Areal variation in Middle High German

Using the Corpus der altdeutschen Originalurkunden ‘Corpus of Old German Original Charters’ (Wilhelm et al. 1932–2004), we will show that charters offer valuable information on dialectological differences during the Middle High German period. This text genre is unsurpassed in terms of its geographical resolution even though it faces certain challenges due to its partially formulaic style. With two well-known phenomena, i.e. inflected forms of the infinitive (‘gerunds’) and so-called ‘contracted’ verbs like haben/hân ‘have’, we will show how these materials can be analysed and put into perspective with other sources like the new Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik by Klein, Solms & Wegera (2018).

Areale Variation von /r/-Realisierungen in schweizerdeutschen Dialekten.

The present study deals with the areal variation of /r/-realisations in the Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland. In particular, we provide a quantitative survey of recordings collected through crowdsourcing, i. e. by means of the smartphone application Dialäkt Äpp (Leemann/Kolly 2013). Each of the 2851 recordings of the word trinke (‘to drink’) was auditorily coded by at least two of the four authors. The resulting maps show a neat areal distribution of the realisations of /r/, with alveolar variants in most of the central Midlands and in the Alpine regions. Uvular variants, on the other hand, seem to prevail in the northeastern and northwestern parts of German-speaking Switzerland. Comparing our data with traditional dialectological sources, we find evidence for the hypothesis that the alveolar realisation of /r/ has been extensively replaced by uvular variants in large parts of the northeast; apparently, a similar sound change is now in progress in the rural areas around Basel.

Saami -(š)goahti inchoatives: their variation, history, and suggested cognates in Veps and Mordvin

The purpose of this article is twofold: first, to give an overview of the morphological and areal variation of the Saami deverbal inchoative suffixes (North Saami -goahti- and -šgoahti-), and second, to give an updated account of the history of said suffixes. To achieve the latter, a critical survey is made of previous literature dealing with these Saami suffixes as well as the phonetically and semantically similar derivational suffixes in Mordvin (Erzya -kado-, -gado-) and in Veps and Ludic (-gande-, -škande- ~ -gade-, -škade-). Several kinds of etymological cognate or loan relations between these suffixes have been posited. In the present paper, however, it is argued that the Saami -goahti- suffix is not related to other Uralic suffixes, but instead results from the affixation of an independent verb (North Saami boahtit ‘to come’). The -š- element attaching to the suffix is explained as a remnant of another derivational suffix still found as an independent inchoative marker -ahtja- present from South Saami up to Lule Saami.

A simple geologic risk-tailored 3D controlled-source electromagnetic multiattribute analysis and quantitative interpretation approach

Three-dimensional surveying is the method of choice in marine controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) exploration for hydrocarbons in frontier regions, but robust interpretation of the typically large-size field data faces significant challenges, including how to determine the correct resistivity, depth, and lateral limits of hydrocarbon-saturated reservoirs in the presence of heterogeneous host rocks or anisotropy and how to relate CSEM information to the key elements of geologic prospect evaluation (the presence of source rocks, migration and charge, reservoir rock, trap, and seal). We have developed a simple geologic risk-tailored approach for multiattribute analysis and first-pass interpretation of CSEM data in frontier exploration in which little prior information is available. First, geometric normalization of electric field amplitudes at each receiver location yields “phase-consistent” sounding curves that directly represent subsurface electrical structure (and can indicate reservoir rock presence). It enables accurate determination of seafloor resistivity (whose areal variation and direct correlation with seepage-induced geochemical and seismic shallow-gas anomalies can indicate the presence of a working petroleum system). Edge-detection attributes are then used to determine the geographical position and boundary shape of anomalous 3D resistive bodies (the trap presence and structural closure). Keeping these known parameters fixed, the most likely burial depth and resistivities of the sought 3D bodies are found using a simple line search technique involving rigorous 3D modeling and the results are validated and optimized post facto using seismic depth constraints to locally improve the prediction of the size and resistivities of hydrocarbon-charged or water-bearing sections crucial for prospect derisking, reserve estimation, and well placement.

Studying variation in case marking

This paper examines the phenomenon of the genitive of negation (GenNeg) in the Aukštaitian dialects of Lithuanian. It is shown that there is areal variation in case marking of an object of a negated verb. West Aukštaitian dialetcs (the Kaunas region) allow innovative accusative marking of an object of a negated verb much more often (although not as often as is claimed in the dialect descriptions) than South and East (the Vilnius region) Aukštaitian dialects where the genitive marking is very consistent. Even though South Aukštaitian has more examples of accusative marking than East Aukštaitian, the percentage is still very small. Different types of negated contexts (local vs distant) are not so relevant for the choice of case marking in South-East Aukštaitian, but play a moderately significant role in West Aukštaitian: the accusative marking is more common in distant negated contexts. In East Aukštaitian, direct objects of infinitives embedded under negated verbs can also be marked by the nominative, i.e. verbal negation does not affect the case marking of the so called nominative objects.

On phonological variations in Kafrelsheikh Egyptian Arabic

This study attempts a close investigation of areal variation in the major phonological features of the Egyptian Arabic spoken in the agrarian northern region of Kafrelsheikh (KEA): their contexts and patterns. Targeting old, rural speech, a survey of all the localities is conducted through recordings of natural speech and a questionnaire. The instrumentally investigated phonological variables in KEA include major allophonic variants, and some typical instances of assimilation, dissimilation, metathesis, sound addition and sound deletion. Most instances of variation in the present data prove to be linguistically conditioned. Analysis shows that the differences between the dialect areas do not involve all the previous variants. KEA roughly seems to have five speech areas, with each enjoying intra-variation and comprising many relic features. Finally, the findings are interpreted with reference to the phonological system of (Egyptian) Arabic as a whole and various models of language variation patterning.