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Quantitative social dialectology: explaining linguistic variation geographically and socially
Martijn Wieling1, John Nerbonne, R Harald Baayen
1Department of Humanities Computing, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. m.b.wieling@rug.nl
Plos One
|September 14, 2011
Summary
Linguistic variation in Dutch dialects is primarily driven by geography. However, community size, age, word type, and frequency also influence pronunciation distances from the standard language.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Sociolinguistics
- Computational Linguistics
Background:
- Understanding linguistic variation requires analyzing social and geographic influences.
- Dialectometry and social dialectology offer quantitative and qualitative approaches to study dialect distances.
- Predicting pronunciation variation necessitates a model incorporating diverse linguistic and demographic factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantitatively model pronunciation distances between standard Dutch and 424 Dutch dialects.
- To identify and assess the impact of social and geographic factors on linguistic variation.
- To investigate the spread of pronunciation changes and their resistance across different regions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized dialectometry for quantitative analysis of dialect distances.
- Employed linear mixed-effects regression and generalized additive modeling.
- Analyzed the pronunciation of 559 words across 424 Dutch dialects, considering social and geographic variables.
Main Results:
- Geographical position is the primary predictor of pronunciation distance.
- Smaller, older communities, nouns, high-frequency words, and words with more vowels show greater distance from the standard.
- Community demographics (size, wealth, age) influence movement towards or away from the standard, with regional variations observed.
Conclusions:
- Pronunciation changes spread from economic centers, meeting regional resistance.
- Lexical diffusion theory is supported, as word-specific distances from the standard norm are systematic and predictable.
- Linguistic variation is a complex interplay of geographic, social, and lexical factors.
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