Statistical Analysis of a Panel Study on Language Standardization of Dialect in a 41-year Longitudinal Survey

Abstract

We analyzed longitudinal survey data on language standardization of dialect in Tsuruoka city of Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. The Tsuruoka survey was carried out four times over 61 years, in 1950, 1971, 1991, and 2011, by National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL) and The Institute of Statistical Mathematics (ISM). We selected native speakers of the Tsuruoka dialect, who participated in the Tsuruoka survey three times over 41 years, in 1950, 1971, 1991. Participants who were under 20 years old in 1950 were not included. Using this panel data (N = 38) from native speakers of the Tsuruoka dialect, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was conducted. The result showed that long-term accent change tended towards standardization. However, there was no evidence that phonetic change tended towards standardization.