Dialect change and its consequences for the Dutch dialect landscape: How much is due to the standard variety and how much is not?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Dialect change and its consequences for the Dutch dialect landscape

T2 - How much is due to the standard variety and how much is not?

AU - Hinskens, F.L.M.P.

AU - Heeringa, W.J.

PY - 2015/6/22

Y1 - 2015/6/22

N2 - We recorded older male speakers and younger female speakers of 86 local dialects of Dutch. Using these data, we analyze and visualize the influence of standard Dutch on apparent time changes in these dialects. Focusing for the most part on variation in the sound components, we test whether (I) dialect change is mainly the result of convergence to standard Dutch, (II) sound changes in two dialects which make them converge to standard Dutch also make them more similar, and (III) sound changes in two dialects which make them diverge from standard Dutch also make them less similar. We usedthree-dimensional (first hypothesis) and five-dimensional Levenshtein distance implementations (second and third hypothesis). These implementations are a novel step in dialectometry and in the study of ongoing processes of languagechange and their consequences for the dialect landscape. The findings corroborate all three hypotheses.

AB - We recorded older male speakers and younger female speakers of 86 local dialects of Dutch. Using these data, we analyze and visualize the influence of standard Dutch on apparent time changes in these dialects. Focusing for the most part on variation in the sound components, we test whether (I) dialect change is mainly the result of convergence to standard Dutch, (II) sound changes in two dialects which make them converge to standard Dutch also make them more similar, and (III) sound changes in two dialects which make them diverge from standard Dutch also make them less similar. We usedthree-dimensional (first hypothesis) and five-dimensional Levenshtein distance implementations (second and third hypothesis). These implementations are a novel step in dialectometry and in the study of ongoing processes of languagechange and their consequences for the dialect landscape. The findings corroborate all three hypotheses.

KW - dialect convergence, dialect divergenvce, standard language, dialectometry

U2 - 10.1017/jlg.2015.2

DO - 10.1017/jlg.2015.2

M3 - Article

SN - 2049-7547

VL - 3

SP - 20

EP - 33

JO - Journal of Linguistic Geography

JF - Journal of Linguistic Geography

IS - 1

ER -