Dialect Survey Research Articles

Scottish Gaelic bithidh , Manx bee , Irish bíonn : a synchronic and diachronic anatomy of the 3 sg consuetudinal present/future tense in pan-Gaelic

To date, there is no linguistic map or table available that provides us with a microscopic comparative distribution of the independent form of the present indicative for the pan-Gaelic area as a whole. Quite a few such detailed tables exist for Gaelic Scotland (§5) but none for Gaelic Ireland. In addition to providing a synchronic distribution of bíonn ‘is wont to be’ for most dialects in Ireland (Appendix 1), bithidh ‘will be’ in Scotland, and bee/vees in Manx, this article further seeks to analyse on a diachronic level the evidence provided for these particular verbal forms by two of the most significantly detailed comparative monuments to Gaelic linguistic heritage: (1) Heinrich Wagner’s Linguistic atlas ; (2) Cathair Ó Dochartaigh’s Survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland . 1

Sydney Speaks corpus: An overview

ABSTRACT Sydney Speaks is a sociolinguistic project exploring variation and change in Australian English. The Sydney Speaks corpus combines two legacy sub-corpora recorded in the 1970s and 1980s (Barbara Horvath’s Sydney Social Dialect Survey and the NSW Bicentennial Oral History Collection) with a contemporary sub-corpus, recorded from 2015 to the present (the ANU Corpus of Sydney Speech). Recordings come from oral histories and sociolinguistic interviews with 265 Sydneysiders, born from 1889 to 2001, stratified according to age, social class, gender and ethnicity. To date, approximately 120 h (1.2 million words) have been transcribed and time aligned at both the utterance and segment level. The corpus makes a unique contribution to the study of ethnic variation: as a longitudinal corpus, it facilitates real-time exploration of ethnic variation, allowing questions around the longevity of ethnolects to be answered; the class stratification of the data allows for consideration of the intersection between class and ethnicity; transcriptions that are time aligned at the level of the Intonation Unit and at the level of the segment allow for analyses of phonetic, morphosyntactic and discourse features; and the content of the interviews both provides contextualization for the linguistic patterns observed and sheds light on Australia’s history.

Factors of frequency and productivity of diminution in early German dialect surveys

This paper examines the productivity of diminution – mainly on the noun – in two large-scale surveys of German dialects of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The starting point is the basic question whether German dialects use differently dimintutive suffixes and which dialect uses diminutives more frequently than others. In addition to morphological and semantic aspects, this question is linked to numerous sociolinguistic, methodological, and phonotactic factors. This leads for example to the general problem, to what extent dialect stereotypes influence classical dialect surveys. The approach is strictly empirical: The data discussed first are translations of the „Parable of the Prodigal Son“ (Luke 15:11–32) into German dialects from the early 19th century are examined (Radlof 1817; Stalder 1819). Subsequently an abbreviated sample of dialect translations of the 40 Wenker sentences from the late 19th and early 20th century is analyzed. Based on these datasets, different influencing factors are discussed that guide the use (and non-use) of diminutives.

Regional vowel patterns as shown by discrete cosine transforms

This project presents a new approach to analyzing geographical patterning in vowel variation that combines discrete cosine transforms (DCTs) with cluster analysis. It offers a means of reducing bias from analyses of geographical patterning in vowel variation. DCT0 and DCT1 capture the overall position of vowels in the vowel envelope and DCT2 adds information about curvature. To mitigate anomalies, these metrics are based on numerous tokens and measurement points. Cluster analysis can then be applied to the DCT data to indicate which speakers are most similar without predetermined groupings. The procedure suggests how vowel realizations are correlated with geographical divisions, if at all, within the area covered by a dialect survey. Here, we apply DCTs and hierarchical clustering to a corpus of speakers born 1970 or later and covering eastern Ohio, West Virginia, and western North Carolina. The results align only partially with isophones from earlier dialect surveys. Analyses of individual vowel phonemes typically exhibit considerable intermixture of forms; clearer geographic patterns emerge primarily when multiple vowels in named chain shifts are considered together. Recent dialect leveling appears to play a role in the paucity of distinguishable regional patterns.

«СЛОВНИК УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ МОВИ» Д. І. ЯВОРНИЦЬКОГО – ДЖЕРЕЛО ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ ДІАЛЕКТНОЇ ЛЕКСИКИ

Background. The article is devoted to the analysis of dialect lexicography and the possibility of using rare common language dictionaries as one of the sources of dialectological research. The goal is to describe the history of creation and characterize the source base and register of D. I. Yavornytskyi's "Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language". Methods. General scientific research methods are applied: analysis, synthesis, description and observation. Results. The stages of the formation of dialect lexicography are defined. Changes in the structure of the dictionary article, the involvement of illustrative material, and approaches to the presentation of the material were noted. The realities of the modern Russian-Ukrainian war actualize the need for the widest possible survey of Ukrainian dialects and the fixation of lexical materials in dictionaries of various types. The urgency of compiling a consolidated dialect dictionary, which will cover the vocabulary of all areas of daily life in the Ukrainian language, is emphasized. Special attention was paid to the publication of dictionaries of endangered dialects, particularly steppe speech. The history of the creation of D. I. Yavornytskyi's "Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language" is described; features of its arrangement; the source base is characterized; regions whose speech is reflected in the pages of the work. The structure of the dictionary article and its components (registry unit, remarks, explanatory part, illustrative material, source of citation or place of recording) are clarified. Different types of vocabulary of steppe sayings, which have become registry units of the dictionary, are singled out. Emphasis is placed on the possibility of using rare common language dictionaries in dialectological research. Сonclusions. The prospect of compiling a consolidated dictionary of Ukrainian dialects requires taking into account the widest possible range of sources of various types. It was determined that D. I. Yavornytskyi's "Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language" contains passportized and semanticized dialect materials, and therefore, it can be involved in comparative and descriptive dialectological studies.

Quantitative Perspectives on the Geolinguistic Structures of Dialect Morphology in Austria

Abstract The traditional focus of (German) dialectology has been on spatial patterns observed in phonology. However, dialectometric approaches have generated interest in exploring geographical structures in other linguistic subsystems, including morphology. Building on this research, this study investigates geolinguistic patterns of dialect morphology in contemporary Austrian dialects using aggregative and non-aggregative measures, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Multidimensional Scaling (MDS), and Cluster Analysis (CA). Data are based on a comprehensive dialect survey with 163 speakers from 40 locations across Austria, examining 120 linguistic variables related to inflection. The results show a clear geographic structuring of morphological variation, which significantly differs from traditional dialect classifications. The analysis of the linguistic basis of the geographical patterns suggests that these differences might be ascribed to methodological factors and language change. Methodologically, it is also demonstrated that the findings of aggregative and non-aggregative methods are complementary, not contradictory. Ultimately, the study underscores the importance of integrating diverse methods to gain a comprehensive understanding of geographical patterns in dialect variation.

Speech reflections in Late Modern English pauper letters from Dorset

The overall aim of this article is to show that pauper letters are a valuable, but as yet largely untapped resource for historical dialectological research. Offering a case study based on 31 poor-relief applications sent by 10 individuals to parishes in Dorset between 1742 and 1834, the article aims to identify regional variation, especially as associated with Dorset and/or the Southwest of England more generally, by comparing variant spellings and morphosyntactic usages contained in the letters with features listed in modern dialect surveys (mainly Wakelin 1986; Altendorf & Watt 2008; Wagner 2008), as well as in Dorset poet William Barnes’Dissertationand the reconstruction of his idiolect by Burton (2013). It is possible to isolate 297 occurrences of 52 different phonological and morphosyntactic features in the pauper letters; 11 of these features are salient across the letter selection (i.e. represented by at least three paupers) and are suggestive of the provenance of the letters. The article also offers surprising findings such as the absence of the prototypically Southwestern fricative voicing, features unrecorded by modern synopses (e.g. unmarked possessive), and the presence of a feature (-indfor -ing) which had fallen out of common use in the fifteenth century.

The most important characteristics of Kubeisa dialect as one qiltu dialects

This research presents briefly Iraqi Arabic dialects including KIA which is under investigation. It sheds on the main characteristics which are the main concern in this research which distinguish the qiltu dialects from other gilt dialects. This may be due to the fact that Kubeisa is a small town located far from urban regions which remains a "virgin territory" that the dialect spoken by its people requires analysis and investigation . In addition to the investigation of segmental phonemes and sounds in context (Deflexion) in Kubeisa Iraqi Arabic (KIA), this study also aimed at pointing out whether this dialect belongs to "qiltu - dialects" or "gilt - dialects" spoken in Iraq. Then the dialect under investigation in this research, i-e., segmental phonemes of KIA are presented. The phonological analysis of the segmental phonemes of KIA was the focus of the current study's explanatory qualitative design, which involved gathering and analyzing qualitative data. The analysis of taped content, comprising sentences and words said by KIA speakers using a tape-recording equipment, is the focus of the current work. In addition, audio recording equipment is used. This study is a qualitative inquiry that is based on the words and writing created by a small group of KIA speakers. This study is descriptive since it deals with information that was gathered in the form of Instead of statistics, use recorded speech or conversations. This research concentrates on conducting interviews with KIA speakers and leveraging the instruments for recording audio activity. In this research, the researcher uses interviews which consist of several preset topics that are addressed to people who become the research subjects. To acquire qualitative data, the current study used semi-structured interviews. A semi-structured interview is one in which questions are prepared ahead of time but the interviewer is permitted to add several questions that were not planned ahead of time during the interview Also, it presents a brief survey of the main dialects used in the west of Iraq, namely HIA and RA (Dlaim Arabic). This research presents the most important results and discussion of findings of data analysis. In conclusion, the most important points in which the research is conducted are presented.

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.

Utah Dialect Regions and Features

Data from the Utah Dialect Survey were used to delineate dialect boundaries in the state of Utah. Statistical algorithms divided the state into rural and urban dialect zones. Twelve features were identified that distinguish the two dialects. Three additional features were extracted from the the Harvard Survey of North American Dialects. The idea that the rural vs. urban divide is related to a greater number of immigrants to urban areas is discounted. Many rural features coincide with those used more by older Utahns suggesting that rural areas maintain more conservative Utah characteristics.

Zur Stabilität dialektaler Formen.

Stability is an essential but frequently underrepresented fact in the study of language variation and change. Although in dialectology the distinction between “primary” and “secondary” dialect features initially led to a certain consideration of stable features as opposed to more dynamic ones, more recent empirical studies have not taken any notice of the former. The question of stability is nevertheless crucial for dialectology. For example, the extent of dialect loss cannot be assessed without establishing which forms are stable. The aim of this study is therefore to address this desideratum by investigating ten dialectal features in Austria’s rural dialects. All ten examples concern variables of the vowel system which show large phonetic differences between dialect and standard variants. On the basis of a comprehensive dialect survey, both a real- and an apparent-time study is conducted to examine the extent and the factors of dialectal stability and change. The study provides evidence for a surprisingly high degree of stability and continuity in Austria’s rural dialects. Changes are not only restricted to a few variables, but also limited (a) to a lexical factor – only a small group of lexemes is not completely stable –, and (b) to a regional factor – only some eastern parts of Austria show a higher degree of change. Other factors, such as the extent of the spatial distribution of a form or the phonetic distance to the standard, do not prove to be relevant for stability and change of the variables.

Investigation and transcription of North Korean for building a corpus

When investigating and transcribing narratives data in North Korean for the purpose of building a corpus, a number of issues arise. This paper discussed these issues. For discussion, narratives data of informants from Yanggang-do were used. When collecting North Korean data, it is recommended to record narratives data targeted to North Korean defectors. And when investigating and transcribing North Korean, we basically have to follow the methods of dialect survey. However, several problems arise in the investigation and transcription process because of the following: the environmental specificity of the informant, the characteristics of the building a corpus. This paper confirmed the following facts. First, when collecting North Korean dialects, it is effective to select North Korean defectors as interviewer. Because it can solve the interviewer’s problem, and it is easy to recruit informants. It is also good for forming a bond with the informant. However, in this case, it is necessary to prepare detailed investigation guidelines for North Korean defectors interviewer. Second, it is better to use the ELAN program when transcribing narratives. Third, the transcription proceeds to form morphophonological transcription, and the transcription must be divided into two stages. Listed Words of 『Urimalsaem』 follows dictionary notation, and Non-listed Words must attach morphological information and semantic information to the word form.

Die Verschriftungen in der Dialekterhebung Friedrich Maurers in Baden und im Elsass als Evidenz für die Verbreitung der Standardlautung

AbstractThis paper examines the development of lay transcriptions of base dialects within a period of 50 years in the early 20th century in the Upper Rhine area in Alsace and Baden. I argue that the spread of spoken standard German can be documented by the development of these transcriptions. In alignment with Ganswindt (2017), it is assumed that the still not widespread standard competence at the beginning of this period is reflected in ‚misspellings‘ in the transcriptions of the dialect, since the Standard German grapheme was associated with the phonetics of the regional standard. The lay transcriptions of the Upper German delabialization by the participating teachers from Friedrich Maurer’s indirect dialect survey from 1941 and the survey of the so-called Wenkeratlas from 1887/88 serve as data.A place-by-place comparison via vector maps allows to localize variation patterns. It can be shown that the ‘misspellings’ – i. e. rounded variants in the area of delabialization – are scattered throughout the area and significantly decrease in time as the spoken German standard is spreading. This is especially the case in the area of Baden, where the amount of ‘misspellings’ diminishes from about 30–60 % to 5–30 %. In Alsace, on the other hand, the amount of ‘misspellings’ is generally much lower and consequently the decrease is as well. I argue that the reason for the difference between transcriptions from Baden and Alsace is to be found in the different repertoire structures with a diglossia with two written standard languages – French and German – in Alsace.

Hands off the metadata!: Comparing the use of explicit and background metadata in crowdsourced dialectology

Abstract In this article we assess the extent to which we can collect plausible data about regional dialect variation using crowdsourcing techniques – the BBC Future Survey – without explicitly gathering any user metadata, but relying instead on background information collected by Google Analytics. In order to do this, we compare this approach with another crowdsourced survey, operated from a smartphone application, which examines the same site – the British Isles – but which explicitly asks users to submit detailed social background information – the English Dialects App (EDA) (Leemann et al. 2018). The EDA has the disadvantage that there is a considerable user drop-off between completing the dialect survey and completing the social metadata questionnaire. The BBC Future Survey, however, only collects information on where users are physically located when they complete the survey – not where they are from or even where they live. Results show that the BBC Future Survey produces a plausible snapshot of regional dialect variability that can complement other more sophisticated (expensive, time-consuming) approaches to investigating language variation and change. We suggest the approach constitutes a digital-era rapid anonymous survey along the lines of Labov (1972), serving similar aims, with similar success, but on a much much larger scale.

河南方言使用现状调查及展望

河南方言使用现状调查及展望

Dialect and Putonghua in Xi’an city

Abstract As one of the industrial centers of Western China, Xi’an is undergoing a process in which surrounding “urban villages” are incorporated into the urban area. This paper reports on the contact situation between the Xi’an dialect of Beishan Menkou “urban village” and Mandarin Chinese. Data collection started with traditional dialect survey methodology which assumes the dialect to be homogeneous and shared across village members. It requires respondents to read a standard list of Chinese characters. The assumption that the dialect is homogeneous is generally agreed upon for older generations but is doubtful for the younger generation who are exposed to modern education and modern life. We therefore stratified the survey across three generations with six informants, a male and female informants for each generation. The results show that the dialect among the two older generations was still homogeneous and shared, whereas the youngest generations showed influence of Putonghua on the dialect. This resulted in a new dialect variant “Dialect with Putonghua features”, which is recognized by urban village members as such. Female respondents generally were conceived of as speaking the New Dialect more clearly than their male counterparts. We also investigated the impact of the dialect on Putonghua and concluded that among the younger generation, a form of “Local Putonghua” developed, whereas the accented forms used by older generations are a variety of intermediate forms of this “Local Putonghua”. The paper further provides details of the changes taking place in the New Dialect in terms of tones, initials and finals, vocabulary and grammar. Words in local Putonghua were also listed.

廣州語 文白異讀 글자들의 특징에 관한 고찰

The literary reading and colloquial reading are divided into literary pronunciation and colloquial pronunciation in the same character. In general, literary reading is used for reading, and colloquial reading is used for speaking. However, literary reading and colloquial reading are not clearly distinguished in the Cantonese Dialect. So the pronunciations of these two types are mixed in spoken language. This study analyzed 127 characters from A Survey of Dialects in the Pearl River Delta and Hanyu Fangyan Zihui. Most of the literary reading and colloquial reading in the Cantonese Dialect are appeared in kāikǒuyīn, gěngshe sānděngyun, and gěngshesiděngyun characters. Kāikǒuyīn occupy 80%, and gěngshe sānděngyun, siděngyun occupy 42%. Literary reading and colloquial reading which are appeared in the Cantonese Dialect can be divided into three categories, that is initials, finals and tones. Quanzhuoshangshēng is divided into two types, one is lower departing tone in literary reading, and the other is lower rising tone in colloquial reading. Among them, lower departing tone reflects the phenomenon of ‘Quanzhuoshangguīqu’. In the finals, low vowels were turned into high vowels. For example, the vowels in zhǐshekāikǒu sānděngyun changed like [ɐ],[ɛ]→[e]→[i], yushehekǒu sānděngyun changed like [oe]→[o]→[y], and the vowels in gěngshekāikǒu sānděngyun, siděngyun changed like [a]→[ɛ]→[e].

From Modernizing the Chinese Language to Information Science: Chao Yuen Ren’s Route to Cybernetics

AbstractAs one of the most famous Chinese intellectuals of the twentieth century, Chao Yuen Ren is known primarily for his founding of modern Chinese linguistics. This essay examines a less familiar part of his career: cybernetics. When he taught at Berkeley in 1947, he read Norbert Wiener’s book manuscript and gravitated toward the subject. His participation in the 1953 Macy Conference marked the beginning of his decades-long work that used the concepts of feedback and information to understand language in general and Chinese in particular. This essay argues that Chao’s exploration of cybernetics was influenced not only by the rise of information science in the midcentury United States but also by the movement to modernize the Chinese language two decades earlier. His phonetic research for dialect surveys, involvement in language reform, and appropriation of structuralism when he worked in China in the 1920s and 1930s shaped his cybernetic interpretations of language in the 1950s and 1960s. This article ...

Using smartphone apps to map phonetic variation in British English, German, and Swiss German

Traditional data collection methods in dialectology have difficulty in gathering sufficient quantities of data from a sufficient range of localities to map phonetic variation at a national scale. By contrast, online surveys, whether browser-based or in the form of smartphone apps, allow researchers to gather much larger quantities of data very quickly. We present results from data collected through such smartphone apps for 100K + speakers of British English, German, and Swiss German. Our apps ask users a set of questions about their language use—such as do they pronounce the 'u' in ‘butter’ as /ʌ/ or /ʊ/ (eliciting the FOOT-STRUT split)—and uses their responses to predict their locality of origin. When selecting their regional variant, users essentially perform a perception task, as they listen to pre-recorded items to make their decision. Using this data we can perform analyses of language change, comparing contemporary data with historical surveys, such as the Survey of English Dialects form the 1950s. The second functionality allows users to provide production data—recording ten sentences per speaker. Both, the prediction and recording functionality enable large-scale, unprecedented analyses of national and regional phonetic variation. In this contribution, we further discuss the challenges and potential of this paradigm of data collection.

Q is for WHAT, WHEN, WHERE?: The ‘q’ spellings for OE hw-

AbstractThere is a wide array of spellings attested in Middle English for initial OEhw- in words such aswhen, where, what, who, which. Those beginning with ‘q’, found mostly in the North (including Scotland) and Northeast Midlands, have long been the subject of scholarly debate. The consensus is that they represented an articulation stronger than [hw], usually assumed to be [xw]. Just a handful of scholars have suggested that the articulation could have been [kw], but there is so far little detailed argument for this position. We propose thatat least a subsetof reflexes of OEhw- words cameat least variablyto be pronounced with initial [kw]. We suggest that this strengthened pronunciation existed alongside [xw], and lenited [hw] and [w], as well as simple [h] with the [w] deleted. We link (as some other scholars have) the history of these spellings with that of northern lenition of original initial [kw] to [xw]/[hw]/[w]. We approach the problem from a strongly variationist perspective, presenting (in accompanying appendices) detailed information on the ‘q’ spellings accessible from LAEME and eLALME. We review all the data, from the earliest attested forms through to modern dialect surveys, including place-name evidence, and we assess previous arguments on the topic.