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Inferring the Origin of Linguistic Features from an Atlas: A Case Study of Swiss-German Dialects. (Short Paper)

Authors Takuya Takahashi , Elvira Glaser , Peter Ranacher

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Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • Mathematics of computing → Bayesian computation
Keywords
  • Dialectology
  • Linguistic geography
  • Geographic information science
  • Bayesian inference

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Abstract

A linguistic atlas is a set of maps which visualize the geographical variation of linguistic features in a single language. We present a novel model for Bayesian statistics which infers when and where the variants of a linguistic feature were invented based on the geographical distribution shown in a linguistic atlas. Based on a spatial network representing the rate of diffusion between locations, our model evaluates the probability (likelihood) that the observed geographical pattern is realized by considering the genealogical relationship between variants at different locations. We apply our model to a linguistic atlas of Swiss-German dialects and infer the origin of three forms of the High-German word "nein" meaning "no".

Cite As Get BibTex

Takuya Takahashi, Elvira Glaser, and Peter Ranacher. Inferring the Origin of Linguistic Features from an Atlas: A Case Study of Swiss-German Dialects. (Short Paper). In 16th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 315, pp. 18:1-18:9, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024) https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2024.18

Author Details

Takuya Takahashi
  • Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Switzerland
  • NCCR Evolving Language, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Elvira Glaser
  • German department, University of Zurich, Switzerland
  • URPP Language and Space, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Peter Ranacher
  • Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Switzerland
  • NCCR Evolving Language, University of Zurich, Switzerland
  • URPP Language and Space, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Funding

  • Takahashi, Takuya: JSPS Overseas Research Fellowship, NCCR Evolving Language with Swiss NSF Agreement No. 51NF40_180888 and the Swiss NSF Sinergia Project No. CRSII5_183578 (Out of Asia).
  • Ranacher, Peter: NCCR Evolving Language with Swiss NSF Agreement No. 51NF40_180888.

Acknowledgements

We thank Nico Neureiter for valuable discussion.

Supplementary Materials

References

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