Dialectometric Analysis of the ALD I

Research project P 14566 Dialectometric Analysis of the ALD I Roland BAUER 09.10.2000 Dialektometrie (DM) is a scientific procedure to synthesize data of linguistic atlases by means of statistical methods. It`s primary goal is the explicit presentation of those latent patterns which are hidden in linguistic atlas data. DM treats problems of human dialect management of geographic space (i.e. dialect merging, dialect transition, dialect borders). It`s results can also be used for global or inter-disciplinary research. Basically, DM proceeds in the following way: 1) measurement: the linguistic atlas data are encoded for subsequent computer treatment. 2) statistics: the encoded data are treated and condensed by numeric statistic methods. 3) visualization: the numeric results are visualized by means of computer cartography in a clear and suggestive way Here we apply for financial support of anew dialectometric project. It`s tasks will be the taxation of all data (about 1 million) of the new Linguistic Atlas of Dolomitic Ladinian and Neighbouring Dialects, ALD I (published in 1998/99 in seven volumes and three CD-ROM), the treatment and condensation of the data-input, the visualization of the numeric results and the upgrading (i.e. improvement) of existing computer-aided dialectometric tools such as IRS (Index Retrieval System of ALD I) and VDM (Visual DialectoMetry).

Dialectometry is a scientific procedure to synthesize data of linguistic atlases by means of statistical methods. Its primary goal is the explicit presentation of those latent patterns which are hidden in linguistic atlas data. DM treats problems of human dialect management of geographic space (i.e. dialect merging, dialect transition, dialect borders). Its results can also be used for global or inter-disciplinary research. Basically, we proceeded in the following way: 1. Measurement: the linguistic atlas data were encoded for subsequent computer treatment; the data-matrix in our project is composed as follows: 219 Rhaeto-Romance and Northern Italian dialects * 3.899 dialectal analyses of nearby 900 original atlas-maps = more than 850.000 data-cells. 2. Statistics: the encoded data were treated and condensed by numeric statistic (i.e. taxometric) methods. 3. Visualization: the taxometric results were visualized by means of computer cartography in a clear and suggestive way. The tasks of our dialectometric project were the taxation of all data (about 1 million) of the Linguistic Atlas of Dolomitic Ladinian and Neighbouring Dialects, ALD I (published in 1998/99 in seven volumes and three CD- ROM), the treatment and condensation of the data-input, the visualization of the numeric results and the upgrading (i.e. improvement) of existing computer-aided dialectometric tools such as VDM (Visual DialectoMetry). Some of the results available at the end of the project (12/2003): 1. Visualization of coloured similarity-profiles for each of our 217 dialects, in order to define the position of all examined dialects within their neighbourhood and/or within the whole dialect-area. 2. Analysis of the influence of Standard-Italian (mainly on the Veneto-area) and Standard-French on all our dialects. 3. The most important geotypological differentiation of our space (24.500 km 2 ) is represented by two clearly separated linguistic main types: Rhaeto-Romance (already defined by G. I. Ascoli in 1873) and Northern Italian. 4. New classification of the Trentino-dialect area: the north-western dialects (Noce-Valley, separated in Val di Sole and Val di Non) can no longer be considered as "half-ladin", as they are clearly connected to the Central- Trentino-System, which is mainly influenced by the Veneto-System. The linguistic border, located within the Central-Trentino-System between Trento and Rovereto (the so called Murazzi-Border, traditionally cited in the Handbooks of Romance Linguistics), cannot be detected by global dialectometric analysis. Therefore this "border" could be considered as a "myth", based on "illusions" created by the selection of single dialect-characteristics (isoglosses).