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The Gbe Language Varieties of West Africa: a Quantitative Analysis of Lexical and Grammatical Features

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The Gbe Language Varieties of West Africa: a Quantitative Analysis of Lexical and Grammatical Features DigitalResources Electronic Survey Report 2008-023 THE GBE LANGUAGE VARIETIES OF WEST AFRICA: A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF LEXICAL AND GRAMMATICAL FEATURES Angela Kluge THE GBE LANGUAGE VARIETIES OF WEST AFRICA: A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF LEXICAL AND GRAMMATICAL FEATURES Angela Kluge Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts in Language and Communication Research School of English, Communication and Philosophy University of Wales, College of Cardiff 2000 SIL Forum for Language Fieldwork 2008-023, August 2008 ©Angela Kluge and SIL International All rights reserved To the Gbe people groups of West Africa ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the following for all the help and support they have given me during this last year. First, I would like to thank my friends at home and abroad for providing me with the financial support which has enabled me to study for this Master’s degree. Second, I would like to thank my colleagues and supervisors at SIL International and SIL Togo-Benin for making it possible for me to take this year of study-leave and for contributing to my support. I would also like to thank my supervisor Dr. Gordon Tucker for the time, support, and guidance he has given to me over the last few months. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Angie Williams at the Centre for Language and Communication (Cardiff University) for her initial advice on the statistical methods chosen for this dissertation and for pointing me to the pertinent literature. Furthermore, I would like to thank Paul McGeoghan at the Computing Centre (Cardiff University) for so patiently explaining to me the basics of cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling. In particular, I would like to say thank you to Dr. Marie South, a consultant statistician of AstriaZeneca, for being so generous with her time in discussing with me the various statistical aspects of this dissertation. Further thanks to my many colleagues in SIL for taking the time to answer my many questions regarding SIL’s study on the Gbe language continuum, and to Anna Holzhausen, in particular, for her proofreading of the final draft. Finally, thank you Gudrun, for being so supportive throughout this last year, for the many talks we’ve had about this dissertation, for your input and your helpful questions when we bounced my ideas back and forth, but also for your patience and care and the many little in-between breaks that got me through these last few months. CONTENTS Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 1. Background information on Gbe ............................................................................. 6 1.1. Language classification ................................................................................................ 6 1.2. Language area ..............................................................................................................6 1.3. Language development................................................................................................. 8 Chapter 2. Previous linguistic research....................................................................................10 2.1. Linguistic research on Gbe ..........................................................................................10 2.2. Quantitative analysis of lexical and grammatical features ............................................11 2.2.1. Quantitative analysis of lexical features .................................................................11 2.2.1.1. Diachronic lexicostatistics...............................................................................11 2.2.1.2. Synchronic lexicostatistics...............................................................................13 2.2.2. Quantitative analysis of grammatical features ........................................................14 Chapter 3. Rationale ...............................................................................................................16 3.1. SIL study on Gbe.........................................................................................................16 3.2. Previous word- and phrase-list analyses.......................................................................17 3.2.1. Computation of similarity matrices ........................................................................18 3.2.1.1. Word lists........................................................................................................18 3.2.1.2. Phrase lists ......................................................................................................21 3.2.2. Preliminary analysis of the computed similarity matrices.......................................24 3.3. Research focus of this dissertation...............................................................................24 Chapter 4. Methodology .........................................................................................................26 4.1. Cluster analysis ...........................................................................................................26 4.2. Multidimensional scaling.............................................................................................27 4.3. Analysis procedures ....................................................................................................28 4.3.1. Cluster analysis......................................................................................................28 4.3.2. Multidimensional scaling.......................................................................................29 Chapter 5. Results...................................................................................................................31 5.1. Clustering of the Gbe language varieties......................................................................31 5.1.1. Overview...............................................................................................................31 5.1.2. Western Gbe varieties............................................................................................35 5.1.2.1. Cluster analysis ...............................................................................................36 5.1.2.2. Multidimensional scaling.................................................................................40 5.1.3. Central Gbe varieties .............................................................................................45 5.1.4. Eastern Gbe varieties .............................................................................................47 5.1.4.1. Cluster analysis ...............................................................................................48 5.1.4.2. Multidimensional scaling.................................................................................53 5.1.5. Summary ...............................................................................................................61 5.1.5.1. Western Gbe....................................................................................................61 5.1.5.2. Central Gbe .....................................................................................................62 5.1.5.3. Eastern Gbe.....................................................................................................62 5.2. Comparability of word- and phrase-list results.............................................................64 Chapter 6. Discussion and conclusions....................................................................................67 6.1. Clustering of the Gbe language varieties......................................................................67 6.2. Comparability of word- and phrase-list results.............................................................68 6.3. Priorities for further sociolinguistic research................................................................70 6.4. Conclusions.................................................................................................................72 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................73 Appendices ...............................................................................................................................80 FIGURES Figure 1: Map of the Gbe language area (based on Capo 1986: map 1a) ............................ 7 Figure 2: Major Gbe groupings – MDS plot of computation WLC-1 .................................34 Figure 3: Major Gbe groupings – MDS plot of computation WLC-2 .................................34 Figure 4: Major Gbe groupings – MDS plot of computation PLC ......................................35 Figure 5: Western Gbe varieties – MDS plot of computation WLC-1 ................................41 Figure 6: Western Gbe varieties – MDS plot of computation WLC-2 ................................42 Figure 7: Western Gbe varieties – MDS plot of computation PLC.....................................43 Figure 8: Lexical similarity percentages for the Aja varieties (Tompkins et al. 1997) ........46 Figure 9: Eastern Gbe varieties – MDS plot of computation WLC-1..................................54 Figure 10: Eastern Gbe varieties – MDS plot of computation WLC-2..................................56 Figure 11: Eastern
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