Dialectology with more sophisticated methods - Jack Grieve, Regional Variation in Written American English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. xviii + 335. Hardback $110.00, ISBN: 9781107032477.

English Today ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Lei Lei
Keyword(s):  
Regional Variation ◽  
American English ◽  
Cambridge University

“Since when does the Midwest have an accent?”

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Carmichael
Keyword(s):  
Regional Variation ◽  
American English ◽  
Social Judgments ◽  
Linguistic Input ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The U.S

Abstract Folk ideologies about regional variation often depend on the consideration of certain varieties in contrast with the idea of a linguistically unmarked, standard way of speaking (Preston 1996; Lippi-Green 2012). This study analyzes the relationship between those abstract ideologies and in-the-moment reactions to linguistic input. Examining this question with respect to American English, a listening task manipulated where speakers were said to be from and whether the speakers used regional speech varieties linked to those places. Listeners were asked to make social judgments about speakers with varying degrees of local accentedness said to be from Southern, Northeastern, and Midwestern locales in the U.S.; these locations were selected to target highly enregistered nonstandard dialect areas versus more linguistically “unmarked” regions. Results indicate that while pre-existing sociolinguistic stereotypes about these three locations in some cases trumped the actual linguistic input that listeners encountered, effects of accentedness also varied in place-specific ways related to expectations for each locale.

The Gettysburg Corpus: Testing the Proposition that All Tense /æ/s Are Created Equal

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-46
Author(s):  
Isaac L. Bleaman ◽  
Daniel Duncan
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
American English ◽  
Speech Corpus ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Gettysburg Address ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Language Data

Corpus studies of regional variation using raw language data from the internet focus predominantly on lexical variables in writing. However, online repositories such as YouTube offer the possibility of investigating regional differences using phonological variables, as well. This paper demonstrates the viability of constructing a naturalistic speech corpus for sociophonetic research by analyzing hundreds of recitations of Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.” We first replicate a known result of phonetic research, namely that English vowels are longer in duration before voiced obstruents than before voiceless ones. We then compare /æ/-tensing in recitations from the Inland North and New York City dialect regions. Results indicate that there are significant regional differences in the formant trajectory of the vowel, even in identical phonetic environments (e.g., before nasal codas). This calls into question the uniformity of “/æ/-tensing” as a cross-dialectal phenomenon in American English. We contend that the analysis of spoken data from social media can and should supplement traditional methods in dialectology and variationist analysis to generate new hypotheses about socially conditioned speech patterns.

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