Mapping, synthesis and visualization of Czech dialects

ABSTRACT

Dialects became a traditional research subject of linguists who collect and analyse data from a linguistic perspective and a spatial perspective. Detailed research on the distribution of dialects and their specifics is an important part of preserving every nation's cultural heritage. With the gradual disappearance of dialects in society, this topic is very relevant. The presented paper briefly describes the history of dialect research and the most important outcome in recent years, the Czech Linguistic Atlas (CLA). CLA presents the data only in a very simple form from a cartographic point of view, so a new approach has been applied. A new atlas was created from this data, focusing on a specific area of dialectology – vowels shortening. This new atlas’ internal structure corresponds to the cartographic atlas theory as a system and contains both analytical and synthetic maps. Synthetic maps show areas with similar (and unique in the case of regionalisation) combinations of evaluated attributes. The concept of map synthesis is described, and further research questions are designed.

RÉSUMÉ

Les dialectes sont devenus un sujet de recherche traditionnel des linguistes qui collectent et analysent des données selon un point de vue linguistique et spatial. Une recherche détaillée sur la distribution spatiale des dialectes et leurs spécificités est une part importante de la préservation du patrimoine culturel de chaque nation. Le sujet est d'autant plus important avec la perte progressive des dialectes dans nos sociétés. Cet article décrit brièvement l'histoire de la recherche sur les dialectes et le résultat le plus important de ces dernières années : l'Atlas Linguistique Tchèque (ALT). ALT ne présente les données que sous une forme très simple d'un point de vue cartographique donc une nouvelle approche a été suivie. Un nouvel atlas a été créé à partir de ces données, focalisant sur un point particulier de la dialectologie : le raccourcissement des voyelles. La structure interne de ce nouvel atlas correspond à la théorie de l'atlas cartographique en tant que système et contient à la fois des cartes analytiques et synthétiques. Les cartes synthétiques montrent des zones avec des combinaisons de valeurs d'attribut identiques (et uniques dans le cas de la régionalisation). Le concept de synthèse cartographique est décrit et de nouvelles questions de recherche sont posées.

KEYWORDS:

• Language mapping
• dialect maps
• cartographic synthesis
• systematic cartography
• linguistic atlas

Acknowledgements

This paper was created on the basis of the project No. DG20P02OVV029 „Czech dialects in an interactive view. Documentation and ways to the accessibility of the disappearing linguistic heritage as an integral part of regional identities‘; support provider: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, NAKI II Program. The authors thank the student Marek Pospíšil for his great contribution to data and visualization procedures.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic: [Grant number DG20P02OVV029]; Czech Science Foundation [Grant number 18-05432S].

Notes on contributors

Vit Vozenilek

Vit Vozenilek is a full professor in geoinfromatics at Palacky University Olomouc (Czechia). His filed is systematic geovisualization and atlas cartography.

Martina Ireinova

Martina Ireinova is a head of dialectology division of Czech Language Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Brno (Czechia). Her research is on dialects of Czech language.

Alena Vondrakova

Alena Vondrakova is an assistant professor at at Palacky University Olomouc (Czechia). She focuses on thematic cartography and haptic maps.

Jakub Konicek

Jakub Konicek is a PhD candidate at Palacky University Olomouc (Czechia). His dissertation deals with infographics in cartography.