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Perspectives on Language Structure and Language Change: Studies in honor of Henning Andersen
Edited by Lars Heltoft, Iván Igartua, Brian D. Joseph, Kirsten Jeppesen Kragh and Lene Schøsler
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 345] 2019
► pp. 327–344

Diatopy and frequency as indicators of spread

Accentuation in Bulgarian dialects

Diatopy (the geographical distribution of linguistic differentiation) gives important clues about diachrony (the direction and spread of language change). Here I apply these concepts to the study of accentual phenomena in Bulgarian dialects, focusing on the accentuation of phrases including clitic forms. Methodologically, my study is innovative because it does not work with isoglosses of the normal, binary type (which mark the presence vs. absence of a feature). Rather, I utilize a database consisting of large stretches of conversation, recorded in the field by myself and my colleagues over a 27-year period, to construct indices of relative frequency of occurrence of the pattern in question. The resulting isoglosses allow new conclusions to be drawn about accentual patterns in Bulgarian dialects.

Keywords: accentuation, Balkan Slavic, Bulgarian dialectology
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The data
    • 2.1Sources
    • 2.2.Description
    • 2.3Preparation for analysis
    • 2.4Geographical distribution
    • 2.5A second data set: “Additional accentuation”
    • 2.6Historical commentary: Double accent
  • 3.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 18 June 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.345.15ale
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