Cargando…

Linking Linguistic and Geographic Distance in Four Semantic Domains: Computational Geo-Analyses of Internal and External Factors in a Dialect Continuum

Dialectometry studies patterns of linguistic variation through correlations between geographic and aggregate measures of linguistic distance. However, aggregating smooths out the role of semantic characteristics, which have been shown to affect the distribution of lexical variants across dialects. F...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Huisman, John L. A., Franco, Karlien, van Hout, Roeland
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8211982/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34151254
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frai.2021.668035
_version_ 1783709584552099840
author Huisman, John L. A.
Franco, Karlien
van Hout, Roeland
author_facet Huisman, John L. A.
Franco, Karlien
van Hout, Roeland
author_sort Huisman, John L. A.
collection PubMed
description Dialectometry studies patterns of linguistic variation through correlations between geographic and aggregate measures of linguistic distance. However, aggregating smooths out the role of semantic characteristics, which have been shown to affect the distribution of lexical variants across dialects. Furthermore, although dialectologists have always been well-aware of other variables like population size, isolation and socio-demographic features, these characteristics are generally only included in dialectometric analyses afterwards for further interpretation of the results rather than as explanatory variables. This study showcases linear mixed-effects modelling as a method that is able to incorporate both language-external and language-internal factors as explanatory variables of linguistic variation in the Limburgish dialect continuum in Belgium and the Netherlands. Covering four semantic domains that vary in their degree of basic vs. cultural vocabulary and their degree of standardization, the study models linguistic distances using a combination of external (e.g., geographic distance, separation by water, population size) and internal (semantic density, salience) sources of variation. The results show that both external and internal factors contribute to variation, but that the exact role of each individual factor differs across semantic domains. These findings highlight the need to incorporate language-internal factors in studies on variation, as well as a need for more comprehensive analysis tools to help better understand its patterns.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8211982
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-82119822021-06-19 Linking Linguistic and Geographic Distance in Four Semantic Domains: Computational Geo-Analyses of Internal and External Factors in a Dialect Continuum Huisman, John L. A. Franco, Karlien van Hout, Roeland Front Artif Intell Artificial Intelligence Dialectometry studies patterns of linguistic variation through correlations between geographic and aggregate measures of linguistic distance. However, aggregating smooths out the role of semantic characteristics, which have been shown to affect the distribution of lexical variants across dialects. Furthermore, although dialectologists have always been well-aware of other variables like population size, isolation and socio-demographic features, these characteristics are generally only included in dialectometric analyses afterwards for further interpretation of the results rather than as explanatory variables. This study showcases linear mixed-effects modelling as a method that is able to incorporate both language-external and language-internal factors as explanatory variables of linguistic variation in the Limburgish dialect continuum in Belgium and the Netherlands. Covering four semantic domains that vary in their degree of basic vs. cultural vocabulary and their degree of standardization, the study models linguistic distances using a combination of external (e.g., geographic distance, separation by water, population size) and internal (semantic density, salience) sources of variation. The results show that both external and internal factors contribute to variation, but that the exact role of each individual factor differs across semantic domains. These findings highlight the need to incorporate language-internal factors in studies on variation, as well as a need for more comprehensive analysis tools to help better understand its patterns. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-06-04 /pmc/articles/PMC8211982/ /pubmed/34151254 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frai.2021.668035 Text en Copyright © 2021 Huisman, Franco and van Hout. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Artificial Intelligence
Huisman, John L. A.
Franco, Karlien
van Hout, Roeland
Linking Linguistic and Geographic Distance in Four Semantic Domains: Computational Geo-Analyses of Internal and External Factors in a Dialect Continuum
title Linking Linguistic and Geographic Distance in Four Semantic Domains: Computational Geo-Analyses of Internal and External Factors in a Dialect Continuum
title_full Linking Linguistic and Geographic Distance in Four Semantic Domains: Computational Geo-Analyses of Internal and External Factors in a Dialect Continuum
title_fullStr Linking Linguistic and Geographic Distance in Four Semantic Domains: Computational Geo-Analyses of Internal and External Factors in a Dialect Continuum
title_full_unstemmed Linking Linguistic and Geographic Distance in Four Semantic Domains: Computational Geo-Analyses of Internal and External Factors in a Dialect Continuum
title_short Linking Linguistic and Geographic Distance in Four Semantic Domains: Computational Geo-Analyses of Internal and External Factors in a Dialect Continuum
title_sort linking linguistic and geographic distance in four semantic domains: computational geo-analyses of internal and external factors in a dialect continuum
topic Artificial Intelligence
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8211982/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34151254
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frai.2021.668035
work_keys_str_mv AT huismanjohnla linkinglinguisticandgeographicdistanceinfoursemanticdomainscomputationalgeoanalysesofinternalandexternalfactorsinadialectcontinuum
AT francokarlien linkinglinguisticandgeographicdistanceinfoursemanticdomainscomputationalgeoanalysesofinternalandexternalfactorsinadialectcontinuum
AT vanhoutroeland linkinglinguisticandgeographicdistanceinfoursemanticdomainscomputationalgeoanalysesofinternalandexternalfactorsinadialectcontinuum