Phonotactics of dialects in Germany. Investigation of areal diversity on the basis of spoken language
Final Report Abstract
The project aims to systematically describe and analyse phonotactic structures in German dialects. The aim is to address two major research gaps that we localised in the areas of a) the combinatorics of sounds, the typicality of sound classes and b) the prosodic structuring of phonological units and the rule-bound nature of phonotactic patterns. A strictly data-driven and empirical approach was planned for the project. The PhonD2 database was set up for this purpose. It consists of around 230,000 phonologically and morphologically annotated dialect words from the entire territory of Germany. It enables a comprehensive linguistic-statistical description of the dialects in contrast to each other and in contrast to near-standard varieties. In addition, existing phonotactic models (e.g. on syllable laws, sonority sequences and CV structures) can be tested on the data through targeted queries at word, syllable and sound level in order to gain insights into the organising principles of dialectal phonotactics and their regional differences. The database and all data annotated in the project are publicly and permanently accessible via a project homepage and are fully available to the scientific community for their own analyses. Using the PhonD2 database as a source, various queries and phonotactic analyses were carried out in the project. The main result is a digital phonotactic language atlas of the German dialects with 311 maps on different phenomena. Using CV structures, these provide the first comprehensive insight into the dialectal diversity of phonotactic word structures, e.g. with regard to consonant clustering in monosyllabic and polysyllabic words and (lexically determined) schwa preservation in trochaic words. The project also includes publications and qualification work. These concentrate on linguistic-statistical studies of dialectal sound combinations and also determine the phonological and morphological ordering principles of dialectal phonotactics. For example, tendencies towards consonant clustering and sonority-related cluster order in Upper German can be identified. Across all syllable types, a regional preference for certain vowel types could be demonstrated, for example with regard to the distribution of monophthongs and diphthongs. Finally, our analyses of morphonotactics show a morpheme-controlled phonotactic clustering for the dialects, in that certain word types (regionrelated) tend to form a characteristic pattern. There are also connections between word formation and phonotactics in the area of noun derivation formation, which can be explained by the phonological word status of affixes.
Publications
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PhonD2 1.0. Prepared by Valeria Bunkov & Samantha Link. Marburg: Research Center Deutscher Sprachatlas
Lameli, Alfred & Alexander Werth
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Remarks on the consistency of schwa apocope in the geography of German dialects. In: Ex Oriente lux. In honorem Nicolae Saramandu. Hrsg. v. Manuela Nevaci, Irina Floarea & Ioan-Mircea Farcaş. Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso. 683–702
Lameli, Alfred
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Syllable Structure Spatially Distributed: Patterns of Monosyllables in German Dialects. Journal of Germanic Linguistics, 34(3), 241-287.
Lameli, Alfred
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PhonD2: a database on phonotactic structures of German dialects. In: Radek Skarnitzl & Jan Volín (Hrsg.): Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Guarant International, 3206–3210
Lameli, Alfred, Alexander Werth, Valeria Bunkov & Samantha Link
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PhonD2: Eine Datenbank zur Phonotaktik der Dialekte in Deutschland. In: Sprachspuren: Berichte aus dem Deutschen Sprachatlas 3(7)
Link, Samantha & Bunkov, Valeria
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PhonD2: Eine Datenbank zur Phonotaktik der Dialekte in Deutschland. In: Sprachspuren: Berichte aus dem Deutschen Sprachatlas 3(7).
Link, Samantha & Bunkov, Valeria
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PhonD2. Translation tasks.
Lameli, Alfred & Werth, Alexander
