Linguistic Change and Diffusion in the Mid-Atlantic Region

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The research project will study the diffusion of a series of linguistic changes across the Mid-Atlantic region from New York City to Baltimore. The Atlas of North American English shows that this region exhibits many common features and changes in progress: the lexical split of short /a/ and /o/ into tense and lax classes; the raising of long open /oh/ to high and mid position, the lowering of short /e/ and the raising of checked /ey/, and the vocalization of /l/. Sociolinguistic studies will be carried out within previously studied urbanized areas to provide real-time confirmation of reports of change in progress. To study geographic diffusion from these centers, the project will use short sociolinguistic interviews in 60 smaller cities and towns. The goal is to discover which patterns of diffusion--hierarchical or contagious transmission-are characteristic of which linguistic variables as changes spread from one community to another. Data on the geographic distribution of these changes, coupled with information on patterns of mobility and migration, will help resolve the question of how social change is coupled with linguistic change.