Chapter 2
Please note that the labels on each recording (for example, "Chicago English" or "Black English") were provided by the person who made the recording available for you to listen to. Other linguists or individuals may not agree on the description as it stands. The best example of this: you'll note that some recordings are marked "general" American, which is problematic for the same reasons the term "standard" English is problematic.
Audio Examples
Audio
|
Accent |
Chapter |
Page # |
Online Example Title |
URL |
|
New York City |
2 |
50 |
International Dialects of English Archive: New York Three (Puerto Rican male age 49, The Bronx) |
http://www.dialectsarchive.com/new-york-3 |
|
Boston |
2 |
51 |
The Speech Accent Archive: English 21 |
http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=79 |
|
New Hampshire |
2 |
51 |
International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of New Hampshire |
|
|
Northerners |
2 |
54 |
International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Illinois |
http://www.dialectsarchive.com/illinois |
|
Southerners |
2 |
54 |
International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects of Alabama |
|
|
African American English |
2 |
55 |
International Dialects of English Archive: Alabama Four (African-American female, born 1928, Chambers County, AL) |
http://www.dialectsarchive.com/alabama-4 |
|
Northern Cities Chain |
2 |
57 |
International Dialects of English Archive: Illinois Three (female age 18, Chicago suburbs, IL) |
http://www.dialectsarchive.com/illinois-3 |
|
Chicago |
2 |
59 |
International Dialects of English Archive: Illinois Three (female age 18, Chicago suburbs, IL) |
http://www.dialectsarchive.com/illinois-3 |
|
Buffalo, NY |
2 |
66 |
International Dialects of English Archive: New York Fifteen (female, student, age 25, raised in Buffalo) |
|
|
SAE |
2 |
66 |
International Dialects of English Archive: General American |
Discussion questions
1. Listen to the samples of the dialects spoken in New York City*, Boston*, and New Hampshire* found in the International Dialects of English Archive and The Speech Accent Archive. Pay careful attention to the speakers’ use or deletion of /r/. Compare the speakers’ use of /r/ to your own. How do these speakers sound similar to your own dialect and how do they sound different?
2. Listen to a few of the samples of the dialects spoken in northern and southern states found in the International Dialects of English Archive. Pay careful attention to the speakers’ use or deletion of /r/. The chapter discusses a study by Feagin (1990) that concluded that, contrary to northern stereotypes of southern English being /r/-less, southern varieties of English were retaining more and more instances of /r/. In the samples you chose to listen to, did you notice a regional difference in the use or deletion of /r/?
3. Listen to the samples of the dialects spoken in Illinois*, New York*, Michigan*, and Ohio* found in the International Dialects of English Archive. Pay careful attention to the speakers’ vowels. Compare the speakers’ vowels to your own. How do these speakers sound similar to the way you speak? How do they sound different? Pay special attention to the vowels affected by the Northern Cities Chain Shift.
4. Listen to the samples of the dialects spoken in Chicago* found in the International Dialects of English Archive. Is this an accent that you can identify as being from Chicago? If so, what cues indicate a Chicago accent for you? If not, where would you have guessed these speakers were from and why?
Videos
“Snooks Cooks”
Jersey Shore
Season 2, Episode 23, Deleted Scene
http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/628301/snooks-cooks.jhtml#id=1659128
“Legit Depressed”
Jersey Shore
Season 2, Episode 26, Deleted Scene
http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/635386/legit-depressed.jhtml#id=1660548
Discussion questions
Watch the clips from MTV’s Jersey Shore and answer the following questions:
1. Pay attention to whether or not the cast members use postvocalic /r/ in their speech. When do Deena, Vinny, Snooki, and Pauly D use postvocalic /r/? When does the /r/ get deleted? Which cast members use /r/ the most? Which use it the least? If you watch the show and are familiar with their personalities, how do you think each person’s language use reflects his or her identity?
2. How do the cast members featured in these clips use the word like as a discourse marker? Can you find examples of like used as a quotative and a focuser?
Further Resources
Becker, K. (2009) /r/ and the Construction of Place Identity on New York City’s Lower East Side. Journal of Sociolinguistics 13(5): 634–658.
Dailey-O’Cain, J. (2000) The Sociolinguistic Distribution of and Attitudes toward Focuser Like and Quotative Like. Journal of Sociolinguistics 4(1): 60–80.
Jones, G. and Schieffelin, B. (2009) Enquoting voices, accomplishing talk: Uses of be + like in Instant Messaging. Language & Communication 29(1): 77–113.
Links
North American English Dialects, Based on Pronunciation Patterns
http://www.aschmann.net/AmEng/
The Harvard American Dialect Survey
http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/index.html
The Dictionary of American Regional English
http://dare.wisc.edu/?q=node/132
The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy
http://popvssoda.com:2998/
The Phonological Atlas of North America: http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap/NationalMap.html
RSS & Blogs
Separated by a Common Language: http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/
Language Log: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/