Author:

Keywords:

Social Sciences, Linguistics, Language & Linguistics, AREA, 2004 Linguistics, Languages & Linguistics, 4704 Linguistics

Abstract:

This paper introduces a method for the analysis of regional linguistic variation. The method identifies individual and common patterns of spatial clustering in a set of linguistic variables measured over a set of locations based on a combination of three statistical techniques: spatial autocorrelation, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. To demonstrate how to apply this method, it is used to analyze regional variation in the values of 40 continuously measured, high-frequency lexical alternation variables in a 26-million-word corpus of letters to the editor representing 206 cities from across the United States. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011.