Quantifying dialect similarity by comparison of the lexical distribution of phonemes

This paper describes a new method for quantifying the similarity of the lexical distribution of phonemes in different varieties of a language (in this case English). In addition to introducing the method, it discusses phonological problems which must be addressed if any comparison of this sort is to be attempted, and applies the method to a limited data set of varieties of English. Since the method assesses their structural similarity, it will be useful for analysing the historical development of varieties of English and the relationships (either as a result of common origin or of contact) that hold between them.