Quantitative Perspectives on the Geolinguistic Structures of Dialect Morphology in Austria
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Philip C. Vergeiner
Abstract
The traditional focus of (German) dialectology has been on spatial patterns observed in phonology. However, dialectometric approaches have generated interest in exploring geographical structures in other linguistic subsystems, including morphology. Building on this research, this study investigates geolinguistic patterns of dialect morphology in contemporary Austrian dialects using aggregative and non-aggregative measures, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Multidimensional Scaling (MDS), and Cluster Analysis (CA). Data are based on a comprehensive dialect survey with 163 speakers from 40 locations across Austria, examining 120 linguistic variables related to inflection. The results show a clear geographic structuring of morphological variation, which significantly differs from traditional dialect classifications. The analysis of the linguistic basis of the geographical patterns suggests that these differences might be ascribed to methodological factors and language change. Methodologically, it is also demonstrated that the findings of aggregative and non-aggregative methods are complementary, not contradictory. Ultimately, the study underscores the importance of integrating diverse methods to gain a comprehensive understanding of geographical patterns in dialect variation.
Appendix
Verbal morphological variables
| infinitive | – allomorphy after nasals (V1), velar/palatal fricatives (V2), labiodental fricatives (V3), and alveolar/velar/bilabial plosives (V4) – Kurzverben (‘short verbs’) for geben (‘give’), kommen (‘come’), nehmen (‘take’) (V5) |
| imperative SG | – suppletion for sein (‘be’) (V6) |
| 1 SG | – contracted verb forms for haben (‘have’) (V7) and gehen (‘go’) (V8) |
| 2 SG | – ending (V9) – vowel after /f/ (V10) and /s/ (V11) |
| 3 SG | – vowel after /t/ (V12) – contracted verb forms for sagen (‘say’) and geben (‘give’) (V13) – ending for sein (‘be’) (V14) |
| 1 PL | – ending (V15) – ending for sein (‘be’) (V16) |
| 2 PL | – ending (V17) – assimilation after /g/ (V18) – ending for sein (‘be’) (V19) |
| 3 PL | – ending (V20) – assimilation after /b/ (V21) – vowel after nasals (V22), velar/palatal fricatives (V23), and labiodental fricatives (V24) – ending for sein (‘be’) (V25), tun (‘do’) (V26), liegen (‘lay’) (V27), and haben (‘have’) (V28) |
| preterite | – of sein (‘be‘) (V29) and wollen (‘want’) (V30) |
| past subjunctive | – of weak verbs (V31), the strong verbs kommen (‘come’) and gehen (‘go’) (V32), the modal verb dürfen (‘may’) (V33), and the verbs tun (‘do’) (V34) and sein (‘be’) (V35) |
| past participle | – allomorphy of the ge-prefix before plosives (V36) and /v/ (V37) – lack of the prefix ge- for werden (‘become’) (V38) – suppletion for sein (‘be’) (V39) – variation between strong and weak participles for schnäuzen (‘blow one’s nose’) (V40), schneien (‘snow’) (V41), brennen (‘burn’) (V42), waschen (‘wash’) (V43), frieren (‘freeze’) (V44), and backen (‘bake’) (V45) |
| stem alternations | – vowel alternation between the infinitive and 1/3 PL of sein (‘be’) (V46) – alternation of the onset consonant between the infinitive and 1/3 PL of sein (‘be’) (V47) – vowel alternation between the infinitive and 2 PL of sein (‘be’) (V48) – vowel alternation between 1 SG and 2 SG of essen (‘eat’) (V49) – vowel alternation between 2/3 SG and PL of kommen (‘come’) (V50), werden (‘become’) (V51), dürfen (‘may’) (V52), tun (‘do’) (V53), and lesen (‘read’) (V54) – vowel alternation between the infinitive and the participle in denken (‘think’) (V55) and wissen (‘know’) (V56) – consonant alternation (Grammatischer Wechsel) between the infinitive and the participle in ziehen (‘pull’) (V57) |
| word formation prefix ernoun | – prefix in erzählen (‘tell’) (V58), erwischen (‘catch’) (V59), erschlagen (‘kill’) (V60) |
(Pro-)Nominal morphological variables
| noun plural formation | – plural of Schuh (‘shoe’) (N1), Tag (‘day’) (N2), Baum (‘tree’) (N3), Fisch (‘fish’) (N4), Stein (‘stone’) (N5), Igel (‘hedgehog’) (N6), Apfel (‘apple’) (N7), Nagel (‘nail’) (N8), Mann (‘man’) (N9), Wagen (‘cart’) (N10), Zehe (‘toe’) (N11), Maus (‘mouse’) (N12), Nacht (‘night’) (N13), Nuss (‘nut’) (N14), Fliege (‘fly’) (N15), Nase (‘nose’) (N16), Kette (‘chain’) (N17), Brücke (‘bridge’) (N18), Mauer (‘wall’) (N19) |
| noun case inflection | – existence of GEN SG (in adnominal possessive constructions) for Vater (‘father’) and Mutter (‘mother’) (N20) – DAT SG of Bauer (‘farmer’) (N21), Vater (‘father’) (N22), Wirt (‘innkeeper’) (N23), Tisch (‘table’) (N24) – DAT PL of Leute (‘people’) (N25) |
| noun diminution | – diminutive suffix after root-final alveolar sounds (N26) and root-final -el (N27) – vowel alternations (Umlaut) for Vogel (‘bird’) (N28) and Hund (‘dog’) (N29) |
| definite article | – syncretism between DAT SG MASC and ACC SG MASC (N30) – syncretism between ACC SG MASC and NOM SG MASC (N31) – syncretism between DAT PL and NOM/ACC PL (after a preposition) (N32) – ‘prepositional dative’ in DAT PL (N33) |
| indefinite article | – form of the DAT SG FEM (N34) – existence of an indefinite article in PL (N35) |
| personal pronoun | –1 pl ACC (N36) –2 PL NOM (N37) –2 PL DAT/ACC (N38) –3 SG DAT MASC (N39) –3 SG ACC MASC (N40) –3 PL DAT (N41) |
| possessive pronoun | – syncretism of the 1 SG pronoun between MASC and FEM in NOM SG (N42) – syncretism of the 3 SG pronoun between MASC and FEM in NOM SG (N43) |
| interrogative pronoun | – DAT (N44) – ACC MASC/FEM (N45) |
| other pronouns | – syncretism between DAT SG MASC and ACC SG MASC of the demonstrative pronoun (N46) – indefinite pronoun corresponding to NHG jemand (‘someone’) (N47) |
| numerals | – gender differentiation for zwei (‘two’) (N48) |
| adjective graduation | – comparative for viel (‘much’) (N49) – form of the superlative (N50), form of the superlative for viel (‘much’) (N51) – vowel alternations in adjectives with MHG ei (N52) and for nass (‘wet’) (N53), hart (‘hard’) (N54), spät (‘late’) (N55), laut (‘loud’) (N56) |
| adjective case inflection | – NOM SG in weak inflection in the positive (N57) and comparative (N58) – DAT PL after /m/ in weak inflection (N59) – ACC SG NEUTER after /s/ in strong inflection (N60) |
Acknowledgments
I thank Lars Bülow, Oliver Schallert, and Mason Wirtz who provided valuable feedback on an earlier version of this paper. Additionally, I appreciate the insightful commentary provided by the editor and the two anonymous reviewers.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Artikel
- Prepositional Usage in Modern Irish: Range and Variation
- The North Ukrainian Dialect of Vyšneve in the East Slavic Context: Towards a Final Description (part 2)
- Geographical Variation of Systems of Sibling Terms in Asia and Africa
- Diversidad denominativa del Pisum sativum en español: una historia de variedad y confusión
- Quantitative Perspectives on the Geolinguistic Structures of Dialect Morphology in Austria
- A synchronic and diachronic reappraisal of Indo-European *dʱug̑ʱh2ter- ‘daughter’ and *suhxnú- ‘son’ in Celtic dialects, Insular and Continental
- Juegos con propósito para la anotación del Corpus Oral Sonoro del Español rural
- Besprechungen
- Besprechungen – Comptes rendus – Reseñas – Reviews
