MONOLINGUAL DIALECTOLOGY IN EUROPE (MS KIM PHUNG)

Initial interest in dialectology in Europe in the nineteenth century was a result of theories within historical linguistics, in particular the claim that 'sound laws are exceptionless'. For a long time, linguistics was chiefly concerned with the study of written texts, with a view to establishing which languages of the world were related, and to propose laws showing the phonetic correspondences between words of those languages. An example of a sound law is the correspondence identified by linguists between <bh>; in Sanskrit <b>; in Germanic languages and <f>; in Latin. (The angled brackets denote spellings.) Thus, the word for 'brother' is bhratar in Sanskrit; brothor in Old English and frater in Latin. Linguists eventually turned their attention to sources that would supplement textual evidence and, they hoped, corroborate some of their theories. In particular they raised the possibility that dialect speech would preserve older and more regular forms than those of standard written forms of a language. The claim that sound laws were exceptionless turned out to be false; but it did serve as an impetus to the scholarly study of dialects. A second motivation for dialect research in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was the feeling that rural speech was being rapidly eroded by the pressures of modernization and urbanization, especially in Europe. The need for surveys that would record as much of traditional rural dialect as possible was stressed. Dialectology began to proceed along independent lines, rather than being necessarily linked to historical studies. If anything, the model that began to play a more significant role was that of human geography, rather than history. Dialectology is therefore sometimes labelled 'linguistic geography' or 'geo-linguistics'. Harold Orton and Nathalia Wright (1974: 21), two twentieth-century British practitioners of dialectology, describe their task as follows:

A primary aim of linguistic geography is to reveal the occurrence and distribution of speech usages, especially those characteristics of particular regions. Their diffusion can be mapped clearly and simply. Close study of the resultant maps permits significant deductions to be drawn about the movements of those usages: whether, for example they are spreading or contracting, or whether, indeed, they have been partly supplanted by other features.

The following is a brief outline of the procedures associated with traditional dialectology (adapted from Petyt 1980: 49-51):

1. A preliminary investigation or pilot survey is often carried out, to gain some idea of the way usages vary over the area to be covered and to decide what sort of items are worthy of detailed investigation.

2a. A network of geographical localities where the fieldwork is to be conducted is decided upon. The number of such localities and the density of coverage is constrained by time, finances and number of fieldworkers, and possibly by the density of population in the area.

2b. A list of items to be investigated is drawn up in the format of a questionnaire. (Typical items are given in the box below.)

3. Fieldwork is then conducted. One or more trained investigators travel to the localities selected and make contact with people who they consider to be most suitable informants. Questionnaires are completed in the presence of the consultant. Since the 1950s, greater flexibility has been afforded by the advent of the tape recorder, as some parts of the interview can be recorded and transcribed later.

4. Data analysis is then undertaken. Lists are produced showing geographical patterns of distribution, usually with the aid of maps. Publication of lists and maps is a time-consuming and expensive undertaking which often occurs many years after the initial survey.