thesis May 5, 2012 15:00 Page 1 ☛✟ ✡✠ wordəwɔrdə ʋordənʋordn woərdəwœrn woordenMartijn Wieling wordnwuʀdə spreikəsprekə spreken spɾɛkəspɾɛkŋ spriəkənspreikən spʁɛkəspreikən rupəroupə rupənropə ʀopənʀupən roepen raupmrəupə ʀupə A Quantitative fʀɒɣənfʁɒɣə vrɑɣəvroɣn vragen frɒɡnfroɡŋApproach vroəɣənvroən to Social and Geographical leəvəlɛvə lɛəvənlɛvən lævənlæʋn lebmlevmDialect leven Variation leivəlɛvə ☛✟ ☛✟ ʋɛrəkənʋaɾəkə wɛrəkəwarekə werken✡✠ wærkənwærkŋ wɛərkŋwærkŋ✡✠ diænədinən dienen deinədɛin diənədiən deynədenə dɑindin ɣevənɣeɛvə ɡeivəɡevə ɡeiʋənɡeivən ɣeəvəɣeivə geven ɣevɱɣɛvə bloujənbluiən bluyjəblujə bloeien blœyəblœə blujənblojə dɛənsədɛanzən dansen dɑnsədɑnsn dæntsədæsn dɑnzədɑsn bɪndəbində bɛindəbɛənə bæɪndəbeəndn bendəbɪndn☛✟ binden ✡✠ thesis May 5, 2012 15:00 Page 2 ☛✟ ✡✠ ☛✟ ☛✟ ✡✠ ✡✠ ☛✟ ✡✠ thesis May 5, 2012 15:00 Page i ☛✟ ✡✠ AQuantitative Approach to Social and Geographical Dialect Variation Martijn Wieling ☛✟ ☛✟ ✡✠ ✡✠ ☛✟ ✡✠ thesis May 5, 2012 15:00 Page ii ☛✟ ✡✠ The work in this thesis has been carried out under the auspices of the Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences (BCN) and the Center for Language and Cognition Groningen (CLCG). Both are affiliated with the University of Groningen. ☛✟ ☛✟ ✡✠ ✡✠ Groningen Dissertations in Linguistics 103 ISSN: 0928-0030 ISBN: 978-90-367-5521-4 ISBN: 978-90-367-5522-1 (electronic version) © 2012, Martijn Wieling Document prepared with LATEX 2ε and typeset by pdfTEX (Minion Pro font) Cover design: Esther Ris — www.proefschriftomslag.nl Printed by: Off Page, Amsterdam, The Netherlands — www.offpage.nl ☛✟ ✡✠ thesis May 5, 2012 15:00 Page iii ☛✟ ✡✠ RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN AQuantitative Approach to Social and Geographical Dialect Variation Proefschrift ter verkrijging van het doctoraat in de Letteren aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen ☛✟ ☛✟ ✡✠ op gezag van de ✡✠ Rector Magnificus, dr. E. Sterken, in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 28 juni 2012 om 12.45 uur door Martijn Benjamin Wieling geboren op 18 maart 1981 te Emmen ☛✟ ✡✠ thesis May 5, 2012 15:00 Page iv ☛✟ ✡✠ Promotores: Prof. dr. ir. J. Nerbonne Prof. dr. R.H. Baayen Beoordelingscommissie: Prof. dr. J.K. Chambers Prof. dr. M.Y. Liberman Prof. dr. D. Speelman ☛✟ ☛✟ ✡✠ ✡✠ ☛✟ ✡✠ thesis May 5, 2012 15:00 Page v ☛✟ ✡✠ To Aafke ☛✟ ☛✟ ✡✠ ✡✠ ☛✟ ✡✠ thesis May 5, 2012 15:00 Page vi ☛✟ ✡✠ ☛✟ ☛✟ ✡✠ ✡✠ ☛✟ ✡✠ thesis May 5, 2012 15:00 Page vii ☛✟ ✡✠ Acknowledgements uring this enjoyable dissertation-writing journey I have had the privilege of being supported by many people. Not only by fellow- researchers, who helped me with the subjects covered in this thesis, Dbut also by family and friends, who allowed me to keep in touch with the ‘real world’. I am very grateful to all of them. First and foremost, I thank John Nerbonne, who has been my PhD super- visor since the start of this project. We did not have many scheduled appoint- ments, but as his door was always open (and his office opposite mine) there were few days when I did not ask his advice or discuss research ideas with him. I am certain this is one of the main reasons why I was able to write this thesis in only forty months. I am also thankful to John for allowing me to shape my own research project, and for not insisting that I conduct the research we ini- tially envisioned. In addition, I thank Harald Baayen for agreeing to become ☛✟ my second supervisor in 2011. Since my visit to him in Edmonton in 2010, we ☛✟ ✡✠ have collaborated on several projects and I am really grateful for his patient ex- ✡✠ planations of various statistical techniques and his useful feedback, which were essential for much of the work presented in this dissertation. Alongside my supervisors, there are several other people I am obliged to. I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the members of my reading commit- tee: Jack Chambers, Mark Liberman and Dirk Speelman, for finding the time in their busy schedules to read this dissertation. Furthermore, I thank both Ger- win Blankevoort and Bob Shackleton for agreeing to be my paranymphs. As well as enjoying his company in both the Netherlands and Canada, I benefitted greatly from Bob’s knowledge of English dialects during our collaboration. In addition, the antique book on English dialects (Ellis, 1889) which he gave me proved very useful when writing the introduction to this dissertation. Gerwin has been a good friend for many years, and sharing experiences about both our PhDs (and more important matters) made for many enjoyable lunches at Restaurant Academia. I have also enjoyed the pleasant evenings with him and his beautiful family (Ellen and Lise) very much. During my PhD I have had the privilege of collaborating with many col- leagues. I thank Esteve Valls for two intense weeks of research on Catalan di- alects in Santiago de Compostela. I am very grateful for his hospitality during that time, including the (for a Dutchman) unique experience of having dinner at midnight. I also enjoyed collaborating with Simonetta Montemagni during vii ☛✟ ✡✠ thesis May 5, 2012 15:00 Page viii ☛✟ ✡✠ my two weeks in Pisa. I had a very enjoyable time sharing an office with her at the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche and have learned much about Tuscan dialectology (as well as about the delicious Italian food). Finally, I thank Clive Upton for a very nice one-week collaboration in Leeds where we investigated contemporary English dialect variation (and I learned the diverse meanings of English ‘tea’). There were various people in the Netherlands with whom I collaborated. I thank Boudewijn van den Berg, Jelke Bloem, Charlotte Gooskens, Wilbert Heeringa, Bob de Jonge, Hanneke Loerts, Eliza Margaretha, Kaitlin Mignella, Sandrien van Ommen, Jelena Prokić and Mona Timmermeister for their friendly collaboration. In particular, I thank Hanneke Loerts for involving me in the analysis of her eye-tracking data. I enjoyed our collaboration and inter- esting discussions very much. During my PhD, I have met many nice people at this university. First of all I want to thank all current and former members of the Alfa-Informatica cor- ridor for creating such a welcoming and unique atmosphere. I thoroughly en- joyed all social events, including Sinterklaas parties and Wii-nights. Thank you, Barbara, Çağrı, Daniël, Dicky, Dörte, Erik, Geoffrey, George, Gertjan, Gideon, Gosse, Harm, Hartmut, Henny, Ismail, Jelena, Johan, John K., John N., Jörg, Jori, Kilian, Kostadin, Leonie, Lonneke, Marjoleine, Noortje, Nynke, Peter M., Peter N. (also for your company in Uganda!), Proscovia, Tim, Valerio and Yan. Specifically, I want to thank Daniël for being my office mate for all these years. ☛✟ Despite us having very different opinions about a certain type of fruit, I really ☛✟ ✡✠ appreciated our conversations and his willingness to help whenever needed. ✡✠ In addition, I have met many other friendly and interesting colleagues by visiting (or organizing) various CLCG activities. Alexandra, Diana, Gisi, Han- neke, Ildikó, Jacolien, Karin, Myrte, Ryan and Veerle are only a few of the peo- ple whose company made life in the CLCG as a PhD student very pleasant. In particular, I want to thank Myrte for our frequent lunches and coffee breaks. I’ve always enjoyed these very much. Within the CLCG, I would like to thank a few other people. First, I thank Wyke van der Meer who always helped with any issues of an administrative na- ture. Second, I am grateful to Jonas Bulthuis and especially Adri Mathlener for responding quickly to any IT-related problems I encountered. Finally, I thank Peter Kleiweg for creating the L04 dialectometry software package, which has been very useful in my research. During my PhD, I followed the training program of the Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences. I really appreciated the interdisci- plinary nature of BCN, which allowed me to learn of interesting research out- side of linguistics. The BCN Project Management Course (led by Erik Boddeke and Frans Cornelissen) was especially helpful in making me realize I needed to focus my research more. I also want to thank Janine Wieringa and Diana Koop- mans (among others) who always made sure every BCN activity was perfectly organized. viii ☛✟ ✡✠ thesis May 5, 2012 15:00 Page ix ☛✟ ✡✠ In the past seven years I have been coordinating the Examentraining VWO of the University of Groningen. Being involved with this project enabled me to take a break from doing research whenever needed. Besides all teachers and other employees throughout the years, I thank Frits van Kouwenhove, Jan Bat- teram, Rashudy Mahomedradja, Maaike de Lange and Liesbeth Kerkhof for their pleasant collaboration. During my time at the university I have met many people, both in- and out- side academia, who I would like to thank for their support and interest. I thank Bianca, Dirk, Gerwin and Ellen, Hanna, Karin and Arjen, Laurens, Rachel, Rudolf and Ilse, and Vincent Paul and Lianne for their support and friendship throughout the years. In addition, I thank Adriaan, Alie, Arnold, Bill, Bart and Jolanda, Boyana, Carleyn and Richard, Esther, Gerard, Ira, Jack G., Jan de W., Jos, June, Lisa Lena, Louwarnoud, Maarten, Marie-Anne and Berry, Marieke, Markos, Marten, Michael, Sebastiaan, Vivian, Wilmer and Mandy, and all those that I might have forgotten, for their interest and nice conversations. Besides friends, there is family. First and foremost I want to thank my lov- ing mother and father for always having stimulated me to learn as much as possible. While my mother unfortunately passed away in 2004, I am grateful for my father’s support in all these years. I also thank my dear sister Sarah for being there. I greatly respect that she has become such a compassionate per- son and a uniquely gifted teacher. In addition, I thank Joko, Sarah’s soon-to-be husband. I’ve enjoyed his company and his humor very much. For her interest ☛✟ and unsalted opinion, I am grateful to Hennie, who has in a way also become ☛✟ ✡✠ part of our family. Having a partner in life also implies having a second family.