ΔiaLing
The research group ΔiaLing clusters scholars who conduct research in the field of historical and diatopic linguistics, and gives as such visibility to these fields of study. The research conducted by ΔiaLing contributes to these disciplines in the following ways:
(i) language description and documentation through the creation and dissemination of various types of descriptive tools that are of use to the linguistic community (e.g. dictionaries, grammars, corpora, text editions, databases, etc.);
(ii) the advancement of linguistic theory, which is informed by empirically-grounded studies.
A number of diverse theoretical viewpoints on language variation and change (e.g. Construction Grammar, Grammaticalization Theory, Relevance Theory, Prototype Theory, Dynamic Syntax, Cartography, Nanosyntax and, more generally, Generative Grammar) are explored for the genesis and development of a variety of phenomena. These include, among others, discourse markers and adverbs, aspect and modality, word order phenomena and information structure, transitivity alternations and valency, case-marking and argument structure, nominal constituents, adverbial clauses, negation and word formation.
Calendar
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Tue09Dec202511:00 amBlandijn, Faculteitszaal
Gina Saviano (Ghent University) – "Mapping the Regional Linguistic Space between Italian and Dialect: A Computational Analysis of Phonetic Features in Neapolitan"
Show contentAbstract
“Continuum con addensamenti”, ‘continuum with agglomerations’: this is how Berruto once described the Italian linguistic repertoire. Much has been discussed about the extremes of this continuum; however, little do we know about those intermediate “agglomerations”. How many are there? How are they organized? Do they share features? To address these questions, we adopt a phonetic perspective and borrow a technique typically used in commercial profiling. Examining established Neapolitan phonetic features alongside new prosodic parameters, we identify possible speaker profiles and features agglomerations, shedding a new light on the intermediate varieties of the Italian standard-dialect continuum. In this talk, I will discuss preliminary studies and findings, applying this innovative methodology to offer new insights into the nature of the concept of variety.
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Fri12Dec202510:00 amBlandijn 2 3.30 (Camelot)
Bernat Bardagil (Ghent University) - Argument marking patterns as a proxy for social contact in the Guaporé-Mamoré region of Amazonia
Show contentTo what extent can we use a high-resolution comparative linguistics approach to open a window into human history when we lack tangible historical information? The Guaporé-Mamoré region, overlapping significant territory in the Bolivian and Brazilian lowlands, is one of the most linguistically and culturally diverse regions in the continent. In spite of that, we know extremely little about the history of a vast majority of the languages, and the indigenous nations who speak them, before the 20th century. In this talk I will discuss my ongoing research examining grammatical properties in order to triangulate historical information about the nations inhabiting of this area.
Jointly organised with BantUGent. To join the meeting online via MS teams, please contact Nina van der Vlugt.
News and press
- Duccio Guasti has been awarded the 2025 Trends in Classics Book Prize!
- Dialing at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea
- Three new monographs!
- DiaLing at the 26th International Conference on Historical Linguistics at the University of Heidelberg
- DiaLing at the 56th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea
- Liliane Haegeman (UGent) – “Subject drop and a narrative garden path in Christie’s Murder is Easy”