Diatopic Variation Research Articles

Inter- vs. Intra-Speaker Variation in Mixed Heritage Syntax: A Statistical Analysis.

Based on the novel data pertaining to five syntactic phenomena (the position of the finite verb in embedded clauses, in sentences with a modal verb, negative concord, the position of focused light/heavy objects in main clauses with a complex tense and scrambling) in the heritage language Mòcheno collected via original fieldwork, we show that there are two populations – one exhibiting intra-speaker variation between German and Italian word orders, and one lacking it; and these two populations are the result of diatopic variation and, to a lesser extent, of diastratic variation. The results achieved using quantitative statistical analysis are partially convergent with those arrived at via the traditional theoretical syntax for Mòcheno, but our analysis has allowed us to shed new light on a series of phenomena that have been neglected or poorly understood thus far. More specifically, and for the first time, we discovered that there is a micro-variation resulting from diastratic (age) variation within the Roveda variety, which represents the only case in Mòcheno in which age is a relevant factor in determining variation. We also show that the traditional claim that the Palù variety is ‘more German’ than is the other Mòcheno variety is to be confirmed; however, we could refine it by showing that German word orders are also accepted by speakers of other varieties and that the acceptability of these word orders in competition with the Italian syntax is not due to their age (no diastratic variation). Finally, we show that the acceptance of German word orders across speakers varies according to the phenomenon investigated: German word orders are more likely to be accepted in sentences featuring a negation, whereas German word orders are more likely to be rejected in embedded clauses. Based on this fine-grained description of the distribution of OV/VO word orders across different contexts and groups and the available theoretical account for the derivation of OV word order given by Cognola (2013b), we propose that the observed variation can be parametrized along the lines of recent developments of Parameter Theory (Roberts, 2012; Biberauer et al., 2014 a.o.). More specifically, we propose that the movement of the non-finite verb form to lowForce°, which is responsible for OV in Mòcheno, can be captured in terms of a parametric hierarchy. When verb movement takes place in all syntactic conditions, including with all non-finite verb forms and when the auxiliary has not moved out of v° to Spec, CP, a macroparametric effect obtains which corresponds to the system instantiated by the Palù variety. The mesoparameter corresponds to a system in which the movement to the non-finite verb form can only be found when v° is empty, i.e., in main declarative clauses. The fact that for a subgroup of speakers from Fierozzo and Roveda OV word order is accepted with modal verbs follows from a microparamter: the movement of the non-finite verb form to lowFocus° can only take place with non-finite verbs. Finally, the fact that OV is obligatory for nearly all groups is captured in terms of a nanoparamenter associated with negative constituents.

Differential Object Marking and the properties of D in the dialects of the extreme south of Italy

This paper discusses two case studies of microvariation in accusative marking in the Italo-Romance varieties of the extreme south of Italy. In particular, the diatopic variation displayed by the dialects of southern Calabria gives rise to peculiar patterns of alternation between presence or absence of the marker a ‘to’ in flagging the accusative. The realisation of accusative case is partially governed by semantic and referential features, i.e. specificity and animacy. In addition, the nature of the realisation of the D head results in a degree of competition between zero marking and analytic accusative marking with a. Given the century-long co-existence of Latin/Romance and Greek in southern Calabria, the relevant morphosyntactic patterns in Case-marking will also be examined from a language contact perspective. We will highlight how the relevant outcomes do not simply involve borrowing mechanisms or template copying from the lending variety but, rather, produce hybrid structures no longer ascribable to a purely Romance or Greek grammar.

Evidential Markers Derived from Visual Perception in Spanish Dialects: A Contrastive Study ofpor lo vistoandse ve (que)

Verbs of perception (PV) are known to frequently give rise to discursive uses. PVs are used, for example, as evidential markers through grammaticalization processes. This study focuses on two evidential markers of Spanish derived from the visual PVs ver ('to see'), namely, 'por lo visto' and 'se ve (que)'. Although the attention dedicated to these evidential markers in Spanish has increased considerably in recent years, contrastive studies have not taken into account the dialectal variation of this phenomenon. We aspire to take a first step in filling this gap by contrastively studying 'por lo visto' and 'se ve (que)' in different dialects of Spanish by means of a comprehensive, empirical study. The results display the distribution of 'por lo visto' and 'se ve (que)' in the dialectal map of Spanish. In addition to the diatopic variation, the frequency differences also reveal some significant diaphasic variation (in this case linked to discursive genre). In general, the results show that 'se ve (que)' is used more frequently and appears more often in informal registers than 'por lo visto'. Likewise, 'se ve (que)' turns out to be more widespread geographically than 'por lo visto'.

ФРАНСИЙСКИЙ КАК КАМЕНЬ ПРЕТКНОВЕНИЯ В ИСТОРИИ ФРАНЦУЗСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

Criticism of the concept of the formation of the French language on the basis of the francien dialect, presented in the works of XIX-XX centuries, has led to the fact that the term and the concept of «Francien» has become a kind of stumbling block in solving many questions of the formation and evolution of the French language. Analysis of the criticism of the traditional history of the French language, of the discussions about the formation of the French language and the role of the Francien dialect in this process, of the questions of the diatopic variation of the French and Old French showed the theoretical and methodological importance of consistently separating the language and writing, dialect and scriptа, text of the work and text of the manuscript. The analysis of the arguments given by the opponents of the Francien dialect and its special role in the history of the French language showed their failure. The selection of the Francien dialect and the Francien scripta as dialect and scripta of Ile-de-France is necessary for an adequate description of the linguistic situation in the Old and middle French periods.

L’élaboration du lexique français médiéval – variation diatopique, sélection et changement lexicaux

The article examines some basic questions about the diatopic varia-tion, the lexical selection and lexical change in Old French. In particular, therole,statusandquantitativedimensionoflexicalregionalismsandlexicalchangeis discussed. The selection processes in vocabulary, which in the different regionsand political contexts of thelangue d’oilare carried out with varying speed andintensity, are exemplified by a lexical analysis of two texts, a donation-documentwritten in a Lorrain monastery in 1234 and a marriage contract established in theFrench Royal Chancery in 1301. While nearly a third of the vocabulary of the Lor-raine document is no longer part of today’s standard French, the vocabulary ofthe record of the Royal Chancery is in the 13thcentury already very close to thatwhat will become the vocabulary of the future (and today’s) standard.

O alumnado galego ante as variedades dialectais propias e alleas

Presentamos neste artigo parte dos resultados dunha investigación realizada coa técnica do grupo de discusión entre o alumnado do último curso de secundaria de diferentes puntos de Galicia. A análise do discurso do alumnado centrámola nesta ocasión arredor da variación diatópica, desde o nivel de coñecemento ata a valoración da diversidade que o alumnado desta idade posúe, tanto sobre o castelán coma sobre o galego. Nesta última lingua puxemos o foco para analizar máis polo miúdo a forma en que o estudantado galegofalante denominaba e valoraba o seu xeito de falar, aspecto que nos levou a afondar na cuestión do castrapo.

Menderatzen ez ditugun aditz-formak saihesteko: euskal aditzaren gramatikaren erdigunea eta periferia

This article deals with the morphological reflection of the interaction between argument relations and TAM exponents in Basque, as well as the diachronic, sociolinguistic, and diatopic variation observed in this area. The more an inflected auxiliary represents marked values, the higher its proneness to obsolescence. This explains why certain auxiliary forms are virtually non-existent in corpora. Moreover, morphemic obliteration and routinization lead to the reanalysis of once polymorphemic sequences to a single morpheme. If they are sufficiently frequent, such morphologically complex forms are then stored as ‘single processing units’. Less frequent forms in contrast never enter the morpheme inventory as fused morphemes. As a result, they are marginalized and pushed to the periphery of the linguistic system. The discrepancy between the combinatorial potential of verbal morphology on the one hand, and the frequency of forms in real-language corpora has important consequences for an adequate description of the language as well as its development. The possible number of forms is immense – this is why we find large numbers of tables with elaborate paradigms in most grammatical descriptions of Basque. However, these descriptions produce a false impression, as present-day spoken Basque uses only a small subset of all possible forms. The two approaches —list all the possible forms vs. list frequently attested forms— can be unified though, if we locate possible forms along a cline leading from the core of the grammatical system to its periphery. Whereas the core contains the most frequent and stable forms, the outer periphery contains forms which exist only in theory, with intermediate forms being subject to a great deal of intra-speaker, inter-speaker, and interdialectal variation. And while a peripheral form does not violate any grammatical rule, (most) speakers will avoid it, as their primary aim is not to exploit the morphological potential of the system, but to make themselves understood. The concepts of core vs. periphery can be applied to other grammatical systems where an inflation of morphological forms leads to a hierarchical organization of the system. As for linguistic typology, the Basque scenario is an illustration of what is likely to happen when a language is simultaneously high on the indices of synthesis and fusion.

Wohin strebt die differentielle Objektmarkierung im Spanischen?

Abstract Differential Object Marking (DOM) in Spanish has been studied under various aspects: Spanish as a typical DOM language in typology, Spanish as the most salient Romance DOM language, Spanish and its diachronic evolution and diatopic variation. The present paper discusses different accounts that were given in the literature for the emergence and tendencies of DOM in Spanish. It tries to show that there is, apart from all the semantic and syntactic factors traditionally discussed, an overall basic value of DOM in Spanish which can be extracted analysing those cases where the presence or absence of DOM establishes an obvious opposition in meaning. It is claimed that the contemporary system emerged in Early Modern Spanish and that it seems rather stable in the Spanish speaking world. Furthermore, as a contemporary tendency within this system there seems to be an increase of DOM in cases where marking is facultative, with regional differences within the Spanish speaking world.

Exploring morphosyntactic variation in dialects of English across the world

The Mouton World Atlas of Variation in English (WAVE), edited by Bernd Kortmann and Kerstin Lunkenheimer, is an impressive and significant achievement. Consisting of almost 1,000 pages of detailed accounts of morphosyntactic patterns in 55 varieties of English from around the world (with some analysis of a further 19) by an international range of experts (many of whom are native speakers of the varieties they describe), WAVE represents a major step forward in our understanding of dialect variation in English and illustrates in fine detail a vast array of linguistic systems that fall under the umbrella ‘English’ across the world today. Using a list of 235 morphosyntactic features, WAVE explores diatopic variation in L1, L2 and pidgin/creole varieties across the globe, illustrating the results in 96 full-colour maps, and investigates the deeper relationships between the varieties in 23 colour-coded phenetic networks. It is a veritable feast for the eyes, but there is so much detail in it that it is much more than that; it is, in fact, a huge database echoing in many ways The World Atlas of Language Structures (Haspelmath et al. 2005) in its depth and breadth.

Norma policéntrica del español frente a la traducción jurídica polaco‑española

Polycentric Spanish Norm Towards the Polish‑Spanish Legal Translation The Spanish, being the official language of Spain and many other countries, is characterized by an important dialectal diversity that is reflected in the differences at all linguistic levels: phonetic, morphological, syntactic and lexico‑semantic, etc. All these differences raise controversies and discussions about the existence of a linguistic norm depending on the perspective that can have a monocentric or polycentric character. In this contribution we present some arguments for the second one. To this end, we rely on translations, starting simultaneously from the semasiological and onomasiological perspective, of some Polish‑Spanish legal terms in which it is essential to take into account, the diatopic variation as well as the norm whose character is polycentric.

La référence temporelle au futur dans les bulletins météo en France et au Québec : regard variationniste sur l’oral préparé

The distribution of variants used to express future temporal reference has been the object of many studies, focused on conversational speech or on written data. This article sheds new light on the issue by studying future markers in a communicative setting which consists of prepared speech (the televised weather forecast) from a diatopic perspective (comparison of French and Quebecois corpora). The distributional analysis points to a distribution of variants specific to this discursive setting. Furthermore, the Goldvarb X multivariate analysis reveals diatopic variation and the influence of some linguistic factors, most notably the type of verb, as well as the effect of constraints specific to the two speech communities under study.

Translating English verbal collocations into Spanish

Language varieties should be taken into account in order to enhance fluency and naturalness of translated texts. In this paper we will examine the collocational verbal range for prima-facie translation equivalents of words like decision and dilemma, which in both languages denote the act or process of reaching a resolution after consideration, resolving a question or deciding something. We will be mainly concerned with diatopic variation in Spanish. To this end, we set out to develop a giga-token corpus-based protocol which includes a detailed and reproducible methodology sufficient to detect collocational peculiarities of transnational languages. To our knowledge, this is one of the first observational studies of this kind. The paper is organised as follows. Section 1 introduces some basic issues about the translation of collocations against the background of languages’ anisomorphism. Section 2 provides a feature characterisation of collocations. Section 3 deals with the choice of corpora, corpus tools, nodes and patterns. Section 4 covers the automatic retrieval of the selected verb + noun (object) collocations in general Spanish and the co-existing national varieties. Special attention is paid to comparative results in terms of similarities and mismatches. Section 5 presents conclusions and outlines avenues of further research.

Variation and optionality in clitic climbing in Argentinean Spanish

Since Cinque’s (2006:31-32) four-way typology of languages in terms of clitic climbing (CC, herein), those in which CC displays optionality, such as Argentinean Spanish (ArgSp, herein), remain poorly understood. This paper aims to address this need. Here, we show that: (i) empirically, CC has remained a prevalent option in spoken ArgSp since its incipient stage (Davies 1995), yet at the same time we reveal significant diatopic variation in terms of optionality; (ii) theoretically, we capture this optionality partly in terms of ‘parametric hierarchies’ (Biberauer & Roberts 2012) with no considerable impact otherwise on any macro/meso-parameter in this variety. However, in order to fully explain our data, we postulate that the macro-parameter setting makes a Pool of Variants (in the spirit of Adger (2013) and Adger & Smith (2007)) available, in which there are options for CC spell out: proclisis on the matrix or enclisis on the embedded verb(s). Crucially these options do not yield interpretive effects and, therefore, the drive behind the clitic position is lexical. The probability with which one of the clitic spell out positions is selected is claimed to depend at least in part on frequency, behind which we expect a variety of sociolinguistic factors.

Os prefixos na historia do portugués: unha aproximación semántica e cognitiva

A partir dun corpus medieval, o artigo analiza a evolución e o comportamento histórico dos prefixos a(d)-, re-, en-, des- e es- en determinadas unidades léxicas, co obxectivo de avaliar a importancia das motivacións semánticas e cognitivas no cambio derivativo, así como de determinar a dirección deste. Establécese unha comparación entre a variación morfosemántica deses prefixos no portugués medieval e no portugués europeo (incluíndo variedades dialectais), incidindo en cuestións de produtividade, redundancia, recategorización, polisemia e especialización semántica. Conclúese que as motivacións para os cambios derivativos, xeralmente semánticas e cognitivas, son extremadamente importantes e requiren a inclusión tanto dunha perspectiva diacrónica como da variación diatópica en calquera estudo sistemático da morfoloxía derivativa do portugués.

Variación alofónica y diatópica del fonema /b/ en el español de profesionales chilenos en situación de lectura en voz alta

In this study, data on the phonetic and diatopic variation of /b/ phoneme produced by Chilean professionals is presented. The results showed five variants of...

Crowdsourcing dialect characterization through Twitter.

We perform a large-scale analysis of language diatopic variation using geotagged microblogging datasets. By collecting all Twitter messages written in Spanish over more than two years, we build a corpus from which a carefully selected list of concepts allows us to characterize Spanish varieties on a global scale. A cluster analysis proves the existence of well defined macroregions sharing common lexical properties. Remarkably enough, we find that Spanish language is split into two superdialects, namely, an urban speech used across major American and Spanish citites and a diverse form that encompasses rural areas and small towns. The latter can be further clustered into smaller varieties with a stronger regional character.

Dialects in Norway – between tolerance and standardization

Norwegian is peculiar not only with a view to the written language, which has two official standards, but also regarding the spoken language, which lacks a standardized form. In fact, Norway is one of the most dialect-speaking countries in Europe. The use of a regional dialect in all fields of one’s life is rather perceived as part of one’s identity, and a sign of democracy and decentralization. Although theoretically there are four main dialects, in practice the variety of dialects differing in grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation is much wider, and depends on the part of the country or even on a specific town. The present paper is mainly focused on analyzing how the issue of diatopic variation in the Norwegian spoken language has been depicted in recent years (2008-2012) in Norway’s largest daily newspaper, Aftenposten. Even if dialects are accepted in everyday life, one of the recurrent debates in the newspaper is however related to using a standard form at least in the news programs from the largest Norwegian television and radio company, NRK, where the language ought to be considered a point of reference. Another topic of interest is related to the dialects used in dubbing in children’s television series.

The ParticlePoIn The Varieties Of Dolomitic Ladin – Grammaticalisation From A Temporal Adverb Into An Interrogative Marker

AbstractThe particlepois used in many varieties of the Northern Italian area, but these varieties differ regarding use and function of the particle. Focusing on the varieties of Dolomitic Ladin I show thatpohas undergone a grammaticalisation process, evolving from a temporal adverb via various stages such as that of a focus particle into an (obligatory) question marker. The synchronic diatopic variation with respect to use and function ofpomirrors the diachronic development of the particle. The second part of the paper addresses the syntax of the particle. The variation in Dolomitic Ladin interrogatives provides evidence for a split‐CPanalysis à la Rizzi (,) and Poletto (,). I also propose an implementation of the variation found in Dolomitic Ladin interrogatives within Roberts & Rousssou's (,) formal approach to cross‐linguistic variation showing that the Dolomitic Ladin facts corroborate an approach to grammaticalisation in terms of a change from themoveto themergeoption for the realisation of functional features.

Diatopic Variation and the Study of Regional French

Diatopic Variation and the Study of Regional French

Varietà del repertorio della comunità linguistica italiana e l’insegnamento dell’italiano a livelli avanzati

This paper is devoted to the problems of teaching Italian language at an advanced level in the context of the internal diversification of Italian language: diatopic variation, diastratic variation, diamesic variation, diaphasic variation. In the process of language acquisition the so called Variation Awareness plays a vital role. It allows the learner – aided by the teacher – to attain communicative competence in the broad sense of its meaning. In case of teaching at an advanced level, the emphasis must be put not only on the grammatical correctness, but also, and mainly, on the ability to properly relate the message to the context it appears in, moreover, the kind of message – oral or written – must be taken into account. In relation to the linguistic situation in contemporary Italy, it is also important to draw the attention of a learner to diatopic variations (linguistic regional variations) as well as diastratic ones (matching the message to the social status of the interlocutor ). In the final part of the article there are specific suggestions of how to make use of available sources, so as to enable a combination of theory and practice.