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Informationen zum Autor After a BA in Linguistics at the University of Essex, Tamsin Blaxter did her MPhil in General Linguistics and Comparative Philology at the University of Oxford, with a dissertation that explored gendered language in the medieval Íslendingasögur. For her PhD at the University of Cambridge, she worked on language change and space in medieval Norway. Her work focuses on new methods of gathering and exploring large datasets in variationist linguistics, with a particular interest in space. Klappentext This book presents the use of kernelsmoothing, a family of methods adapted from fields such as signal processing, as a way to identify the true spatial distribution of linguistic forms at particular points in time.* Discusses the use of kernel smoothing in historical dialectology and new approaches to parameter setting* Presents a series of case studies from the history of Norwegian language* Investigates some of the major phonological and morphosyntactic shifts which transformed the language from Old Norwegian through Middle to early Modern Norwegian* Demonstrates how the kernel smoothing method allows us to see how these changes spread from place to place, and these findings are used to throw light on a number of more general research questions of interest to an audience beyond Scandinavianists* A step-by-step guide to kernel smoothing is offered, so that non-experts can apply the approach to their own data Zusammenfassung This book presents the use of kernelsmoothing, a family of methods adapted from fields such as signal processing, as a way to identify the true spatial distribution of linguistic forms at particular points in time.* Discusses the use of kernel smoothing in historical dialectology and new approaches to parameter setting* Presents a series of case studies from the history of Norwegian language* Investigates some of the major phonological and morphosyntactic shifts which transformed the language from Old Norwegian through Middle to early Modern Norwegian* Demonstrates how the kernel smoothing method allows us to see how these changes spread from place to place, and these findings are used to throw light on a number of more general research questions of interest to an audience beyond Scandinavianists* A step-by-step guide to kernel smoothing is offered, so that non-experts can apply the approach to their own data Inhaltsverzeichnis List of figures List of tables Abbreviations and symbols Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 1.1. Foreword 1.2. Structure 2. The statistics of space in historical linguistics 2.1. Introduction 2.1.1. Visualising time and space: problems and solutions 2.2. Kernel smoothing 2.2.1. Kernel smoothing for spatial variation 2.2.2. Time 2.3. Parameter setting 2.3.1. Setting bandwidths based on real-world priors 2.3.2. Setting bandwidths based on predictive accuracy 2.3.3. Setting bandwidths based on power analysis 2.3.4. Conclusions 3. Language in medieval Norway and sources of data 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Norway and Norwegian in the late medieval period 3.2.1. Sociolinguistic statuses of the languages 3.2.2. Contact 3.2.3. A note on Jamtland 3.3. The Diplomatarium Norvegicum and the DN online 3.3.1. The Diplomatarium Norvegicum 3.3.2. Annotation 4. Variable de fi nitions and datasets 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Phonological variables 4.2.1. Rise of svarabhakti vowels 4.2.2. Loss of voiceless dental fricatives 4.2.3. Loss of voiced dental fricatives 4.3. Morphological variables 4.3.1. Changes in agreement of verbs with 1sg. subjects 4.3.2. Changes in the form of 1pl and 1du. subject pronouns 4.3.3. Changes in agreement of verbs with 1...
