Dialect continuum
Under a dialect continuum is understood in the dialectology a chain of dialects, within which can be drawn no clear boundaries after intralinguistic structural criteria, since at least two geographically or socially adjacent dialects are mutually intelligible, respectively.
Geographical Dialektkontinua
Most of the term dialect continuum used in the sense of a geographical dialect continuum, a contiguous geographical space, are spoken in the unrelated dialects, between which can be drawn no clear boundaries after intralinguistic structural criteria, as they are indeed separated by numerous isoglosses, the isoglosses However, in general, do not run for different linguistic phenomena at the same location.
The dialects vary from one site to the neighboring town usually only slightly, so always communicate with the speakers in the immediate area is possible without problems. The differences and the corresponding communication The greater the distance between the places is, the more difficult, until at a certain physical distance no communication on basilectal base is possible.
Dialect areas are part of a dialect continuum, and have evolved through geographic isolation and thus by expression of local communication. (Compare also the related but not identical concept dialect cluster. )
Geographical Dialektkontinua and roof languages
Since a clear division into several languages is not possible even with larger geographical Dialektkontinua on purely intra- linguistic structural criteria, such organizations usually based on political or cultural boundaries that have led to the use of different languages in different roof areas. The distribution areas of the roof languages have changed over time or if their status is itself controversial, then they may give different classifications of the same dialects.
Have those dialects but a shared roof language, one usually speaks at not mutually intelligible varieties not of different languages , but dialects of the same language. Speakers who are proficient rooftop, live in a linguistic situation that is called diglossia.
Social Dialektkontinua
In addition to geographical Dialektkontinua there are also social Dialektkontinua between basilektalen and akrolektalen language varieties spoken in the same geographical area. Here basilect acrolect and may differ to the mutual incomprehensibility of each other, but in between there is a chain of varieties, the characteristics of Basilekts and Akrolekts to varying degrees, mix with each other, so that a clear separation of varieties is not possible.
Examples of large-scale geographic Dialektkontinua
- The continental West Germanic dialect continuum, also known as Dutch-German dialect continuum by some linguists, according to the capping literary languages , is in the north by the Danish, to the east by the West Slavic languages , on the west by the French, in the southeast by the Hungarian and Slovenian and on the south by Romansh and Italian limited. So by the Schleswig 's ( Northern Lower Saxony ) in the extreme north of West Flanders in the far west to the German - Polish and German -Czech language border in the east. Alemannic up to the maximum in the extreme southwest and south Bavaria in the extreme southeast, Each local dialect speakers can understand the dialects of its neighbors. The small differences from a local dialect to the next add up and lead ultimately to the fact that a dialect speakers from Flensburg to dialect speakers from Bern or Bolzano difficult or impossible understood - and vice versa, both did not have German as a national common standard language. In dialect speakers from Antwerp ( scope of the Dutch standard language ) and Vienna ( under the German standard language ), the absence of a common roof or standard language feature, these can not contribute directly to overcome communication difficulties, however. The German - Dutch dialect continuum extends beyond the current scope of application of two standard languages - that of the Germans in Germany, eastern Belgium, the German Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol in Italy and the Netherlands in the Netherlands and northern Belgium. In addition, the Alemannic, Rhine Franconian and Moselle Franconian dialect area in Alsace and northeastern Lorraine and the West Flemish dialect area around Dunkirk, where the French is considered as an official language and the German and Dutch standard language has spread is limited, and the Moselle Franconian dialect area in Luxembourg, where in addition to the German standard language also fills Luxembourgish some functions of a standard language. The boundaries of the dialect groups do not agree this with the distribution areas of the two major standard languages , which are largely determined by the political boundaries match. The Lower Saxony, Lower Franconian and Ripuarian respectively on both sides of the German - Dutch border spoken that separates the distribution areas of the standard languages . It is controversial how far along the state borders under the differentiating influence of the standard languages on the dialects now also a linguistic divide has emerged.
- At the time of Old English and the English formed a dialect continuum with the West Germanic languages on the mainland, the dialect speakers on the mainland and the island could communicate with each other verbally and in writing. But after the Norman conquest of the British Isles ( 1066) have become the old English and continental dialects, strongly promoted by the geographical separation, as far diverged that this former dialect continuum no longer exists.
- The festlandskandinavische dialect continuum today includes Danish, Swedish and the many dialects of Norwegian. The island Nordic languages Faroese and Icelandic were still in the Middle Ages, a dialect continuum with the Scandinavian languages of the mainland, but which no longer exists today because of the long separation.
- The (Western) Roman languages between the Atlantic Sea, Adriatic Sea and English Channel ( Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Occitan, French, Romansh, Italian, Sardinian ) form a dialect continuum. At the transition between the other languages and the French but this is currently the most Breaking, because different from standard French native Gallo- Romance languages have been displaced in France and French-speaking Switzerland ( Occitan, Franco-Provençal and peripheral Oïl languages) to a large extent from the standard French and therefore the extinction are threatened.
- The North Slavic dialect continuum, which includes the West Slavic languages Czech, Slovak and Polish and East-Slavic Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian.
- The South Slavic languages: Slovenian - common language area of the Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian ( dialect continuum Serbo-Croatian: dialect groups Kajkavisch, Štokavisch and Čakavisch and Torlakisch - the first three named after the word for "what" -, and [ as subgroups of Štokavisch ] Ekavisch, Ijekavisch and Ikavisch - named after the pronunciation of the ancient Slavic jat Loud [* ì ] ) - Macedonian - Aegean Macedonian - Bulgarian
- Arabic -speaking region ( from Morocco to Iraq, bounded by the Sahara in the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Turkish, Kurdish and Persian in the East)
- Quechua - speaking area ( Quechua I, IIa, IIb and IIc with numerous sub- variants) in western South America