An isogloss, also called a heterogloss (see
Etymology
Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words ...
below), is the geographic boundary of a certain
linguistic feature, such as the
pronunciation
Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct pronunciation") or simply the way a particular ...
of a
vowel
A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (len ...
, the meaning of a word, or the use of some morphological or syntactic feature. Major
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...
s are typically demarcated by ''bundles'' of isoglosses, such as the
Benrath line that distinguishes
High German from the other
West Germanic languages and the
La Spezia–Rimini Line that divides the Northern Italian languages and Romance languages west of Italy from Central Italian dialects and Romance languages east of Italy. However, an ''individual'' isogloss may or may not have any coterminus with a
language border. For example, the
front-rounding of
/y/ cuts across France and Germany, while the /y/ is absent from Italian and Spanish words that are
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical ef ...
s with the /y/-containing French words.
One of the best-known isoglosses is the
centum-satem isogloss.
Similar to an isogloss, an isograph is a distinguishing feature of a writing system. Both concepts are also used in
historical linguistics
Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include:
# to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages
# ...
.
Examples
Centum-satem isogloss
The centum-satem isogloss of the
Indo-European language family relates to the different evolution of the
dorsal consonants of
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...
(PIE). In the standard reconstruction, three series of dorsals are recognised:
In some branches (for example
Greek,
Italic and
Germanic), the palatals merged with the velars: PIE "tremble (inwardly)" became
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
''cupiō'' "desire" and "hundred" became Latin ''centum'' (pronounced
entum; but "
interrogative pronoun" became ''quō'' "how? where?". They are known as ''centum'' branches, named after the Latin word for ''hundred''.
In other branches (for example,
Balto-Slavic
The Balto-Slavic languages form a branch of the Indo-European family of languages, traditionally comprising the Baltic and Slavic languages. Baltic and Slavic languages share several linguistic traits not found in any other Indo-European br ...
and
Indo-Iranian), the labiovelars merged with the velars: PIE became
Vedic Sanskrit ''kopáyati'' "shaken" and became
Avestan ''kō'' "who?"; but became Avestan ''satəm''. They are known as ''satem'' branches, after the Avestan word for ''hundred''.
Since the Balto-Slavic family, the Indo-Iranian family, and the other ''satem'' families are spoken in adjacent geographic regions, they can be grouped by an isogloss: a geographic line separating ''satem'' branches on one side from ''centum'' branches on the other.
North-Midland isogloss (American English)
A major isogloss in
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...
has been identified as the
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north ...
-
Midland isogloss, which demarcates numerous linguistic features, including the
Northern Cities vowel shift: regions north of the line (including
Western New York;
Cleveland, Ohio;
lower Michigan
The Lower Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Lower Michigan – is the larger, southern and less elevated of the Geography of Michigan, two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; the other being the Upper Peninsula of Mic ...
; northern
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
; and eastern
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
) have the shift, while regions south of the line (including
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, central and southern
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
, and most of
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...
) do not.
Northwest Semitic
A feature of the ancient
Northwest Semitic languages is ''w'' becoming ''y'' at the beginning of a word. Thus, in
Proto-Semitic and subsequent non-Northwest
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigrant ...
and dialects, the
root letters for a word for "child" were ''w-l-d''. However, in the ancient Northwest Semitic languages, the word was ''y-l-d'', with ''w-'' > ''y-''.
Similarly, Proto-Semitic ''ā'' becomes ''ō'' in the
Canaanite dialects of Northwest Semitic. Within the
Aramaic language
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
s and dialects of Northwest Semitic, the historic ''ā'' is preserved. Thus, an ancient Northwest Semitic language whose historic ''ā'' became ''ō'' can be classed as part of the Canaanite branch of Northwest Semitic.
Such features can be used as data of fundamental importance for the purposes of linguistic classification.
Isographs
Just as there are distinguishing features of related languages, there are also distinguishing features of related scripts. (For a discussion of
writing systems, see ''The World's Writing Systems''.)
For example, a distinguishing feature of the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
Old
Hebrew script is that the letters ''
bet
Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...
'', ''
dalet'', ''
ayin'' and ''
resh'' do not have an open head, but contemporary
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...
has open-headed forms. Similarly, the ''bet'' of Old Hebrew has a distinctive stance (it leans to the right), but the ''bet'' of the Aramaic and
Phoenician scripts series has a different stance (in both, it leans to the left).
In 2006,
Christopher Rollston
Prof. Christopher A. Rollston (born in Michigan, United States) is a scholar of the ancient Near East, specializing in Hebrew Bible, Greek New Testament, Old Testament Apocrypha, Northwest Semitic literature, epigraphy and paleography.
Bio ...
suggested using the term ''isograph'' to designate a feature of the script that distinguishes it from a related script series, such as a feature that distinguishes the script of Old Hebrew from Old Aramaic and Phoenician.
Etymology
The term ''isogloss'' (Ancient Greek ''ísos'' "equal, similar" and ''glōssa'' "tongue, dialect, language") is inspired by
contour line
A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, or isarithm) of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a plane section of the three-dimensional gr ...
s, or isopleths, such as
isobars. However, the isogloss separates rather than connects points. Consequently, it has been proposed for the term ''heterogloss'' ( ''héteros'' "other") to be used instead.
See also
*
Dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...
*
Dialectology Dialectology (from Greek , ''dialektos'', "talk, dialect"; and , '' -logia'') is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their ass ...
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Dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...
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Cultural boundary
*
Language border
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Joret line
*
Sprachbund
*
Uerdingen line
References
Bibliography
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External links
An example of an isogloss in Southern England
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Beyond the Isogloss: The Isograph in Dialect Topography'' A discussion of the shortcomings and oversimplifications of using isoglosses.
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'' A humorous analysis of Russian isoglossy.
{{Authority control
Dialectology
Historical linguistics
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