淡路島の方言語彙に関する研究 : じゃがいも・さつまいも・さといも

In this study, we have analyzed the results of the survey done about the dialects around the Awaji island. This analysis was done by using GIS, which is a new tool to analyze the information scientifically in terms of time and space.
The purpose of my study is to clarify how the dialects of Awaji island have changed over time by comparing dialectal data shown in “Linguistic Atlas of Seto Inland Sea”（1974） with our latest data including 1999’s data.
A comparison between the results of these data was conducted by using the GIS, which has helped us find the change in the geographical range of the dialect. By using the GIS we can obtain a lot of useful details about the geographical range of the dialects; for example, we can see the effect TV has had on the spread of standard Japanese dialect to other areas. Also, we are able to discover more about the change or evolution of the language. I believe that studying the evolution of languages from the past to the present using geographical information, such as GIS, is extremely important in showing how the languages have changed and evolved.