Diachronic Dialectology

This book presents the use of kernel smoothing, a family of methods adapted from fields such as signal processing, as a way to identify the true spatial distribution of linguistic forms at particular points in time.

Diachronic Dialectology discusses the use of kernel smoothing in historical dialectology and introduces new approaches to parameter setting. It presents a series of case studies from the history of the Norwegian language, investigating some of the major phonological and morphosyntactic shifts which transformed the language from Old Norwegian through Middle to early Modern Norwegian.

The book demonstrates how the kernel smoothing method allows us to see how these changes spread from place to place. These findings are used to throw light on a number of more general research questions of interest to an audience beyond Scandinavianists.

Diachronic Dialectology also includes a step-by-step guide to kernel smoothing, enabling non-experts to apply the approach to their own data.