Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of recent innovative approaches that focus on the distributional patterns of linguistic phenomena in dialects across different languages. We set the stage by discussing a number of geographical factors that are assumed in the literature to have a bearing on the structural make-up of different languages and dialects such as world region, altitude, contact with speakers of other languages or dialects, etc. We then move on to sketch the extent to which dialects of a language exhibit common features (e.g., “vernacular universals” à la Chambers 2004) and identify structural dichotomies and continua that are regularly invoked when it comes to explaining the structural diversity of languages, namely, analyticity versus syntheticity, explicitness versus economy, complexity versus simplicity, and innovativeness versus conservativeness, all within the context of geographic space.
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Appendix: Abbreviations of Varieties
Appendix: Abbreviations of Varieties
- AbE/AborE:
-
(Australian) Aboriginal English
- AppE:
-
Appalachian English
- AusCs:
-
Australian Creoles
- AusE:
-
Australian English
- AusVE:
-
Australian Vernacular English
- BahE:
-
Bahamian English
- BelC:
-
Belizean Creole
- BlSAfE:
-
Black South African English
- BrE:
-
British English
- ButlE:
-
Butler English
- CamP/E:
-
Cameroon Pidgin/English
- CanE:
-
Canadian English
- ChcE:
-
Chicano English
- ChIsE:
-
Channel Island English
- CollAmE:
-
Colloquial American English
- CollAusE:
-
CollquialColloquial Australian English
- CollSgE:
-
Colloquial Singapore English
- E/R/UAAVE:
-
Earlier/Rural/Urban African American Vernacular English
- EA:
-
East Anglian English
- EAfE:
-
East African English
- FijiE:
-
Fiji English
- FlkE:
-
Falkland English
- GhP/E:
-
Ghanaian Pidgin/English
- HawC/E:
-
Hawaian Creole/English
- HKE:
-
Hong Kong English
- IndE:
-
Indian English
- InSAfE:
-
Indian South African English
- IrE:
-
Irish English
- IsSE/SEAmE:
-
Isolated South Eastern American English
- JamC/E:
-
Jamaican Creole/English
- LibSE:
-
Liberian Settler English
- MalE:
-
Malaysian English
- ManxE:
-
Manx English
- NfldE:
-
Newfoundland English
- NigP/E:
-
Nigerian Pidgin/English
- North:
-
English dialects in the North of England
- NZE:
-
New Zealand English
- O&SE:
-
Orkney & Shetland English
- OzE:
-
Ozarks English
- PakE:
-
Pakistani English
- PhiE:
-
Philippine English
- ScE:
-
Scottish English, Scots
- SE:
-
English dialects in the South-East of England
- SEAmE/IsSE:
-
South-Eastern US enclave dialects
- SgE/SinE:
-
Singapore English
- SolP:
-
Solomon Islands Pidgin
- StHE:
-
St. Helena English
- SurC(s):
-
Suriname Creoles
- SW:
-
English dialects in the South-West of England
- TdCE:
-
Tristan da Cunha English
- Tob.TrnC:
-
Creoles of Trinidad & Tobago
- TobC:
-
Tobagonian Creole
- TP:
-
Tok Pisin
- TrnC:
-
Trinidadian Creole
- WelE:
-
Welsh English
- WhSAfE:
-
White South African English
- WhZimE:
-
White Zimbabwean English
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Röthlisberger, M., Szmrecsanyi, B. (2019). Dialect Typology: Recent Advances. In: Brunn, S., Kehrein, R. (eds) Handbook of the Changing World Language Map. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73400-2_133-1
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