Deriving the Wug-Shaped Curve: A Criterion for Assessing Formal Theories of Linguistic Variation

2022 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 473-494
Author(s):  
Bruce Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Lexical Frequency ◽  
Frequency Matching ◽  
Sigmoid Curve ◽  
Formal Theories ◽  
Free Variation

In this review, I assess a variety of constraint-based formal frameworks that can treat variable phenomena, such as well-formedness intuitions, outputs in free variation, and lexical frequency-matching. The idea behind this assessment is that data in gradient linguistics fall into natural mathematical patterns, which I call quantitative signatures. The key signatures treated here are the sigmoid curve, going from zero to one probability, and the wug-shaped curve, which combines two or more sigmoids. I argue that these signatures appear repeatedly in linguistics, and I adduce examples from phonology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, phonetics, and language change. I suggest that the ability to generate these signatures is a trait that can help us choose between rival frameworks.

scholarly journals Variation in Faroese and the development of a spoken standard: In search of corpus evidence

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Remco Knooihuizen
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Morphological Variation ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Linguistic Variables ◽  
Phonological Variation ◽  
Rapid Social Change ◽  
Variationist Sociolinguistics ◽  
Constrained Variation

Although Faroese exhibits extensive linguistic variation and rapid social change, the language is near-uncharted territory in variationist sociolinguistics. This article discusses some recent social changes in Faroese society in connection with language change, focusing in particular on the development of a de facto spoken standard, Central Faroese. Demographic mobility, media and education may be contributing to this development in different ways. Two linguistic variables are analysed as a first step towards uncovering the respective roles of standardisation, dialect levelling and dialect spread as contributing processes in the formation of Central Faroese: morphological variation in -st endings and phonological variation in -ir and -ur endings. The analysis confirms previously described patterns of geographically constrained variation, but no generational or stylistic differences indicative of language change are found, nor are there clear signs that informants use Central Faroese. The results may in part be due to the structure of the corpus used.

Sociolinguïstiek En Dialectologie

1992 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 115-130
Author(s):  
Johan Taeldeman
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Social Differentiation ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Psychological Dimension ◽  
Geographical Dimension ◽  
Dialect Geography

In this confrontative article I take stock of what socioiinguistics and dialec-tology (= dialect geography), in spite of (or thanks to?) their own focus and their own theoretical underpinnings, have contributed to the study of language change. This confrontation consists of two parts: First (4.1.) I deal with those aspects where socioiinguistics has contributed substantially to the exploration of language change and at the same time has had a renewing influence on dialectology: 1) Sociolinguists have started measuring the functional/communicative strength of linguistic varieties that in a certain area may supply competing variants. 2) By all kinds of micro-research into linguistic variation in correlation with social and situational factors socioiinguistics has drawn a much more refined picture of the process of language change. 3) Socioiinguistics has reintroduced attention to the psychological dimension of language change ( _ inquiries into the attitudes towards compet-ing varieties and variants and into the awareness of social differentiation in language). In a second part (4.2.) I deal with those aspects where the contribution of dialectology has been more substantial and where socioiinguistics urgently needs some broadening: 1) In general dialectologists have better recognized that linguistic varia-tion (as a random indication of language change) is also embedded in the systemic dimension of language. This prevents the investigation of (linguistic) variety for variety's sake. 2) Dialectology permanently instructs sociolinguists that linguistic variation (and hence language change) also occurs along a spa-tial/geographical dimension. 3) The dialogist's traditional tool, the dialect map with the so often (unjustly) abused isogloss, provides the socioiinguistics with lots of interesting instructions where as to catch linguistic change in progress. In general both disciplines display such a delicious complementarity that (sterile) discussions about their mutual demarcation should urgently be replaced by a thorough examination of each other's methods and findings.

The sociolinguistics of a short-lived innovation: Tracing the development of quotative all across spoken and internet newsgroup data

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Buchstaller ◽  
John R. Rickford ◽  
Elizabeth Closs Traugott ◽  
Thomas Wasow ◽  
Arnold Zwicky
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Quantitative Analyses

AbstractThis paper examines a short-lived innovation, quotative all, in real and apparent time. We used a two-pronged method to trace the trajectory of all over the past two decades: (i) Quantitative analyses of the quotative system of young Californians from different decades; this reveals a startling crossover pattern: in 1990/1994, all predominates, but by 2005, it has given way to like. (ii) Searches of Internet newsgroups; these confirm that after rising briskly in the 1990s, all is declining. Tracing the changing usage of quotative options provides year-to-year evidence that all has recently given way to like. Our paper has two aims: We provide insights from ongoing language change regarding short-term innovations in the history of English. We also discuss our collaboration with Google Inc. and argue for the value of newsgroups to research projects investigating linguistic variation and change in real time, especially where recorded conversational tokens are relatively sparse.

scholarly journals Attention To People Like You: A Proposal Regarding Neuroendocrine Effects on Linguistic Variation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Marie Ackerman ◽  
Míša (Michaela) Hejná
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Social Engineering ◽  
The Other ◽  
Biological Factor ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Learning Patterns ◽  
Variable Duration ◽  
Symbolic Domination ◽  
The One

Although the literature on language change has often replicated and discussed a pattern inwhich female speakers lead in changes that occur below the level of awareness, there is noconsensus on why this pattern should arise. Two major suggestions have been put forward.On the one hand, Labov (1990) has proposed that a possible explanation may be due tocaregiver asymmetries during childhood, with women being frequently the primarycaregivers in the relevant communities. On the other hand, Eckert (2011) has suggested thatwomen are more likely to engage in ‘social engineering’ and symbolic domination than men,due to the setup of the gender roles in their communities, which makes them more likely to belinguistic innovators. Interestingly, recent findings in endocrinology show that differences inprenatal testosterone exposure can impact learning patterns. In the light of these findings, wefirst present preliminary results consistent with the hypothesis that a biological factor,prenatal exposure to androgens, can have a continuous effect on linguistic variation, namelythe variable duration of preaspiration before voiceless obstruents in Tyneside English. This isin line with findings related to f 0 reported by Ferdezi et al. (2011). Second, we propose anexplanatory model in which the biological factor – prenatal testosterone exposure – createssubtle bias in how speakers learn linguistic variants, and suggest that some reported sexeffects are derivative. This model is compatible with the fact that it is most often females wholead in language change from below, but can also account for situations in which males mightlead a change (Labov 1990: 206).

scholarly journals Reduction of Survey Sites in Dialectology: A New Methodology Based on Clustering

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Péter Jeszenszky ◽  
Carina Steiner ◽  
Adrian Leemann
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Reduction Process ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Representative Survey ◽  
Swiss German ◽  
German Dialects ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
Traditional Approaches

Many language change studies aim for a partial revisitation, i.e., selecting survey sites from previous dialect studies. The central issue of survey site reduction, however, has often been addressed only qualitatively. Cluster analysis offers an innovative means of identifying the most representative survey sites among a set of original survey sites. In this paper, we present a general methodology for finding representative sites for an intended study, potentially applicable to any collection of data about dialects or linguistic variation. We elaborate the quantitative steps of the proposed methodology in the context of the “Linguistic Atlas of Japan” (LAJ). Next, we demonstrate the full application of the methodology on the “Linguistic Atlas of German-speaking Switzerland” (Germ.: “Sprachatlas der Deutschen Schweiz”—SDS), with the explicit aim of selecting survey sites corresponding to the aims of the current project “Swiss German Dialects Across Time and Space” (SDATS), which revisits SDS 70 years later. We find that depending on the circumstances and requirements of a study, the proposed methodology, introducing cluster analysis into the survey site reduction process, allows for a greater objectivity in comparison to traditional approaches. We suggest, however, that the suitability of any set of candidate survey sites resulting from the proposed methodology be rigorously revised by experts due to potential incongruences, such as the overlap of objectives and variables across the original and intended studies and ongoing dialect change.

Usualization

2020 ◽  
pp. 124-177
Author(s):  
Hans-Jörg Schmid
Keyword(s):  
Individual Variation ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Sociology Of Knowledge ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Unified Approach ◽  
Constructivist Model

The chapter discusses the nature of the process of usualization and explains its contribution to the conventionalization of innovations, to linguistic variation, change, and persistence. The process is explained with reference to Berger and Luckmann’s (1966) constructivist model of the sociology of knowledge. Usualization is responsible for the conventionalization of innovative form-meaning pairings as well as innovative forms and meanings. It is argued that linguistic variation on all dimensions, from form, structure, and meaning to situational, social, and individual variation can be handled by the unified approach suggested by the EC-Model. Usualization is a major factor in types of language change labelled by such terms as grammaticalization, lexicalization, pragmaticalization, idiomatization, and context-induced change. A case study of the development of the going-to future illustrates this potential. Not only variation and change, but also the persistence of structure are dynamic in the sense that it must be refreshed by continual usualization.

scholarly journals Speakers’ knowledge of alternations is asymmetrical: Evidence from Seoul Korean verb paradigms

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 567-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
JONGHO JUN ◽  
ADAM ALBRIGHT
Keyword(s):  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Lexical Frequency ◽  
Single Base ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Frequency Matching ◽  
Verb Lexicon

This paper investigates whether and how speakers track the relative frequency of different patterns of alternation in the lexicon, by investigating speakers’ behavior when they are faced with unpredictability in allomorph selection. We conducted a wug test on Seoul Korean verb paradigms, testing whether speakers can generalize reliable lexical patterns. The test was performed in two directions. In forward formation test, the pre-vocalic base and pre-consonantal non-base forms were the stimulus and response, respectively, whereas in backward formation test, the stimulus–response relation was switched. The results show patterns approximating statistical patterns in Seoul Korean verb lexicon, thus confirming the lexical frequency matching reported in many previous studies. However, contrary to the conventional assumption, the results of the backward formation test are consistent with lexical frequencies relevant for the forward formation, not backward formation. This observed asymmetry is broadly consistent with the single base hypothesis (Albright 2002a, b, 2005, 2008), in which forward, as opposed to backward formation rules play a privileged role in speakers’ morphological grammar.

The BE06 Corpus of British English and recent language change

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 312-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Baker
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Sampling Frame ◽  
Lexical Frequency ◽  
British English ◽  
Comparable Corpora ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
Lexical Items

This paper describes the BE06 Corpus, a one million word reference corpus of general written British English that was designed to be comparable to the Brown family of corpora. After providing a description of the Brown sampling frame, and giving the rationale for building a new corpus, the process of building the BE06 is elaborated upon, with reference to collecting previously published texts from internet sources, defining “British” authors and enabling accessibility of the corpus. Three studies of lexical frequency using BE06 and comparable corpora (LOB, FLOB and BLOB) are then carried out. These involve a comparison of the 20 most frequent lexical items, an examination of pronoun usage, and an investigation of keywords derived from comparing the 1991 FLOB corpus with the BE06. The paper ends with a critical evaluation of the worth of using the same sampling frame for linguistic studies of diachronic variation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document