Linguistic Change and Diffusion in the Mid-Atlantic Region

该研究项目将研究从纽约到巴尔的摩的大西洋中部地区一系列语言变化的传播。《北美英语地图集》表明，这一地区在发展过程中表现出许多共同特征和变化：短/a/和/o/的词汇分裂为紧张类和松弛类；长开/oh/抬高到高、中位，短/e/降低，check /ey/抬高，以及/l/发声。社会语言学研究将在以前研究过的城市化地区进行，以实时确认进展中的变化报告。为了研究这些中心的地理分布，该项目将在60个较小的城镇使用简短的社会语言学访谈。我们的目标是发现哪些传播模式——等级传播或传染性传播——是语言变量从一个社区传播到另一个社区的特征。关于这些变化的地理分布的数据，加上关于流动和移徙形式的资料，将有助于解决社会变化如何与语言变化相结合的问题。

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.