Dialectal Variation Research Articles

Inappropriate Identities: Racialized Language Ideologies and Sociolinguistic Competence in a Study Abroad Context

Abstract This article examines cases where two study abroad students—Rita and Jack—problematized the normative use of specific dialectal variants by local native speakers at the end of their Spanish immersion program in Peru. Specifically, it explores what these cases reveal about second language learners’ sociolinguistic competence in a study abroad context involving their knowledge of native speaker norms and the contextual appropriateness of target language variation. An analysis of ethnographic data suggests that Rita and Jack interpreted the appropriate use of sociolinguistic variation from the local variety of Andean Spanish by drawing on prevalent racialized language ideologies in the host community that link non-standard variants to an indigenous identity imagined as incompetent in Spanish. These findings validate a need for alternative analytic frameworks that conceptualize second language learners’ development of sociolinguistic competence in terms of language ideologies rather than objective sets of normative native speaker practices. This study advances calls to develop L2 learners’ critical language awareness through curricular innovation and critical pedagogies in study abroad programs.

Chinese dialect speech recognition: a comprehensive survey

As a multi-ethnic country with a large population, China is endowed with diverse dialects, which brings considerable challenges to speech recognition work. In fact, due to geographical location, population migration, and other factors, the research progress and practical application of Chinese dialect speech recognition are currently at different stages. Therefore, exploring the significant regional heterogeneities in specific recognition approaches and effects, dialect corpus, and other resources is of vital importance for Chinese speech recognition work. Based on this, we first start with the regional classification of dialects and analyze the pivotal acoustic characteristics of dialects, including specific vowels and tones patterns. Secondly, we comprehensively summarize the existing dialect phonetic corpus in China, which is of some assistance in exploring the general construction methods of dialect phonetic corpus. Moreover, we expound on the general process of dialect recognition. Several critical dialect recognition approaches are summarized and introduced in detail, especially the hybrid method of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) combined with the Hidden Markov Model(HMM), as well as the End-to-End (E2E). Thirdly, through the in-depth comparison of their principles, merits, disadvantages, and recognition performance for different dialects, the development trends and challenges in dialect recognition in the future are pointed out. Finally, some application examples of dialect speech recognition are collected and discussed.

Beyond good and evil: imagined nation in Hindi films

ABSTRACT The influence of Indian films on popular culture and the influence of dominant political ideology on Indian films are interspersed with dialectical variations. Although a binary representation of these subtleties remains elusive, while promoting ideological superstructures in society, ‘the relatively mixed, confused, incomplete, or inarticulate consciousness' is replaced with a ‘generalised system'. In practice, the tendencies governing public emotions during moments of crisis are employed as tropes in Bollywood films. However, the ontology of political underpinnings and subversive ideological possibilities that enmesh lived experiences remain smothered by an unproblematic representation of historical events. With this rationale, the paper analyses three Bollywood films Panipat (2019), Tanhaji (2020) and Samrat Prithviraj (2022). These films seem to auger the idea of Dharma and Ramrajya in the construction of a Nation catering to the populist notion of a safe and secure nation under just Hindu rule. The paper argues that these films cater to the framework of historiography promulgated by the colonial historians on one hand; and function as a contrapuntal response to the ideological moorings of the leaders of the All-India Muslim League. This objective is achieved by a stereotypical and binary projection of good and evil by glossing over the ‘mixed consciousness’.

The semantics, sociolinguistics, and origins of double modals in American English: New insights from social media.

In this paper, we analyze double modal use in American English based on a multi-billion-word corpus of geolocated posts from the social media platform Twitter. We identify and map 76 distinct double modals totaling 5,349 examples, many more types and tokens of double modals than have ever been observed. These descriptive results show that double modal structure and use in American English is far more complex than has generally been assumed. We then consider the relevance of these results to three current theoretical debates. First, we demonstrate that although there are various semantic tendencies in the types of modals that most often combine, there are no absolute constraints on double modal formation in American English. Most surprisingly, our results suggest that double modals are used productively across the US. Second, we argue that there is considerable dialect variation in double modal use in the southern US, with double modals generally being most strongly associated with African American Language, especially in the Deep South. This result challenges previous sociolinguistic research, which has often highlighted double modal use in White Southern English, especially in Appalachia. Third, we consider how these results can help us better understand the origins of double modals in America English: although it has generally been assumed that double modals were introduced by Scots-Irish settlers, we believe our results are more consistent with the hypothesis that double modals are an innovation of African American Language.

El Atlas Histórico del Español: un nuevo recurso para el estudio de la dialectología histórica

Abstract The Historical Atlas of Spanish (AHE) is a free-access tool on the Internet designed to advance the knowledge of dialectal variation in the history of Spanish. The Atlas consists of a database of structural features (with preferential attention to morphosyntax) extracted from dialectal textual corpora. For each of the structures studied, the results are presented in the form of a brief state of the art illustrated with maps and graphs. The Atlas aims to contribute to the study of linguistic variation and change from a dialect perspective and extract significant generalizations about the diffusion of linguistic changes in the physical space. In this article we present the main methodological issues that have been considered in the process of creating the Historical Atlas of Spanish: contents and structure, data sources, techniques for data extraction and analysis, and the computer application for creating the maps and visualizing the results.

Коммуникативная вариативность типовой синтаксической структуры движения в сургутском диалекте хантыйского языка

The standard syntactic structure of motion comprises three elements referred to in this paper as subject, localizer, and predicate. The proto-typical meaning of this structure is represented by simple sentences of motion. This paper examines 144 realizations of this structure selected from a collection of texts of different genres and idioms to examine its communicative variation in the Surgut dialect of the Khanty language. Three main variations of the structure have been identified, with allowance for both constituent order and intonation structure. The first variant is found in contexts describing the activity of a specified subject, with the subject being the theme of the utterance and the localizer and predicate representing its rheme. The other two are used when a particular situation is presented as an event unfolding against a specified localizer, with the communicative roles of the subject and the localizer reversed. While both of the latter were found with various types of localizers, the data suggest a substantial preference for using one of them with typical noun phrases and the other with preverbs, adverbs, and adverbial pronouns. Several cases of using a typical syntactic structure of motion at the beginning of texts have been identified, illustrating a tendency to present events from the subject's perspective when there is no contextual stimulus to warrant adopting the opposite perspective. The findings of the study reveal the similarities in communicative variation patterns between typical structures of motion and existence.

不定冠词“个”与江西上饶广丰话的三种无定名词短语

摘要: 作为吴语西部地区的分支方言，江西上饶广丰话在表达无定语法意义时与其他方言有很大不同：除了常见的“一量名”短语和省略数词“一”形成的“量名”短语外，广丰话还可使用“个量名”短语。从音系、句法和语义三个角度对“一量名”和“个量名”短语的观察发现，虽然广丰话中的“一”和“个”还保留了数词“一”的解读，但就语法性质而言，它们都基本上演化为了不定冠词。从“个量名”的句法表现可以推测，“个”的不定冠词用法是通用量词语法化的结果，这与之前发现的“量名”短语在许多方言中表有定意义、量词正逐渐演化为准定冠词的情况完全不同，可看作是对汉语方言指称系统和量词语法研究的重要补充。“一量名”和“个量名” 短语目前在广丰话中处于两者共存，相互竞争的局面，这一情况应该是广丰话同时受到上饶话和闽北、闽中地区方言影响的结果。 ABSTRACT: As a variety of west Wu dialect, Guangfeng dialect of Shangrao, Jiangxi is distinctive from others in indefiniteness encoding: Aside from “ ieʔ 5 ‘one’-Classifier-N” and “Classifier-N” phrases frequently observed in other dialects, Guangfeng dialect also takes “ kɤʔ 5 (个)-Classifier-N” phrases to encode indefiniteness. Phonological, syntactic and semantic examinations of the three types indefinite noun phrases suggest that ieʔ 5 ‘one’ and kɤʔ 5 are indefinite articles though their quantity interpretations remain. What is striking is that kɤʔ 5 (个) in “ kɤʔ 5 (个)-Classifier-N” has been grammaticalized into an indefinite article from a general classifier, which is in contrast with the previous findings that “Classifier-N” phrases are used to encode definiteness and classifiers in this structure is being changed into a quasi-definite article. This finding is an important supplement to the studies of the referentiality system of Chinese dialects and the grammatical properties of classifiers. Currently, “ ieʔ 5+classifier+noun” and “ kɤʔ 5+classifier+noun” phrases co-exist in Guangfeng dialect and are competing with each other. Such a situation is assumed to be the consequence of language contact among Guangfeng dialect, Shangrao dialect and dialects in northern central areas of Fujian.

Лексема Jumal ‘Бог’ в карельском языке: лингвокультурологический аспект

the article examines the specifics of functioning of the component Jumal ‘God’ in Karelian lexemes. Names with the semantics “God”, as well as terms containing the composite under consideration as part of complex words in the Karelian language in comparison with Vepsian, Finnish and Russian languages are analyzed. Objective: to determine the role of the lexeme Jumal ‘God’ in the formation of cultural and linguistic thesaurus of the Karelians. Research materials: Karelian-language linguistic sources. Results and novelty of the research: the author examines the semantic and motivational principles of nomination of Karelian names containing the component Jumal ‘God’ in genitive or nominative construction. In addition, terms with the semantics ‘God’ that are important in the aspect of spiritual culture are analyzed. Their etymological, word-formation and ethnolinguistic analysis is revealed. As a result of the study, 20 dialect variants were identified that denote God in the Karelian language and have different origins: Russian borrowings, substantivized participles, denominal nouns, as well as lemmas of Baltic-Finnish origin. The name Jumal functions most widely in the linguistic picture of the world of the Karelians and other peoples: in the names of diseases, Christian terminology, as well as meteorological vocabulary. In the vocabulary under study, linguistic and cultural contacts of the Karelians, Vepsians, Finns and Russians are traced. The scientific novelty of the research is due to the first comprehensive study of the functioning of the component Jumal ‘God’ in Karelian lexemes

Exploring Standard English: Its Superposed Variety, Historical Development, and Social Implications

The English we learn in the classroom is called “Standard English”. In fact, Standard English is just one of the many dialectal variants of English. Although Standard English has a significant number of speakers in the UK, its relationship to other language variants of English is similar to that between Mandarin and the various dialects in China. Standard English is acknowledged as a superposed variant considering its development in the history and social context. This thesis will attempt to identify the historical and social factors that promote the continuous development and spread of Standard English through a comprehensive literature review and qualitative research, and explore the social and cultural implications of using Standard English as the normative standard.

Hate speech detection with ADHAR: a multi-dialectal hate speech corpus in Arabic.

Hate speech detection in Arabic poses a complex challenge due to the dialectal diversity across the Arab world. Most existing hate speech datasets for Arabic cover only one dialect or one hate speech category. They also lack balance across dialects, topics, and hate/non-hate classes. In this paper, we address this gap by presenting ADHAR-a comprehensive multi-dialect, multi-category hate speech corpus for Arabic. ADHAR contains 70,369 words and spans four language variants: Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf and Maghrebi. It covers four key hate speech categories: nationality, religion, ethnicity, and race. A major contribution is that ADHAR is carefully curated to maintain balance across dialects, categories, and hate/non-hate classes to enable unbiased dataset evaluation. We describe the systematic data collection methodology, followed by a rigorous annotation process involving multiple annotators per dialect. Extensive qualitative and quantitative analyses demonstrate the quality and usefulness of ADHAR. Our experiments with various classical and deep learning models demonstrate that our dataset enables the development of robust hate speech classifiers for Arabic, achieving accuracy and F1-scores of up to 90% for hate speech detection and up to 92% for category detection. When trained with Arabert, we achieved an accuracy and F1-score of 94% for hate speech detection, as well as 95% for the category detection.

Dialect diversity, element agglomeration and city size —— Empirical Test Based on satellite lighting data

<p>Since the reform and opening up, China's urbanization has developed rapidly Behind the rapid urbanization is the imbalance and insufficiency of urban development From the perspective of social and cultural diversity, this paper explores the impact of the diversity of dialect types on urban scale The diversity of dialects leads to the division of trust, hinders the cross regional flow of factors, affects the agglomeration effect of factors, and then affects the expansion of urban scale Using the diversity index of regional dialect types and 2016 nppviirs urban night light index, this paper empirically studies the impact of dialect diversity on urban scale The measurement results show that: Dialect diversity has a significant negative impact on urban scale On average, the addition of one dialect category will lead to a 4.5% decline in the size of the city measured by the night light index 55%. A series of robustness tests and causal identification show that the estimation result in this paper is the causal relationship of robustnessfurther empirical research shows that dialect diversity mainly affects the expansion of urban scale by hindering the flow and agglomeration of labor, capital and technological factorsthe Enlightenment of this study: To build a diversified and inclusive modern city, we need to weigh the costs and benefits of cultural diversity and unity, break cultural barriers, eliminate cultural prejudices, improve social trust, and give full play to the complementary effects brought by multiculturalism</p>

THE ALORESE LANDSCAPE TERMINOLOGY: FORM, FUNCTION, AND SEMANTIC REFERENCES IN AN AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGE IN EAST INDONESIA

This paper aims to describe the landscape and seascape terminology of Alorese, an Austronesian language spoken in the Alor archipelago of eastern Indonesia. Alorese uses unique way of expressing landscape terminology by retaining some of its ancestral Austronesian landscape terminology and innovating relatively new forms, functions and semantic references from its neighboring non-Austronesian languages. Previous research show that Alorese has innovated relatively new forms due to contact with its surrounding non-Austronesian languages. The current paper fills the gap where there has not been any discussion regarding the Alorese landscape terminology outside its preposition function. Discussion on cross-linguistic categorization, such as landscapes in areas such as eastern Indonesia is proven to be fruitful. The Alorese linguistic landscapes are expressed through geographical references and some forms appear unique to Alorese's dialectal variations. In general, the reference to elevations and directionalities in Alorese is achieved through geographical references, such as nala kokar ‘towards Kokar (a town)’ or klou lau ‘seawards (lau 'sea')’ rather than generic land form terms, suchas wara ‘westwards’ which is also an Indonesian loan barat ‘west’. Its non-Austronesian borrowed terminologies include words, such as iti dola ‘mountainwards’, containing loanwords from Alor-Pantar (Papuan) languages dol ‘mountain’. The data of this research were gathered from my 2018 and 2020 fieldwork in 14 Alorese villages located across the northern coast of Alor and Pantar as well as the small islands of Buaya and Ternate. Collections of terminologies show variations in the use of words not only depending on the geographical references, but also relative to the neighboring non-Austronesian languages.

Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of pitch-accent systems based on accentual class merger: a new method applied to Japanese dialects

Abstract Unlike studies of the evolutionary relationship between languages, the dialect-level variation within a language has seldom been studied within the framework of a phylogenetic tree, because frequent lexical borrowing muddles the evidence of shared ancestry. The phonological history of Japanese is an exceptional case study where the phenomenon called accentual class merger enables the phylogenetic analysis of dialectal pitch-accent systems in a way that is not subject to borrowing. However, previous studies have lacked statistical analysis and failed to evaluate the relative credence of alternative hypotheses. Here we developed a novel substitution model that describes the mutation of pitch-accent systems driven by accentual class merger and integrated the model into the framework of Bayesian phylogenetic inference with geographical diffusion. Applying the method to data on the pitch-accent variation in modern Japanese dialects and historical documents collected from literature, we reconstructed the evolutionary history and spatial diffusion of pitch-accent systems. Our result supports the monophyly of each of three groups of pitch-accent systems in conventional categorization, namely Tokyo type, Keihan type, and N-kei (N-pattern) type of Kyushu, whereas the monophyly of the Tokyo type has been highly controversial in previous studies. The divergence time of the mainland pitch-accent systems was estimated to be from mid-Kofun to early Heian period. Also, it is suggested that the modern Kyoto dialect did not inherit its accent patterns from Bumoki but from an unrecorded lineage which survived from the Muromachi period. Analyses on geographical diffusion suggest that the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all the taxa and that of Keihan type were located in or around the Kinki region, whereas the MRCA of N-kei type was located in northern to central Kyushu. The geographical location of the MRCA of Tokyo type remains unclear, but the Kinki and Kanto regions are the most plausible candidates.

Sytuacja socjolingwistyczna mniejszości bułgarskiej na południowo‑wschodniej Ukrainie

The subject of the research is the Bulgarian minority living in the south‑eastern areas of Ukraine. The aim of the article is to present the sociolinguistic situation of this minority. Particular attention was paid to the use of the Bulgarian language in the family and neighborhood sphere. The determinants that maintain or lead to the disappearance of the Bulgarian culture and language in the Zaporozhye region are indicated. Field research among the Bulgarian minority was conducted in 2013–2022 on the margin of research that was conducted among the Polish minority in this region. The leaders emphasized that no one at home uses the Bulgarian language, although some people remember how their grandparents once used the dialectal variety of the Bulgarian language. In the neighborhood environment, no one speaks Bulgarian in this area either. No one speaks Bulgarian in the families, and Bulgarian is not spoken in the neighborhood either. Living in a linguistically different environment was conducive to rapid assimilation to most of the Russian language. In the family sphere and intergenerational transmission, only Russian is present. The research results also make it possible to indicate the reasons for the loss of linguistic continuity among the Bulgarian minority in the Zaporizhia region. Currently, representatives of the Bulgarian minority are learning Ukrainian.

Leksikon dan Distribusi Bahasa Melayu Riau Melalui Fitur Fonologi di Kabupaten Kampar

The lexicon and distribution of Riau Malay emerged because of causes that are closely related to language changes observed in certain elements found in the variety of dialects, regional boundaries, number of speakers, residence, identity and cultural pride, and economic conditions. The purpose of this study was to determine (1) the lexical form of phonology and (2) the geographical distribution of phonological forms that experience variations in Riau Malay in Kampar Regency. This research uses a descriptive method with listening, interviewing, recording, and recording techniques. The methods and analytical techniques used are the padan method and the banding technique. This research was conducted at nine observation points in Kampar Regency. The sample of informants at each observation point amounted to one person. The research instrument used for the interview was a list of questions containing 441 questions. The results of this study are based on its realization: the determination of phonetic innovations based on the discovery of variants that show a phonotactic change from the original variant at the Riau Malay observation point in Kampar Regency. Its geographical phonological distribution is based on observation points and the results of data phenomena in the field that often experience dispersal at observation points (1), (2), (3), (8), and geographically.

Ecosystemic Clinical Assessment of Linguistic Diversity: Greek-Dominant Speech

Purpose: Diversity considerations are of paramount significance in the clinical assessment and treatment of speech disorders in bilingual children and adults who speak a less common language (and/or its dialects). While comprehensive assessment is essential for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) populations, this is clinically challenging due to the indeterminacy entailed in the process and incumbrances in access to resources. This clinical tutorial outlines key considerations necessary for holistic, ecological, and dynamic assessments of speech disorders internationally, focusing on Greek. Method: Pertinent literature is reviewed to provide the relevant theoretical backdrop for the ecosystemic protocol, both conceptually and schematically. Greek is utilized as an example language, aiming to underscore knowledge, tools, and other resources on clinically relevant aspects of dialectal, interlanguage (adult second language [L2]), and child multilingual (L2/third language) variation in Greek-dominant speakers. Results: The tutorial highlights facets of Greek speech and scripts a primary assessment model for clinical use mostly targeting clinicians that are not speakers or cognizant of the language, also viewing speech in linguistic diversity as a sociolinguistic construct. Recommendations for clinical practices are outlined proposing a specific action plan, exemplified by a case scenario. Conclusions: The demonstrated ecosystemic paradigm in holistic, ecological protocols for clinical assessment of speech disorder in CLD speakers addresses the need for nonlinear, multilevel assessment of variable language exposure and use; being sensitive to individual speaker specificities; the sociolinguistic environment; and employing people-first, culturally sensitive, and dynamic strategies in clinical assessment. The stance also simplifies disambiguation tasks regarding the difference disorder dichotomy, enhancing existing clinical procedures.

Self-Study of the MOOC English Pronunciation in a Global World: Metaphonetic Awareness and English Accent Variation

This paper reports on a study in which Polish first-year university students of English, self-studied the massive open and online course (henceforth MOOC) entitled “Pronunciation in a Global World” to gain some knowledge on the fundamentals of phonetics (the notion of comprehensibility, nativeness and identity; vowels, consonants and selected suprasegmentals) and English accent variation. Its two main goals are: firstly, to examine the MOOC’s impact on the participants’ understanding of basic phonetic concepts and, secondly, to obtain the users’ assessment of this MOOC’s attractiveness and usefulness.In general, the results do not give evidence for the positive influence of the MOOC course on the students’ meta-awareness of English phonetics, since there are statistically significant differences in only three of sixty-eight questions between the experimental and control group. Nevertheless, many informants regard the course as useful (72%) and attractive (49%).Although the results do not support the hypothesis of the MOOC’s beneficial role in facilitating the understanding of English phonetics our stand is that this online training could complement classroom teaching as a form of blended learning.

Perception and production of French oral vowels by Japanese-speaking learners: does dialectal variation play a role?

This paper presents a series of studies on the impact of regional variation in L1 (source language) on L2 (target language) pronunciation, focusing on the high back vowel /u/ in French perceived or produced by native speakers of Japanese from the Kanto area (around Tokyo) and the Kansai area (around Osaka). 1) To serve as a base line, the 5 Japanese vowels were pronounced by 11 speakers (5 women and 6 men) from Kansai with no learning experience of French and their first 4 formants were measured to examine their acoustic properties. 2) 25 naïve listeners from Kansai took part in an AXB auditory discrimination task for French vowels including pairs /u/-/y/, /y/-/ø/ and /u/-/ø/; the results were compared with those of Kanto speakers in previous studies. 3) Some Japanese-speaking learners of French (JSL) from Kansai produced the French /u/ with a lower F2 (around 1,000 Hz for men) than typical values observed for learners from the Tokyo area. These results show limited differences for some of the speakers from Kansai compared to the tendency commonly observed with Kanto speakers

L1 grammatical attrition in late Spanish-English bilinguals in the UK: aspectual interpretations of present tense in Spanish

ABSTRACT This article sheds light on the linguistic and extralinguistic conditions that determine the likelihood of L1 grammatical attrition in late sequential bilinguals. We explore whether aspectual interpretations associated with the present tense may be a vulnerable area for the native grammar of 30 late Spanish-English bilinguals who have settled in the UK for over 15 years. Attrition of this property in L1 Spanish grammars has been reported by Cuza (2010. On the L1 attrition of the Spanish present tense. Hispania 93, no. 2: 256–272. doi:10.1353/hpn.2010.a382874) for Spanish-English bilinguals in the USA and Canada. Our finding of no attrition for UK-based Spanish bilinguals suggests that in Cuza’s study, attrition may be mediated by dialectal variation in the L1 in the North American context, where Spanish is a widespread and visible community language. Further, we ascribe the absence of attrition to a specific characteristic of the grammatical distinction between the L1 and L2: where the L2 grammar provides options representing only a subset of the options available to the L1 for the corresponding grammatical property, attrition may be disfavoured.

Derivational Morphology Features in Common Akeanon Dialects

Akeanon language reflects the rich cultural uniqueness of Aklan natives in Panay Island, Philippines. It is spoken in different dialects as Akeanon Buruangganon, Akeanon Nabasnon, and Akeanon Bukidnon distinct from the standard Akeanon used in the central town of Kalibo. This descriptive cross-sectional study used documentary and content analyses to determine the derivational morphology features, and the different variations of common Akeanon dialects in terms of structure, word order, and affixation. Results revealed that most dialect variations of the language are expressed with endearment and warmth, with respect and assurance; followed by an inverted pattern from the normal word order of spoken or written English. Reduplication of base words and affixations using circumfix or confix were noted. Most of these affixes were derivational morphemes. Structure variations were observed wherein a bound morpheme in one dialect changes in another; some dropped an affix but retained its definition. Some Akeanon dialects have Tagalog origin while standard Akeanon words have substitutes in Akeanon dialect variations.