identifying dialect regions specific features vs. overall measures using the romanian online dialect...
TRANSCRIPT
Identifying Dialect Regions
Specific features vs. overall measures using the Romanian Online Dialect Atlas
and Multidimensional Scaling
Outline
• Background– Romanian – RODA – MDS
• Dialects: England, Finland and Romania
• What makes a dialect?
Romanian
Romanian and Romance
RODA: Romanian Online Dialect Atlas
http://www.yorku.ca/vpaweb/romanian/
or temporarily at
http://ericwheeler.ca under research
RODA: Technology
MDS: multi-dimensional scaling
England (CLAE)
Finland
Geography ~ Linguistics
• In both the English and the Finnish cases, “geography” closely maps to “dialect distance”:– Geographically-distant regions are dialect-distant
– Geographically-compact areas are dialect-compact
– Overall arrangement of areas is (mostly) the same in both cases
No Surprise: geography is a factor in dialectology and the exceptions have explanations
North-West Romania
• In North-west Romania, this is not the case.– There are two areas in the south that are suitably
separate– The rest overlay one another in ways that do not
match geography– Areas that we expect to be separate are not, e.g.:
• Oaş divides into two areas
• Both are mixed in with other dialect areas.
North West Romania
North West Romania (part)
Oaş (non-palatalized dentals)
Oaş
Oaş (1)
Oaş (2)
Oaş (3)
What makes a dialect area?
• Selected features show Oaş as a separate dialect area
• MDS on “all data” shows Oaş as two areas, intermixed with the surrounding areas
What is a Dialect?
Different features- Different maps
Overlay
• Technically, we can overlay several patterns on one map
• So, where are the dialect regions?
(I) Distinct dialect regions
• Each dialect region is defined by a unique set of features
• Even though some of the features are shared from region to region
(II) Overlapping dialect regions
• Or, do we keep only 3 overlapping dialect regions?
Multiple patterns
The question arises over and over because:• Every feature has its own pattern• Many patterns coincide in some locations
and not in others• Features that are quantitative have
potentially infinite possibilitiesHow do we put these patterns together
consistently?
Proposal: Dialect Structure
Hierarchy of dialect patterns
Dialect Structure
We propose to speak of the dialect structure• Multiple levels • Dialect region exists at one (or more) level(s)• At different levels, there are different patterns
of dialect regionsIt is the total “dialect structure” that is
essential, rather than any one level or view of it.
Quantity
Quantitative Measures: Raised, word-final /e/ vs schwa
Data from:•407 maps•Field 1
Raised /e/ (horizontal)
Raised schwa (vertical)
Raised schwa is also wide-spread but does not always coincide with raised /e/(cf. 158, 159)
Quantitative MeasuresExamples:
• Is there vowel raising? (Answer can cover many degrees of raising)
• How many occurrences of syllabic /u/ vs. non-syllabic /u/ (Answers range from 0 to 400+)
Quantity in Dialect Structure
At any level of dialect structure, the distinction between regions can be variable because of the quantitative nature of what is being measured and where we choose to set the threshold.
This threshold is part of the “dialect structure” too.
Dialect Structure
• Hierarchy of levels– Ground level, intermediate levels, top level
• Thresholds for variable measures• Views of the whole structure
– View = dialect map at a given level and threshold
MDS can provide one top-level view, where every measured features has equal weight
North West Romania
Reality of the Dialect Structure
Does the multi-level, quantitatively variable structure correspond to something real?
Or, are the patterns just the artifacts of waves of change moving through the speech community, overlaid by new patterns through time
Reality: England, Finland
Distinctions seem to be:
• Clear cut
• Persistent
• Explained by geography (mostly)
So perhaps the dialect structure is “real”
Reality: Romania
• In Daco-Romanian, most distinguishing features are phonetic or lexical
• Fewer morphological or syntactic distinctions
• If the dialect areas are “real”, will they eventually also show more differences including differences in morphology and syntax?
Summary
• RODA is up and working – We have used it to investigate interesting
problems in Romance and Romanian
• Our investigations have forced us to ask “what is a dialect?”
• Our proposal: A “dialect structure” with multiple levels and quantitative thresholds– Open Question: is it real?
RODA: Romanian Online Dialect Atlas
http://www.yorku.ca/vpaweb/romanian/
or temporarily at
http://ericwheeler.ca under research