A Synchronic Lexical Study of Gbe Language Varieties: The Effects of Different Similarity Judgment Criteria

Abstract

In the context of a synchronic lexical study of the Gbe varieties of West Africa, this paper explores the question whether the use of different criteria sets to judge the similarity of lexical features in different language varieties yields the same or different conclusions regarding the relative relationships and clustering of the investigated varieties and the prioritization of further sociolinguistic research. Word lists elicited in 49 Gbe varieties were analyzed by means of the inspection method. To assess the effects of different similarity judgment criteria, two different similarity judgment criteria sets were applied to the elicited data to identify similar lexical items. The quantification of these similarity decisions resulted in the computation of two similarity matrices which were subsequently analyzed by means of correlation analysis and multidimensional scaling. The findings of the correlation analysis indicate a significant linear and positive relationship between both word-list computations, thus supporting the conclusion that application of either set of similarity judgment criteria would lead to similar clustering results for the Gbe data set. These findings are corroborated by the findings of multidimensional scaling which suggest that different sets of similarity judgment criteria lead to similar clustering results and similar conclusions as to the scope and priorities for further research

Keywords

• Niger-Congo
• Kwa
• Gbe
• lexicon
• classification
• genetic
• variation