Costaouec (2012)

De Arbres
  • Costaouec, Denis. 2012. 'Linguistic geography of Breton and sociocultural motivations', STUF - Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung 65(1), 47–64. texte.


 Résumé:
 "In this paper I discuss various issues directly related to the study of Breton dialects, and to the practice of linguistic geography. Some of the questions that will be considered are: Where does the border pass between two contiguous dialectal areas? How can the geographical distribution of the varieties of a language be explained? What factors (social, economic, cultural, religious, political, etc) can be correlated with this geographic distribution? "
 Début de l'introduction:
 "Based on the study of Breton (Celtic), this paper supports the hypothesis of a link between linguistic geography and the distribution of sociocultural features. This study is based on a previously undescribed Breton variety spoken in La Forêt-Fouesnant (COSTAOUEC 1998). It also draws on the linguistic material available in the Atlas linguistique de Basse-Bretagne edited by PIERRE LE ROUX (from 1924 to 1963). The methodology is based on a dialectometrical approach developed by GARY GERMAN in his PhD thesis on the Breton of Saint-Yvi, Finistère (GERMAN 1984).
 A comparison of the phonetic material between the variety of La Forêt-Fouesnant (henceforth LFF) and the 77 points of investigation in the Atlas linguistiquede Basse-Bretagne (hence ALBB) had made it possible to define the areas of dialectal proximity. Interestingly, the cartography of the phonetic distribution matches with the cartographies of matrimonial practices, traditional clothing, and choreographic repertories."