isogloss

English

WOTD – 21 February 2018

Etymology

A map showing the Uerdingen line, the isogloss between German Low German ik and Central German ich

From iso- +‎ gloss, ultimately from Ancient Greek ἴσος (ísos, “equal”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wi- (“to separate”)) + γλῶσσα (glôssa, “tongue; language”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *glōgʰs).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈaɪsə(ʊ̯)ɡlɒs/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈaɪsəɡlɑs/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈaɪsoɡlɒs/, /ˈʌɪ-/, /-sə-/
• Hyphenation: iso‧gloss

Noun

isogloss (plural isoglosses)

1. (linguistics) A line on a map indicating the geographical boundaries of a linguistic feature.

   Synonym: heterogloss

   • 1921, The Calcutta Review, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, →OCLC, page 285:

     Bloch thinks (and we agree with him) that details of isogloss will probably not bear out this kind of grouping.

   • 1970, W[illiam] F[oxwell] Albright, T[homas] O[den] Lambdin, “The Evidence of Language”, in I[orwerth] E[iddon] S[tephen] Edwards, C[yril] J[ohn] Gadd, N[icholas] G[eoffrey] L[emprière] Hammond, editors, The Cambridge Ancient History, 3rd edition, volumes I, part 1 (Prolegomena and Prehistory), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, published 2000, →ISBN, section IV (Sumerian, Hurrian, Urarṭian, Elamite), page 154:

     There was also a tendency to treat transitive verbs passively, as in Hurrian and Urarṭian; it must, however, be emphasized that this phenomenon may also be considered as an isogloss rather than as an indication of genetic relationship.

   • 2005, Brian D. Joseph, Carol G. Preston, Dennis R. Preston, editors, Language Diversity in Michigan and Ohio: Towards Two State Linguistic Profiles, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Caravan Books, →ISBN, page 29:

     The convergence of multiple isoglosses on a map, a "bundle", indicates a boundary between one regional dialect and another.

Hyponyms

• isolex
• isophone
• Joret line

Derived terms

• isoglossal
• isoglossic

Translations

line indicating geographical boundaries of a linguistic feature

• Afrikaans: isoglos
• Aragonese: isoglosa f
• Armenian: իզոգլոս (hy) (izoglos), զուգաբանություն (hy) (zugabanutʻyun), զուգաձայն (hy) (zugajayn)
• Basque: isoglosa
• Belarusian: ізаглоса (izahlósa)
• Breton: izoglos
• Bulgarian: изоглоса (izoglosa)
• Catalan: isoglossa f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 同言線／同言线 (tóngyánxiàn)

• Chuvash: изоглосса (izoglossa)
• Czech: izoglosa
• Danish: isoglos c
• Dutch: isoglosse (nl)
• Finnish: isoglossi
• French: isoglosse (fr) f
• Galician: isoglosa
• German: Isoglosse (de) f
• Gilaki: لفظمرز
• Greek: ισόγλωσσο (el) n (isóglosso)
• Hindi: समवाक (samvāk)
• Hungarian: izoglossza (hu)
• Indonesian: isoglos (id)
• Irish: teoirlíne f
• Italian: isoglossa f
• Japanese: 等語線
• Korean: 등어선 (ko) (deung'eoseon)
• Latin: isoglossa
• Limburgish: isoglos
• Low German:

  Dutch Low Saxon: isoglos

• Norwegian: isogloss (no) m
• Pennsylvania German: Isoglosse
• Persian: مرز همگویی
• Polish: izoglosa (pl) f
• Portuguese: isoglossa f
• Romani:

  Kalo Finnish Romani: isoglossos

• Romanian: isoglosă (ro) f, izoglosă (ro) f
• Russian: изогло́сса (ru) (izoglóssa)
• Sardinian: isoglossa
• Serbo-Croatian: izoglosa (sh) f, изоглоса f
• Spanish: isoglosa (es) f
• Swedish: isogloss (sv)
• Turkish: lehçe sınır çizgisi
• Ukrainian: ізоглоса (izohlosa)
• Welsh: isoglos m or f
• West Flemish: isoglosse

See also

• isograph

Further reading

• isogloss on Wikipedia.Wikipedia