Linguistische en geografische afstand in dertiende-eeuws Middelnederlands

Abstract

This contribution reports on the calculation of the degree of similarity between 56 places/small dialect areas in 13th-century Dutch, with respect to the use of different forms for 160 dialect features. This was done to get a more precise picture of the dialect boundaries and of the mutual influences with respect to chancery conventions between the 56 places. In the same way the similarity of linguistic forms was analysed with respect to their distribution in the dialectal landscape. The combination of the results of both calculations offers an representative inventarisation of the 13th-century dialects vs. common language. The data used for the Atlas van Vroegmiddelnederlandse Taalvarianten (Atlas of Early Middle Dutch Linguistic Variants) appeared to be appropriate for this investigation, while the statistical method of analysis used (CA, Correspondence Analysis) answered our questions satisfactorily.