeaker implicational hierarchies found in the data.

The Nordic research infrastructure for syntactic variation: Possibilities, limitations and achievements

The Scandinavian Dialect Syntax project was a collaboration between ten research groups from all of the five Nordic countries lasting for a period of about ten years. Besides resulting in a large number of scientific papers and theses on a range of different topics, a concrete outcome of the collaboration was the establishment of lasting research infrastructures in terms of two databases: the Nordic Dialect Corpus (NDC) and the Nordic Syntax Database (NSD). This paper first describes the two infrastructures and then proceeds to showcase how they may be used for the exploration of two selected dialect syntactic topics: the relative placement of sentence adverbs and infinitive markers (±split infinitives) across varieties of Mainland North Germanic, and the lack of Verb Second in wh-questions across Norwegian dialects.

Datives, data and dialect syntax in American English

In this paper, we present a detailed case study of a number of dative constructions that vary across speakers of American English. We show how geographical maps of acceptability judgments can be used to shed light on the syntactic structures underlying those judgments. Those structures can then be used to refine our understanding of syntax more generally, in this case relating to the features of argument-introducing heads. We provide novel support for the low applicative analysis of the Personal Dative construction, on the grounds that this analysis falls in line with a general, somewhat surprising conclusion about Southern American English: that ApplP may occur not just as the complement of a verb, but also as the subject of a small clause or the complement of a preposition. We propose that this wider distribution follows from a featural difference between ApplP in Northern and Southern varieties: that low ApplP in Southern American English is not categorially distinct from ordinary DPs. We then show that even though Personal Datives have spread outside of the South, they have not taken this basic structure with them. Instead, Northern varieties adopting the Personal Dative have made a minimal modification to their existing Appl heads, to accommodate the Personal Dative without adopting the full range of dative constructions found in the South.

Syntactic variation in ‘need’-constructions in Estonian dialects

The article contributes new data and findings to the growing field of corpus-based dialect syntax research. The focus of the paper is on variation in ‘need’-constructions (tarvis/vaja olema+ nominal complement/infinitive ‘need to’) based on the corpus of Estonian dialects. Our purpose was to demonstrate the complex nature of syntactic variation, constrained geographically, individually or by language-internal factors. The study takes a corpus-based quantitative approach to observing the geographical spread of linguistic units. We apply conditional inference tree and random forests models to capture the (co)varying parts of the construction studied. Our results show that variation in different parts of constructions is influenced by different factors, both geographical and language-internal. Lexical variation (adverbtarvis‘need’ orvaja‘need’) and omission of the copula are clearly geographically distributed, while omission of the experiencer is determined mainly by language-internal factors. However, the study has also found extensive inter-individual differences.

Exploring global and local patterns in the correlation of geographic distances and morphosyntactic variation in Swiss German

Using data from a Swiss German dialect syntax survey, this study aims to explore, in a spatially differentiated manner, the correlation between dialectal variation and geographic distances. A linguistic distance was expressed by a measure aggregated from 60 survey questions. To operationalize the possibility of language contact, Euclidean distance, as well as travel times in 2000, 1950 and 1850 between survey sites were used. Going beyond previous work by others, we also explore the covariation of geographic and linguistic distances at the local level, focusing on spatial subsets and individual survey sites, thus being able to paint a more differentiated picture. With the diverse physical landscape of Switzerland making an impact on potential language contact, we find that travel times are a better predictor than Euclidean distance for the syntactic variation in Swiss German dialects. However, on the local scale the difference is not always significant, depending on prevalent topography.