Exploring Tonal Variation Using Dialect Tonometry
Most research on dialectometry so far primarily focuses on European languages. Within these studies, analyses on the phonetic level predominantly focus on segments. A lack of studies on languages outside of Europe means that the variation in many lesser-studied languages, including tonal languages,...
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MDPI AG
2024-12-01
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| author | Ho Wang Matthew Sung Jelena Prokić |
| author_facet | Ho Wang Matthew Sung Jelena Prokić |
| author_sort | Ho Wang Matthew Sung |
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| description | Most research on dialectometry so far primarily focuses on European languages. Within these studies, analyses on the phonetic level predominantly focus on segments. A lack of studies on languages outside of Europe means that the variation in many lesser-studied languages, including tonal languages, is largely unknown. Tonal languages are languages which pitch is used as an indication in the lexical realisations in (at least some) morphemes, and over half of the world’s languages include lexical tones. Despite tones being the inseparable and unneglectable part of the majority of the world’s languages, there is only a handful of quantitative dialectometric studies on the dialectal variation in tonal languages. In this paper, we explore the phonetic and phonological variations in Yue, a lesser-studied tonal language spoken by around 80 million people in Southern China. Using a newly devised tone representation (<i>modified Onset–Contour–Offset</i>) combined with the Levenshtein distance, we explore the patterns of dialectal variation on the tonal level, as well as to what extent tonal variation correlates with segmental variation. Our results show that tones behave rather differently from segments, and thus, we illustrate that studying lesser-studied and tonal languages can contribute immensely to the study of dialect variation in general. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-336d536557df4374ac0f4ac1fa2cc9aa |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
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| series | Languages |
| spelling | doaj-art-336d536557df4374ac0f4ac1fa2cc9aa2025-08-20T02:53:41ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2024-12-0191237810.3390/languages9120378Exploring Tonal Variation Using Dialect TonometryHo Wang Matthew Sung0Jelena Prokić1Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (LUCL)/Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities (LUCDH), Leiden University, 2311 EZ Leiden, The NetherlandsLeiden University Centre for Linguistics (LUCL)/Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities (LUCDH), Leiden University, 2311 EZ Leiden, The NetherlandsMost research on dialectometry so far primarily focuses on European languages. Within these studies, analyses on the phonetic level predominantly focus on segments. A lack of studies on languages outside of Europe means that the variation in many lesser-studied languages, including tonal languages, is largely unknown. Tonal languages are languages which pitch is used as an indication in the lexical realisations in (at least some) morphemes, and over half of the world’s languages include lexical tones. Despite tones being the inseparable and unneglectable part of the majority of the world’s languages, there is only a handful of quantitative dialectometric studies on the dialectal variation in tonal languages. In this paper, we explore the phonetic and phonological variations in Yue, a lesser-studied tonal language spoken by around 80 million people in Southern China. Using a newly devised tone representation (<i>modified Onset–Contour–Offset</i>) combined with the Levenshtein distance, we explore the patterns of dialectal variation on the tonal level, as well as to what extent tonal variation correlates with segmental variation. Our results show that tones behave rather differently from segments, and thus, we illustrate that studying lesser-studied and tonal languages can contribute immensely to the study of dialect variation in general.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/9/12/378tonal variationdialect tonometrydialectometrylinguistic level comparisoncomputational methodsmultidimensional scaling |
| spellingShingle | Ho Wang Matthew Sung Jelena Prokić Exploring Tonal Variation Using Dialect Tonometry Languages tonal variation dialect tonometry dialectometry linguistic level comparison computational methods multidimensional scaling |
| title | Exploring Tonal Variation Using Dialect Tonometry |
| title_full | Exploring Tonal Variation Using Dialect Tonometry |
| title_fullStr | Exploring Tonal Variation Using Dialect Tonometry |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring Tonal Variation Using Dialect Tonometry |
| title_short | Exploring Tonal Variation Using Dialect Tonometry |
| title_sort | exploring tonal variation using dialect tonometry |
| topic | tonal variation dialect tonometry dialectometry linguistic level comparison computational methods multidimensional scaling |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/9/12/378 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT howangmatthewsung exploringtonalvariationusingdialecttonometry AT jelenaprokic exploringtonalvariationusingdialecttonometry |