Hints at Georgian Dialect History

Jean Léo Léonard (1)

1 DIPRALANG - Laboratoire de sociolinguistique, d’anthropologie des pratiques langagières et de didactique des langues-cultures

This study proposes a set of hypotheses on the formation of the Georgian Dialect Network (GDN) from the standpoint of Language Dynamics and Complex Systems Theory, through a model articulated on ten fundamental notions from General Dialectology: (L1: L standing for Layer) The Dialect Split Layer (DSL), (L2) The Buffer Zone Effect (BZE); (L3) Variable Bleeding (VB), i.e. Relative Chronology (Scalar Change); (L4) The Feature Pool Effect; (L5) Emerging Isolates (EI) or singleton or dendrographic outliers; (L6) The Center-Periphery Effect (CPE), i.e. the Bartolian centre/periphery intercourse; (L7) Phonolexical Endemic Patterns (PLEP); (L8) Word Geography (WG), i.e. lexical diffusion; (L9) Local Semantic Shifts (LSS); (L10) External Factors (EF). A database of 243 cognates compiled from classical sources referenced in Georgian dialectology allowed quantitative tests for dialect clustering using Gabmap (i.e. Levenshtein algorithm), with particular attention to Hierarchical Clustering, Difference Maps, Multiscalar Dimension Plots, and Weighed Average + Group Average Probability clouds). It results from this first endeavour in Dialect Dynamics applied to the GDN a certain number of orientations for future research in Georgian dialectology and sociophonetics, in particular on the properties of type L1-4 and L5-6 of this diasystemic topology, which highlight some deep patterns of organization. These prospects could turn out to be heuristic, and could help to lay the groundwork for a dialectometry applied to the GDN, in partnership with current projects, such as the Georgian Dialect Corpus. Further research should focus e.g. on L7-10, in order to explore more superficial levels of diffusional trends.

Mots clés: Language Dynamics; Edit Distance; computational Dialectology; dialectology; Georgia; Georgian dialects; Caucasus; Sarah Gudschinsky; methodology; linguistic geography; Language Dynamics Levenshtein algorithm Computational Dialectology Dialectology Georgia Georgian Dialects Caucasus; Language Dynamics; Levenshtein algorithm; Computational Dialectology; Dialectology; Georgian; Dialects

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société

Jean Léo Léonard. Hints at Georgian Dialect History: A Study in Miniature. Makharoblidze, Tamar. Issues in Kartvelian Studies, Vernon Press, pp.03-28, 2022, 978-1-64889-475-6. ⟨hal-04046127⟩