On the Relationship of the Degrees of Correspondence of Dialects and Distances

National Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsThis study analyzes the relationship between the degrees of resemblance and distances between dialects based on several dialectological atlases. This analysis investigates various correspondence data with respect to total valid data in setting reference places and comparison places. The degree of correspondence (DC) can be calculated by quantifying the degree of resemblance. I adopt a great-circular distance for the distance between the source and a comparison place. It is possible to graph the data with distances and DCs along the X and Y axes, respectively. The analysis yields five main results. (1) DC has an inverse relationship with distance in most places, here called the main sequence. However, there are exceptional places called peculiar groups. (2) One of the peculiar groups was caused by in-migration. (3) Another peculiar group is found on islands having very narrow land areas divided by the sea. (4) The main sequence can be classified into two types of linguistic classes. The grammatical data show a stepping slope instead of a gentle slope in the lexical data. (5) The main sequence shows a precise linear relationship over a narrow area