Phonetic Variation in Appalachia

这项建议是一个大型项目的第二阶段，该项目旨在研究西弗吉尼亚州阿巴拉契亚地区语言变异的社会和语言因素。主要目标是确定方言的现状，包括其区域关系，其相对程度的本地化，其社会语言学的分工，以及其变化的方向。从迄今为止完成的研究来看，很明显，阿巴拉契亚地区英语的许多传统特征正在从西弗吉尼亚州消失，尽管有些仍然在社会意识的雷达下。目前的建议涉及计算机辅助声学语音分析，以加强对阿巴拉契亚的声音的描述。具体来说，研究将分析元音移位的进展（例如，“beyd”表示“bed”）、元音合并（例如，“pin/pen”发音相同）和辅音变化（例如，“which/witch”发音相同）。这项研究的另一个方面是对美国农村的考察。美国的农村地区正在发生变化，所发现的社会语言学模式将阐明这些变化。这项提案来自一个核心的EPSCoR州，它提供了有价值的教育和社区利益。该项目通过促进研究助理的发现和理解，同时促进K-12学校教师更好的语言意识和未来教师的更好培训，将研究和教育结合起来。研究小组目前正在创建一个互动网站，将提供一个教育环境，了解方言的历史，语言变化，共时变异和方言的态度。该提案的结果将纳入该教育网站。 该项目的更广泛影响还包括对阿巴拉契亚英语的更准确描述，这是一种在20世纪备受诟病的变体。

This proposal is the second stage of a large project to examine social and linguistic factors of language variation in the West Virginia region of Appalachia. The primary goal is to determine the dialect's current status, including its regional affiliations, its relative degree of vernacularity, its sociolinguistic divisions, and its directions of change. From the research accomplished to date, it is clear that many of the traditional features of English in Appalachia are fading from WV, although some remain under the radar of social awareness. The current proposal involves computer-assisted acoustic phonetic analysis in order to enhance the description the sounds of Appalachia. Specifically, research will analyze the progression of vowel shifts (e.g."beyd" for "bed"), vowel mergers (e.g. pronouncing "pin/pen" the same), and consonantal changes (e.g. pronouncing "which/witch" the same). An additional facet of this research is the examination of rural America. Rural areas in the United States are changing, and the sociolinguistic patterns discovered will illuminate those changes.This proposal emanates from a core EPSCoR state, and it provides worthwhile educational and community benefits. This project integrates research and education by advancing discovery and understanding for the research assistants while at the same time promoting better language awareness for teachers in K-12 schools and better training for future teachers. The research team is currently creating an interactive website that will provide an educational environment for learning about dialect history, language change, synchronic variation, and dialect attitudes. The results from this proposal will be incorporated into this educational site. The broader impacts from this project also include a more accurate description of Appalachian English, a variety much maligned in the 20th century.