Community Studies of Sociolinguistic Change in Appalachia

该项目的研究问题集中在传统方言是如何变化的，以及阿巴拉契亚青少年如何在21世纪改变它们来建立自己的身份。自第二次世界大战以来，美国农村发生了巨大变化，这些社区的社会语言模式在过去三代人中发生了变化。随着这些变化，到21世纪中叶，阿巴拉契亚的英语将明显不同，这些转变在社会和语言上都是复杂的。这种社会语言变化的融合提供了一个极好的机会来研究为什么阿巴拉契亚青少年以牺牲其他人为代价来传播某些方言特征。这项建议提供了有价值的社区利益，因为它通过促进发现和理解哪些语言模式阻碍学生充分发挥他们的教育潜力，将研究和教育结合在一起。该项目的成果将为阿巴拉契亚各地的教师提供以文化上可持续的方式解决语言多样性问题所需的内容和教学知识。长期目标是通过减少“刻板印象威胁”和为学生营造积极的学习环境来提高学生在课堂上的舒适度。这项拟议的研究结合了之前对14个变量和西弗吉尼亚州不同元音系统的检查，以记录语言变异的新趋势。研究人员将对阿巴拉契亚地区的学生进行采访，以比较方言模式。采访将在西弗吉尼亚州的四所学校进行：两所北部中学(农村和非农村)和两所南部中学(农村和非农村)。先前研究中最具社会标记的变量为定量研究提供了词汇、形态和音位变异。为了更深入地探讨青少年对社会语言模式的本地理解，我们还将进行课堂观察和焦点小组讨论。该项目的设计非常适合探索青少年如何使用语言模式来创造社会意义，从而推动阿巴拉契亚语言变异模式的传播和传播。

The project's research questions focus on how traditional dialects have changed and how Appalachian teens alter them to build their own identities in the 21st century. Since World War II, rural America has changed dramatically, and sociolinguistic patterns in these communities have morphed over the last three generations. With these changes, English in Appalachia will be markedly different by the middle of the 21st century, and these transitions are socially and linguistically complex. This sociolinguistic confluence of change provides an excellent opportunity to examine why Appalachian teens propagate certain dialect features at the expense of others. This proposal provides worthwhile community benefits because it integrates research and education by advancing discovery and understanding of what language patterns hamper students from obtaining their fullest educational potential. The outcomes from the project will provide teachers across Appalachia with the content and pedagogical knowledge needed for addressing linguistic diversity in a culturally sustainable manner. The long-term objective is to boost students' comfort in the classroom by reducing 'stereotype threat' and fostering positive learning environments for students. The proposed study brings together the previous examination of 14 variables and divergent West Virginia vowel systems to document emerging trends in language variation. The researchers will conduct interviews with Appalachian students to compare dialect patterns. The interviews will be in four schools in West Virginia: two northern, secondary schools (rural and nonrural) and two southern, secondary schools (rural and nonrural). The most socially marked variables from the previous studies provide lexical, morphological, and phonological variation for quantitative investigation. To probe deeper into teens' local understanding of sociolinguistic patterns, we will also conduct classroom observations and focus group discussions. The project design is well-suited to explore how teens use linguistic patterns to create social meanings that drive transmission and diffusion of Appalachian language variation patterns.