Summary of Empirical Findings

Chapter 10 summarizes the empirical results of the book. This chapter outlines each part of the study and highlights key findings for each of the major New England dialect features. The chapter serves as an overall reference for the major results of the book, from the large-scale online audio projects across New England down to the face-to-face interviews in particular regional field sites.

The Hub

This is the first of two chapters (Chapters 6 and 7) that analyze fieldwork results in eastern Massachusetts. This chapter analyzes the eastern Massachusetts “Hub” region as a whole, providing a statistical overview of speakers interviewed in the Dartmouth-based fieldwork in this area. It examines the results in terms of major traditional Eastern New England dialect features, including Linear Mixed Effects regression modeling in terms of phonetic environments and social factors like age, gender, social class, and ethnicity. The chapter also plots these dialect features in terms of speakers’ birth year and other factors, showing how these features are changing over time.

Introduction

This chapter introduces the goals, methods, and major findings of this New England English research project. The chapter includes a sample illustration of fieldwork results for some of the vowels being studied, as well as a specific list of the objectives of the project as a whole. The chapter also discusses the data collection and analysis methods of the project in detail. The overall outline of the book is also presented.

Focus on Subgroups within the Hub

This is the second of two chapters (Chapters 6 and 7) that analyze the Dartmouth-based fieldwork data in eastern Massachusetts. This chapter “zooms in” to focus on particular subgroups within the Hub data set. First, the chapter provides statistical and graphical comparisons of traditional New England dialect features by contrasting two nearby groups: White speakers in the traditional working-class South Boston neighborhood, and Black/African American speakers in nearby Dorchester, Hyde Park, and other neighborhoods. The chapter concludes with a fieldwork project in Cape Cod. In each case, the chapter provides detailed plots of dialect features and statistical analyses with respect to age, gender, social class, ethnicity, and other factors

Results from the Mechanical Turk Online Written Questionnaires

This is the second of the two chapters (Chapters 4 and 5) that present the results of the author’s online data collection project using Mechanical Turk. This chapter analyzes the results of the online written questionnaires; 534 people responded to online questions about New England dialect features, including phonological features and lexical items. The author maps the results in terms of regional features in different parts of New England, comparing them to prior surveys and to the acoustic analyses of the prior chapter. The chapter also analyzes 100 free-response answers where New Englanders gave further insights into the current state of New England English.

The Linguistic Variables

This chapter outlines each of the linguistic variables studied in this New England English project, including r-lessness, START/PALM-fronting, “broad-a” BATH, NORTH/FORCE distinctions, MARY/MARRY/MERRY distinctions, LOT/THOUGHT distinctions, nasal short-a, and other traditional regional features. Each variable is discussed in terms of prior work, with a focus on results of the 1930s Linguistic Atlas of New England and the 2006 Atlas of North American English. The chapter includes maps of prior work that are used as a comparison for the results of the current study.

Early Founders and the Founder Effect

This chapter discusses key social, geographic, and chronological patterns of early English development in New England, including the early European settlement patterns and how they have led to long-term sociolinguistic patterns in the region (the Founder Effect). These early settlement patterns affected which regions within New England came to have different dialect features, creating regional contrasts that endured for generations after the original settlers. The chapter also discusses the role of Indigenous people in the region that came to be known as New England, including their effect on New England place names and the continuing modern role of Indigenous people in the region.

Outward Orientation, Leveling, and Hub Social Geometry

Chapter 11 considers the overall results of this New England project in terms of current sociolinguistic theory, including Labov’s “outward orientation of the language faculty,” dialect leveling, convergence and divergence, and other frameworks. The chapter then proposes that a notion of “Hub social geometry” can provide additional insights into how and why New England dialect features have changed over time. This chapter also considers the major findings of the book in light of ethnographic written responses from young adults who grew up in the area and experienced sharp generational changes and dialect leveling. The chapter also reviews other scholars’ work on perceptual dialectology in the region, and suggests future lines of research on New England English.

Fieldwork Results from Northeastern New England

This is the first of two chapters (Chapters 8 and 9) that present the Dartmouth-based fieldwork results from northern New England. Chapter 8 provides a graphical and statistical analysis of the combined data set from central New Hampshire and Maine. This chapter shows that many traditional New England dialect features are receding in northeastern New England, and analyzes the social and phonological factors that play a role in these changes.

Focus on Subgroups of Northern New England

This is the second of two chapters (Chapters 8 and 9) that present the Dartmouth-based fieldwork results from northern New England. The present chapter “zooms in” for a close-up view on subregions within northern New England. First, it considers the central New Hampshire data set in comparison to Maine, showing similarities between the two regions on the basis of statistical and graphical results. The chapter then presents results from a field study of a single farming family in western New Hampshire, showing generational changes in dialect features within this family at a greater level of ethnographic detail. This chapter also presents results from the Dartmouth-based Vermont/New Hampshire border study, as well as a review of other recent work in northern New England.