OPEN ACCESS
This article connects two science fields: one that belongs to the exact sciences (mainly math-ematics), and the other–to linguistics, which belongs to the humanities. Linguistics is considered here as a phenomenon of nature. The main argument is that the way languages and dialects develop is similar to the behavior of random fractals in nature. Thus, the term ‘fractals’ and some of their features are compared to languages and their development. A basic organizing principle of fractals is self-similarity: fractals maintain their form regard-less of the scale used. However, more details are revealed as the size scale changes and diminishes or grows. Fractals have a geometric shape that can be subdivided into parts, and each can be at least approximately a reduced-size copy of the whole. Such fluctuations are a kind of noise, which has been described as the essence of life, being random, uncertain and non-deterministic. The variety of noise spectra is defined by groups of features, specific sig-nals and combinations of noise types. In languages, there are also basic structures, which develop into longer chains of utterances. These utterances can recur repetitively until some end, e.g. from speech sounds to words, and from them to phrases, sentences and whole texts. Another aspect of languages is that they have dialects. Their structures derive from a common core and acquire differences in time and space among dialects, in similar but variegated fash-ions. This comparison of fractals and languages/dialects reveals interesting similarities and differences. Examples are mainly taken from Arabic dialects.
Arabic dialects, dialects, fractals, language.
[1] Lesmoir-Gordon, N. (ed.), The Colours of Infinity: The Beauty and Power of Fractals, Springer Verlag: London, 2010.
[2] Self-similar Fractals, available at http://www.fractalcurves.com/Turtle.html
[3] Rosenhouse, G., Colours of noise fractals and applications. International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics, 9(4), pp. 255–265, 2014. https://doi.org/10.2495/DNE-V9-N4-255-265
[4] Fractals examples available at http://fractalfoundation.org/OFC/OFC-1-1.html (accessed 8 July 2016)
[5] Fractal example available at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/ Mandel_zoom_00_mandelbrot_set.jpg (accessed 8 July 2016)
[6] Tomasello, M., Origins of Human Communication, MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2008.
[7] Kennison, S., Introduction to Language Development, Sage: Los Angeles, CA, 2013.
[8] Hugh, A. & Trudgill, P., English Accents and Dialects: An Introduction to Social and Regional Varieties of British English, Edward Arnold: London, 1990.
[9] Jespersen, O., Language: Its Nature, Development and Origin, George Allen and Unwin Ltd: London, 1922.
[10] Sapir, E., Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech, Harcourt, Brace and Co: New York, 1921.
[11] Peterson, G.E. & Barney, H.L., Control methods used in a study of the vowels. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA), 24(2), pp. 175–184, 1952. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1906875
[12] Amir, N., Amir, O. & Rosenhouse, J., Colloquial Arabic vowels in Israel: A compara-tive acoustic study of two dialects. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA), 136(4), pp. 1895–1907, 2014.
[13] Map of the Arabic Dialects of the Levant, From Fuṣħā to ‘Āmmiyya, available at https:// learnammiyya.wordpress.com/tag/sociolinguistics/ (accessed 10 July 2016)
[14] Kaye, A.S. & Rosenhouse, J., Arabic dialects and Maltese, In The Semitic Languages, ed R Hetzron, Routledge Publishing House: London, 263–311, 1997.
[15] Urban Levant Arabic Consonants and Vowels, available at https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Levantine_Arabic_phonology)
[16] Rosenhouse, J., The Bedouin Arabic Dialects: General Characteristics and a Detailed Study of North Israel Bedouin Dialects, Harrassowitz Verlag: Wiesbaden, 1984.
[17] Geva-Kleinberger, A., Die arabischen Stadtdialekte von Haifa in der ersten Haelfte des 20. Jahrhunderts, Harrassowitz Verlag: Wiesbaden, 2004.
[18] Havelova, A., Arabic dialects of Nazareth: A Dialectological and sociolinguistic description, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Haifa: Haifa, 2000.
[19] Meron, J. & Kabha, R., Tales of the Wadi, The Institute for Arabic Studies; Givat Haviva, 1993.
[20] Schmidt, H. & Kahle, P., Volkserzählungen aus Palästina (Vol. 1), Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht: Goettingen, 1918.
[21] Received Pronunciation (RP), available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pro-nunciation (accessed 2 September 2016)
[22] Labov, W., Principles of Linguistic Change; Cognitive and Cultural Factors, Wiley Blackwell: Chichester, 2010.
[23] Trudgil, P., Dialects in Contact, Basil Blackwell: Oxford, 1986.
[24] Rosenhouse, J. “Vocabulary changes in an Eastern Arabic dialect region in the 20th century,” Casini, L., La Spisa, L. and Suriano, A.R. (eds.) In Quaderni di Studi Arabi N.S. 9, The Languages of Arabic LiteratureUn Omaggio a Lidia Bettini, eds. L Casini, L, La Spisa, & A.R Suriano, pp. 99–114, 2014.