Creation of Regions for Dialect Features Using a Cellular Automaton

Abstract

An issue in dialect research has been how to make generalizations from survey data about where some dialect feature might be found. Precomputational methods included drawing isoglosses or using shadings to indicate areas where an analyst expected a feature to be found. The use of computers allowed for faster plotting of locations where any given feature had been elicited, and also allowed for the use of statistical techniques from technical geography to estimate regions where particular features might be found. However, using the computer did not make the analysis less subjective than isoglosses, and statistical methods from technical geography have turned out to be limited in use. We have prepared a cellular automaton (CA) for use with data collected for the Linguistic Atlas Project that can address the problems involved in this type of data visualization. The CA plots the locations where survey data were elicited, and then through the application of rules creates an estimate of the spatial distributions of selected features. The application of simple rules allows the CA to create objective and reproducible estimates based on the data it was given, without the use of statistical methods.