V1 in Icelandic : A Multifactorical Visualization of Historical Data

Abstract

We present an innovative visualization technique for the analysis of historical data. We illustrate our method with respect to a diachronic case study involving V1 word order in Icelandic. A number of interacting factors have been proposed by linguists as being determinative of matrix declarative V1. The significance of these factors in contributing to declarative V1 can be explored interactively via our multifactorial visualization within a given text, but also comparatively over time. We apply the visualization to a corpus study based on the IcePaHC historical corpus of Icelandic and show that new results emerge very clearly out of the visualization component and that the appearance of declarative V1 is not confined to the situations identified so far by linguists. We demonstrate that the multifactorial visualization opens up new avenues for the exploration of alternative explanations. The visualization can be applied to any linguistic problem studying an interaction between several factors across time.