Costanza Asnaghi

Site-restricted web searches for data collection in regional dialectology

This article presents a new method for data collection in regional dialectology based on site-restricted web searches. The method measures the usage and determines the distribution of lexical variants across a region of interest using common web search engines, such as Google or Bing. The method involves estimating the proportions of the variants of a lexical alternation variable over a series of cities by counting the number of webpages that contain the variants on newspaper websites originating from these cities through site-restricted web searches. The method is evaluated by mapping the 26 variants of 10 lexical variables with known distributions in American English. In almost all cases, the maps based on site-restricted web searches align closely with traditional dialect maps based on data gathered through questionnaires, demonstrating the accuracy of this method for the observation of regional linguistic variation. However, unlike collecting dialect data using traditional methods, which is a relatively slow process, the use of site-restricted web searches allows for dialect data to be collected from across a region as large as the United States in a matter of days.

Geographical patterns of formality variation in written Standard California English

Formality variation in the written use of lexical words in the relational sphere in California English is analyzed on a geographical level for the first time in this article. Linguistic data for word alternations including a formal and an informal term for a specific concept are gathered from newspapers Web sites written in English through site-restricted Web searches across California (Asnaghi, An Analysis of Regional Lexical Variation in California English Using Site-Restricted Web Searches. Joint Ph.D. Dissertation, Universita `; Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and University of Leuven, Milan, Italy and Leuven, Belgium, 2013) and analyzed with a series of spatial statistical analyses (Grieve et al. A statistical method for the identification and aggregation of regional linguistic variation. Language Variation and Change, 23: 193-221, 2011). Urban versus rural and north versus south tendencies are detected in the language choices of California journalists. These tendencies are rooted in the history of the Golden State as well as in its socio- economical structure (Starr and Procter. Americans and the California dream, 1850-1915. History: Reviews of New Books, 1(9): 201-201, 1973; Hayes, Historical Atlas of California: With Original Maps. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press, 2007).