- Isogloss
An isogloss is the geographical boundary or delineation of a certain linguistic feature, e.g. the pronunciation of a
vowel , the meaning of a word, or use of some syntactic feature. Majordialect s are typically demarcated by whole bundles of isoglosses, e.g. theBenrath line that distinguishes High German from the otherWest Germanic languages ; or theLa Spezia-Rimini Line which divides the Northern Italiandialects from Central ones. Undoubtedly, the largest well-known isogloss is theCentum-Satem isogloss , which traditionally separates theIndo-European languages into two distinct categories.A major isogloss in American English has been identified as the North-Midland isogloss, which demarcates numerous linguistic features, including the
Northern Cities vowel shift : regions north of the line (includingwestern New York ;Cleveland, Ohio ; lower Michigan; northernIllinois ; and easternWisconsin ) are subject to the shift and regions south of the line (includingPennsylvania , central and southernOhio , and most ofIndiana ) are not.The name is inspired by
contour line s orisopleths such asisobar , etc.; however, the isogloss separates rather than connects points of equal language (perhaps one could say it connects points of indefinite language).See also
*
Benrath line
*Centum-Satem isogloss
*Dialect
*Dialectology
*Dialect continuum External links
* [http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/sid/isogloss.htm An example of an isogloss in Southern England] .
* " [http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/canengglobal/abstracts/tony_pi.pdf Beyond the Isogloss: The Isograph in Dialect Topography] :" A discussion of the shortcomings and oversimplifications of using isoglosses.
* " [http://specgram.com/LP/20.rankin.isoglossy.html On Some Acoustic Correlates of Isoglossy] ," a humorous analysis of Russian isoglossy.References
*Chambers, J.K. and Peter Trudgill (1999) Dialectology (2nd Edition). Cambridge University Press.
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