The purpose of this study is to statistically analyze the distribution of dialects in Mungyeong, Sangju, Geumneung(Gimcheon), and Seonsan(Gumi) in the northwestern part of Gyeongbuk, the southeastern dialect area of the Korean Peninsula. The northwestern part of Gyeongbuk is located on the border between the Chungcheong and Jeolla dialects, so it is possible to discover the dialect characteristics of the transition area, and the purpose of this study is to study the process of statistically confirming and analyzing the characteristics of these transition areas.
It is expected that the dialect characteristics of the northwest region, which are classified as a transitional region within the Gyeongbuk dialect area, will reveal dialect contact with adjacent regions. With this possibility in mind, this study attempted to analyze the distribution of dialects in the northwest region by using Kim Deok-ho(2023)'s ‘Dialect distribution statistical analysis method’ to establish a statistical basis for dialect exchange and distribution.
When hierarchical cluster analysis was applied, it was classified into 15 clusters, and it was confirmed that this could be reconstructed into 11 clusters according to the optimization procedure of non-hierarchical cluster analysis. In particular, in the process of applying the optimization procedure, we tried to apply the Principle of Contagious Distribution and Principle of Adjoining Distribution of dialectical distribution research.