Reconstructing the timeline of a consonantal change in a German dialect: evidence from agent-based modeling
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Markus Jochim
Abstract
This chapter evaluates the applicability of the agent-based simulation model developed in Harrington and Schiel (2017), which builds upon the interactive- phonetic model of sound change (Harrington et al. 2018), to long-term changes in consonant quantity. It focuses on a sound change in progress currently taking place in Bavarian German, by which fortis stops are lenited after short vowels in words where Standard German has lenis stops. Results from a series of agentbased models of different contact scenarios either correctly predicted convergence toward the standard (as previously observed in apparent-time data, Jochim and Kleber 2024) or, incorrectly, phonological stability. Simulations support the idea that the consonantal change is driven by both between-group contact and an intrinsic phonetic bias. The chapter discusses the potential and the limits of computational models to track the trajectory of sound change, and suggests a more realistic model configuration with a higher predictive power.
Abstract
This chapter evaluates the applicability of the agent-based simulation model developed in Harrington and Schiel (2017), which builds upon the interactive- phonetic model of sound change (Harrington et al. 2018), to long-term changes in consonant quantity. It focuses on a sound change in progress currently taking place in Bavarian German, by which fortis stops are lenited after short vowels in words where Standard German has lenis stops. Results from a series of agentbased models of different contact scenarios either correctly predicted convergence toward the standard (as previously observed in apparent-time data, Jochim and Kleber 2024) or, incorrectly, phonological stability. Simulations support the idea that the consonantal change is driven by both between-group contact and an intrinsic phonetic bias. The chapter discusses the potential and the limits of computational models to track the trajectory of sound change, and suggests a more realistic model configuration with a higher predictive power.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- On the nature of speech dynamics: approaches to studying synchronic variation and diachronic change 1
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Part 1: Empirical perspectives on diachronic change
- Fifty years of monophthong and diphthong shifts in Mainstream Australian English 17
- Coarticulation guides sound change: an acoustic-phonetic study of real-time change in word-initial /l/ over four decades of Glaswegian 49
- The impact of automated phonetic alignment and formant tracking workflows on sound change measurement 89
- One place, two speech communities: differing responses to sound change in Mainstream and Aboriginal Australian English in a small rural town 117
- Prosodic change in 100 years: the fall of the rise-fall in an Albanian variety 145
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Part 2: Factors conditioning synchronic variation
- Control of larynx height in vowel production revisited: a real-time MRI study 175
- Sheila’s roses (are in the paddick): reduced vowels in Australian English 207
- The future of the queen: how to pronounce “König✶innen” ‘gender-neutrally’ in German 245
- Synchronic variation and diachronic change: mora-counting and syllable-counting dialects in Japanese 273
- Reconstructing the timeline of a consonantal change in a German dialect: evidence from agent-based modeling 307
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Part 3: Theoretical approaches at the interface between synchronic variation and diachronic change
- On (mis)aligned innovative perception and production norms 343
- Phonological patterns and dependency relations may arise from aerodynamic factors 369
- Actuation without production bias 395
- Understanding the role of broadcast media in sound change 425
- Connecting prosody and duality of patterning in diachrony, typology, phylogeny, and ontogeny 453
- Index 483
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- On the nature of speech dynamics: approaches to studying synchronic variation and diachronic change 1
-
Part 1: Empirical perspectives on diachronic change
- Fifty years of monophthong and diphthong shifts in Mainstream Australian English 17
- Coarticulation guides sound change: an acoustic-phonetic study of real-time change in word-initial /l/ over four decades of Glaswegian 49
- The impact of automated phonetic alignment and formant tracking workflows on sound change measurement 89
- One place, two speech communities: differing responses to sound change in Mainstream and Aboriginal Australian English in a small rural town 117
- Prosodic change in 100 years: the fall of the rise-fall in an Albanian variety 145
-
Part 2: Factors conditioning synchronic variation
- Control of larynx height in vowel production revisited: a real-time MRI study 175
- Sheila’s roses (are in the paddick): reduced vowels in Australian English 207
- The future of the queen: how to pronounce “König✶innen” ‘gender-neutrally’ in German 245
- Synchronic variation and diachronic change: mora-counting and syllable-counting dialects in Japanese 273
- Reconstructing the timeline of a consonantal change in a German dialect: evidence from agent-based modeling 307
-
Part 3: Theoretical approaches at the interface between synchronic variation and diachronic change
- On (mis)aligned innovative perception and production norms 343
- Phonological patterns and dependency relations may arise from aerodynamic factors 369
- Actuation without production bias 395
- Understanding the role of broadcast media in sound change 425
- Connecting prosody and duality of patterning in diachrony, typology, phylogeny, and ontogeny 453
- Index 483
