Fig. 3: Weighted cosine systematicity and systematic distances between English and German.

a1–a4, c1–c4 Butterfly-scatter-violin-box plots show the weighted cosine systematicity multiplied by 1000 and natural log-transformed, across different time-slices and mapping directions. LME results are marked on conditions with positive effects, with main effects annotated in the centre of each plot. Left: sys_cos_ab_w for the mapping English→German; right: sys_cos_ba_w for the mapping German→English. From bottom to top: old, modern, recent. b1–b4, d1–d4 MDS plots based on mean sys_dist measurements illustrate the co-evolutionary trajectories of English and German varieties. Arrows are plotted from old varieties to modern varieties and from modern varieties to recent varieties. Labels: “oldE” for old English, “modE” for Modern English, “recE” for recent English, “oldG” for Old High German, “modG” for Modern German, “recE” for recent German. a1–b4 For vowels. c1–d4 For consonants. a1, b1, c1, d1 In general. a2, b2, c2, d2 At word initial positions. a3, b3, c3, d3 At inter-syllabic positions within words. a4, b4, c4, d4 At word final positions.