Phonological variation in Catalan and Alemannic from a typological perspective

Typological research has been mainly based on standard written varieties. Only in recent years has there been a growing interest in studying cross-linguistic variation in regional and social non-standard varieties (e.g. Kortmann 2004). While morphology and syntax have been the focus of these cross-linguistic studies, phonological aspects have not been fully explored, partly because previous approaches to phonological typology have concentrated primarily on phoneme inventories (e.g. Maddieson 1984). The aim of this paper is to show how phonological variation in closely-related standard and non-standard varieties may be explained in terms of typological features. For that purpose, the typology of syllable and word languages will be applied to Catalan and Alemannic dialects. The focus will lie on how traditional dialect classifications can be accounted for on the basis of this typology.