Detecting contact effects in pronunciation
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Wilbert Heeringa
Abstract
We investigate language contact effects between Bulgarian dialects on the one hand, and the languages of the countries bordering Bulgaria on the other. The Bulgarian data comes from Stojkov’s Bulgarian Dialect Atlases. We investigate three techniques to detect contact effects in pronunciation, the phone frequency method and the feature frequency method, both of which are insensitive to the order of phonological segments within words, and also Levenshtein distance, a word-based method which is order-sensitive. We also examine pronunciation effects under the hypothesis that pronunciation influences should be strongest as one approaches the border of a country which speaks the putatively influential language. The study aims to contribute to the development of more exact tools for studying language contact.
Abstract
We investigate language contact effects between Bulgarian dialects on the one hand, and the languages of the countries bordering Bulgaria on the other. The Bulgarian data comes from Stojkov’s Bulgarian Dialect Atlases. We investigate three techniques to detect contact effects in pronunciation, the phone frequency method and the feature frequency method, both of which are insensitive to the order of phonological segments within words, and also Levenshtein distance, a word-based method which is order-sensitive. We also examine pronunciation effects under the hypothesis that pronunciation influences should be strongest as one approaches the border of a country which speaks the putatively influential language. The study aims to contribute to the development of more exact tools for studying language contact.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- Ethnolects as a multidimensional phenomenon 7
- Applying language technology to detect shift effects 27
- Generational differences in pronominal usage in Spanish reflecting language and dialect contact in a bilingual setting 45
- Personal pronoun variation in language contact 63
- Turkish in the Netherlands 87
- The reflection of historical language contact in present-day Dutch and Swedish 103
- The impact of German on Schleife Sorbian 119
- Detecting contact effects in pronunciation 131
- Language contact and phonological contrast 155
- Translating cultures within the EU 181
- Name index 219
- Subject index 223
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- Ethnolects as a multidimensional phenomenon 7
- Applying language technology to detect shift effects 27
- Generational differences in pronominal usage in Spanish reflecting language and dialect contact in a bilingual setting 45
- Personal pronoun variation in language contact 63
- Turkish in the Netherlands 87
- The reflection of historical language contact in present-day Dutch and Swedish 103
- The impact of German on Schleife Sorbian 119
- Detecting contact effects in pronunciation 131
- Language contact and phonological contrast 155
- Translating cultures within the EU 181
- Name index 219
- Subject index 223
