Class, Network, and Dialect Contact in Raleigh, NC

语言变异的定量研究不断揭示不同社会经济阶层的说话者之间的语言差异。例如，“来自下面”的变化——那些说话者没有意识到的变化——被认为是由中产阶级或上层工人阶级领导的。然而，这些差异的社会和语言起源已被证明是难以捉摸的。关于阶级差别的原因，一个有希望但未得到充分利用的调查领域是阶级与社会网络之间的复杂关系。本项目运用跨学科的方法，寻找基于网络的社会阶层语言差异的解释，并探索语言变异研究的网络方法。在北卡罗来纳州的罗利，南方方言自20世纪中叶以来一直在消失。对说话者前元音系统的社会语音学分析表明，南方元音的迅速消失始于北方白领大规模移民到罗利的时期。这个项目继续现有的社会语言学访谈语料库在方言接触设置罗利，北卡罗来纳州。语料库的数据收集始于2008年，到目前为止，已经对257名白人和非裔美国人进行了长达一小时的社会语言学采访。收集数据的首要目标是对语言变化和方言接触的社会动态进行长期研究，特别关注社会经济阶层、社会网络的作用，以及它们在产生南方元音移位的持续逆转中的相互作用。主要目标是1)收集大约50个额外的工人阶级说话者的访谈，2)继续转录和自动测量现有和新的社会语言学访谈中的元音，增加107个说话者的测量完成；3)收集一些现有说话者的额外网络数据；4)班级和网络假设的统计评估。这项研究项目将有助于公众了解美国社会中种族和地区语言的多样性。罗利项目将成为北卡罗来纳自然科学博物馆展览的基础，该展览将向博物馆参观者介绍声学语音学和方言地理学。本科生和研究生都将获得数据收集和统计分析方面的经验和培训。

Quantitative research about linguistic variation has consistently revealed linguistic differences between speakers of different socioeconomic classes. For example, changes "from below" -- those which speakers are not aware of -- are thought to be led by middle or upper working classes. Yet the social and linguistic origins of these differences have proven elusive. A promising but under-utilized area of inquiry about the reasons for class distinctions is the complex relationship between class and social network. This project uses interdisciplinary methods to look for network-based explanations for linguistic differences between social classes, and to explore network methods for the study of linguistic variation.In Raleigh, North Carolina, the Southern dialect has been disappearing since the middle of the 20th century. Sociophonetic analysis of speakers' front vowel systems reveals that the rapid loss of Southern vowels began at the time of large-scale migration of white collar Northern speakers to Raleigh. This project continues an existing corpus of sociolinguistic interviews in the dialect contact setting of Raleigh, North Carolina. Data collection for the corpus began in 2008 and has so far resulted in hour-long sociolinguistic interviews with 257 White and African American speakers. The overarching goal in collecting the data has been to carry out a long-term study of the social dynamics of language change and dialect contact, with particular attention to the role of socioeconomic class, social network, and their interaction in producing the ongoing reversal of the Southern Vowel Shift. The major goals are 1) the collection of interviews with approximately 50 additional working class speakers, 2) the continued transcription and automated measurement of vowels in existing and new sociolinguistic interviews, adding to the 107 speakers for whom measurements are completed; 3) the collection of additional network data from some existing speakers; 4) statistical assessment of hypotheses concerning class and network.This research project will contribute to the public understanding of ethnic and regional language diversity in American society. The Raleigh project will be the basis of an exhibit in the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences which will introduce museum visitors to acoustic phonetics and dialect geography. Both undergraduate and graduate students will gain experience and training in data collection and statistical analysis.