Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-bvgqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T12:49:30.585Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Five visions of America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Dennis R. Preston
Dennis R. Preston
Affiliation:
Department of English Language and LiteratureEastern Michigan University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The study of dialect distribution has generally focused on the performance of speakers rather than on their perception of speech variation. The exceptions in so-called attitude studies do not further our understanding of where ordinary speakers believe dialect boundaries exist. Hand-drawn maps from five areas (Hawaii, southeastern Michigan, southern Indiana, western New York, and New York City) are converted into generalized maps of local perceptions of dialect areas of the United States. The maps are compared with one another, with traditional maps of U.S.dialect areas, and with maps of cultural and regional zones of the United States. The maps are shown to be of value in calculating attitudinal factors and may be of considerable importance in determining the existence and scope of such notions as “speech community.” (Dialect geography, language standards, American speech, language attitudes)

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , June 1986 , pp. 221 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Abler, R., Adams, J., & Gould, P. (1971). Spatial organization: The geographer's view of the world. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Atwood, E. B. (1962). The regional vocabulary of Texas. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Bailey, C.-J. N. (1973). Variation and linguistic theory. Washington. D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Bright, E. S. (1971). A word geography of California and Nevada. (University of California Publications in Linguistics 69.) Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Gould, P. & White, R. (1974). Mental maps. New York: Penguin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurath, H., & McDavid, R. I. Jr. (1961). The pronunciation of English in the Atlantic states. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Ladd, F. (1967). A note on “The world across the street.” Harvard Graduate School of Education Association Bulletin 12:47–48.Google Scholar
Orleans, P. (1967). Differential cognition of urban residents: Effects of social scale on mapping. Science, engineering, and the city. Publication 1498. Washington. D.C.: National Academy of Engineering.Google Scholar
Preston, D. (1982). Perceptual dialectology: Mental maps of United States dialects from a Hawaiian perspective. In Preston, D. (ed.). Working Papers in Linguistics 14(2):5–49. (Special issue on language attitudes in Hawaii.) Honolulu: Department of Linguistics, University of Hawaii at Manoa.Google Scholar
Preston, D. (to appear). Where they speak correct English. In Warkentyne, H. (ed.). Methods V/Méth-odes V, (Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Methods in Dialectology.) Victoria, British Columbia: Department of Linguistics, University of Victoria.Google Scholar
Reed, D. W. (1954). Eastern dialect words in California. Publication of the American Dialect Society 21:3–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rooney, J. Jr, Zelinsky, W., & Louder, D. (eds.) (1982). This remarkable continent: An atlas of United States and Canadian society and cultures. College Station, Tex.: Texas A&M University Press (published for The Society for the North American Cultural Survey).Google Scholar
Shuy, R. W. (1967). Discovering American dialects. Champaign, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English.Google Scholar
Trager, G. (1930). The pronunciation of short a in American Standard English. American Speech 5(5):396–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, J. C. (1982). Accents of English 3: Beyond the British Isles. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wood, G. R. (1972). Vocabulary change: A study of variation in regional words in eight of the southern states. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Zelinsky, W. (1980). North America's vernacular regions. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 70(1):1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar