Abstract
The present article discusses how the combination of structural (qualitative) and algorithmic (quantitative) perspectives provides valuable insights into geolinguistic patterning and variability, and hence testifies to the importance of the integrating approach in addressing geolinguistic complexity. In doing so, it shows how language is constantly modulated in the form of innovations that emerge in structurally layered and causal formations, dictated by a subtle interplay between system-based and system-external properties. A case that accounts for this kind of geolinguistic complexity is provided by this data-driven study on Berber (Afro-asiatic), which shows how certain phonological and morphological innovation processes triggered by the vocalisation of the liquids /r/, /ṛ/, /rr/ and /ṛṛ/ in Rif Berber (North, Northeast, and Northwest Morocco) create language variation and change. Furthermore, the Berber data examined demonstrate the significant role of certain system-internal factors, such as economy and code conformity, in the diffusion of new phonetic, phonological, and morphological items. In order to better understand the intricacy of the various vocalisation phenomena addressed in the study, the results of the qualitative analysis (synchrony and diachrony) are also contrasted with the algorithmic results ensuing from computing geolinguistic distances by means of the Levenshtein distance calculating method with phone strings tokenised in pair-wise alignments (pondered variables).
Abbreviation
- 3MS =
third masculine singular
- IPFV =
imperfective
- NEG =
negation, negator
- NPFV =
negative perfective
- PFV =
perfective
- PM =
personal marker
- VOC =
vocalisation
- EXTVOC =
extended vocalisation
References
Biarnay, Samuel. 1917. Étude sur les dialectes berbères du Rif : lexique, textes et notes de phonétique (Publications de la Faculté des lettres d’Alger 54). Paris: E. Leroux.Search in Google Scholar
Boudot-Lamotte, Antoine. 1964. “Notes éthnographiques et linguistiques sur le parler Berbère de Timimoun”. Journal Asiatique 252: 487‒558.Search in Google Scholar
Chambers, Jack K. & Peter Trudgill. 1998. Dialectology 2nd ed. (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511805103Search in Google Scholar
Escure, Geneviéve. 1977. “Hierarchies and phonological weakening”. Lingua 43: 55–64.10.1016/0024-3841(77)90048-1Search in Google Scholar
Foley, James. 1977. Foundations of theoretical phonology Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Guerssel, Mohammed. 1977. “Constraints on phonological rules.” Linguistic analysis 3: 267–305.Search in Google Scholar
Kenstowicz, Michael & Charles Pyle. 1973. “On the Phonological Integraty of Geminate Clusters”. In Proceedings of the Conference On Phonology. [1971. Urbana, Ill., U.S.A.] 27–43, eds. Michael Kenstowicz & Charles Kisseberth (Janua Linguarum). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110905137.27Search in Google Scholar
Lafkioui, Mena B. 2006a. “La spirantisation dynamique de la vélaire occlusive simple /k/ dans les variétés berbères du Rif”. Studi Magrebini 3: 219–28.Search in Google Scholar
Lafkioui, Mena B. 2006b. “La vocalisation des alvéolaires /r/ et /rr/ dans les variétés berbères du Rif.” In Etudes berbères: Le nom, le pronom et autres articles eds. Dymitr Ibriszimow, Rainer Vossen & Harry Stroomer, 175–184 (Berber Studies 14). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.Search in Google Scholar
Lafkioui, Mena B. 2007. Atlas linguistique des variétés berbères du Rif Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.Search in Google Scholar
Lafkioui, Mena B. 2008. “Dialectometry analysis of Berber lexis.” Folia Orientalia 44: 71–88.Search in Google Scholar
Lafkioui, Mena B. 2009. “Analyses dialectométriques du lexique Berbère du Rif.” In Studien zur BerberologieEtudes Berbères 133–150, eds. Dymitr Ibriszimow, Rainer Vossen & Harry Stroomer (Berber Studies 4). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe..Search in Google Scholar
Lafkioui, Mena B. 2011. “How system-internal linguistic factors indicate language change and diffusion. A geolinguistic analysis of Berber data.” Dialectologia et Geolinguistica 19: 62–80.10.1515/dig.2011.003Search in Google Scholar
Lafkioui, Mena B. 2015. “Méthodologie de recherche en géolinguistique.” Revue Corpus 14: 139–164.10.4000/corpus.2658Search in Google Scholar
Lafkioui, Mena B. 2017. “Rif: la langue (Rifain/Tarifit).” Encyclopédie Berbère 41: 6916–6956.Search in Google Scholar
Lafkioui, Mena B. 2018a. “The imperfective in Berber: Evidence of innovated forms.” In Afroasiatic. Data and perspectives 85–103, ed. Mauro Tosco. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.10.1075/cilt.339.06lafSearch in Google Scholar
Lafkioui, Mena B. 2018b. “The Rif Berber language continuum: An algorithmic geolinguistic study.” In Hulde-Album voor Jacques Van Keymeulen eds. Timothy Colleman, Johan De Caluwe, Veronique De Tier, Anne-Sophie Ghyselen, Liesbet Triest, Roxanne Vandenberghe & Ulrike Vogl. Gent: Skribis.Search in Google Scholar
Léonard, Jean Léo, Gilles Polian, Els Heinsalu & Marco Patriarca. 2014. “Variación dialectal de la morfología tseltal (maya occidental) en los ámbitos morfológico, fonológico y léxico: Un enfoque holístico del diasistema.” In Patterns in Mesoamerican Morphology 280–303, eds. J. L. Léonard & A. Kihm. Paris: Michel Houdiard.Search in Google Scholar
Nerbonne, John, Rinke Colen, Charlotte S. Gooskens, Therese Leinonen & Peter Kleiweg. 2011. “Gabmap – a web application for dialectology.” Dialectologia 2: 65–89.Search in Google Scholar
Nerbonne, John & Peter Kleiweg. 2007. “Toward a dialectological yardstick.” Journal of Quantitative Linguistics 14: 148–166.10.1080/09296170701379260Search in Google Scholar
Nerbonne, John, Peter Kleiweg, Wilbert Heeringa & Franz Manni. 2008. “Projecting dialect differences to geography: Bootstrap clustering vs. noisy clustering.” In Data analysis, machine learning, and applications. Proc. of the 31st Annual Meeting of the German Classification Society 647–654, eds. Christine Preisach, Lars Schmidt-Thieme, Hans Burkhardt & Reinhold Decker. Berlin: Springer.10.1007/978-3-540-78246-9_76Search in Google Scholar
O’Sullivan, David. 2004. “Complexity science and human geography.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geography 29: 282–295.10.1111/j.0020-2754.2004.00321.xSearch in Google Scholar
Renisio, Amédé. 1932. Étude sur les dialectes berbères des Beni Iznassen, du Rif et des Senhaja de Sraïr. Grammaire, textes et lexique Paris: E. Leroux.Search in Google Scholar
Samuels, Michael L. 1972. Linguistic evolution, with special reference to English Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139086707Search in Google Scholar
© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
