Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
Session 2.09 Linguistics and Social Sciences
Presentation #1 Title
Intersection of Appalachian Speech and Culture
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Presentation 1 Best Practices for Accurately Representing Appalachian Speech In Appalachia, there is ample evidence that the language varieties are divergent from other regional/mainstream dialects (Hall 1942, Wolfram and Christian 1976, Montgomery and Hall 2004, among others). Most natives of Appalachia know this fact, but they may lack the understanding of how systematic this variation is and/or how to represent it. This divergence has been noted by authors and researchers, many of whom use orthographic changes in the representation of speech from the region to demonstrate the differences from standard/mainstream orthography. However, many attempts utilize stereotypical and linguistically misinformed modifications. Many of these attempts use ‘eye dialect’ (making the spelling look different on the page), but use orthographic changes for pronunciations that are actually common to all varieties of English without capturing the nuance that differentiates Appalachian varieties. This paper will help to equip listeners with tools to better understand variation and how best to signify it in a more informed manner. This paper will present a brief overview of the primary vowel features of Appalachian English, monophthongization of /ay/, fronting of /u/ and /o/, and vowel reduction in unstressed syllables. I will then present basic principles, based on linguistically accurate information, for respelling these specific pronunciations. The focus will be on using normal orthography rather than the specialized alphabets of linguists or speech scientists, which allows all interested individuals the opportunity to better represent Appalachian speech. These principles make competing, sometimes conflicting, recommendations. The pros and cons of these choices will be discussed. Presentation 2 Ethnography, Stance, and Appalachian Migrants in Detroit This paper argues that ethnographic research is necessary for better understanding the Appalachian migrant experience in the Diaspora. Ethnography is the study of “everyday” life. It often involves participant observation, in which the researcher spends time engaging with the communities in which they are working. It is an especially robust fieldwork method for linguistic research because it is suited to more natural, “real world” speech. Another important component of ethnography is that it takes into account the experiences of individuals. In the telling of narratives about experiences, participants present a variety of stances. Stances concern the ways in which people position themselves with respect to who they are talking to and what they are talking about. Stances can be used, for example, to evaluate or to lay claims to authority or knowledge. As researchers, we can’t understand groups until we take the time to listen to individuals. This paper gives an analysis of clusters of stances revealed in the course of four years of ethnographic research in the Detroit Metropolitan area. The analysis describes stances on family, burial practices, food traditions, work, ties to other Appalachian migrants and to African American migrants from the South, and the persistence of yet changing nature of ties to the Appalachian Homeland. I argue that linguistic research should pay better attention to individual speakers and individual experience. Eyes that are only trained on statistical significance of group patterns miss the significance of the everyday lived experiences and the truths that emerge out of different ways of “telling” the world.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Paul Reed is a PhD candidate in Linguistics at the University of South Carolina.
Presentation #2 Title
Best Practices in Representing Appalachian Speech
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Bridget Anderson is a Professor of English Linguistics at Old Dominion University.
Presentation #3 Title
Ethnography, Stance, and Appalacian Migrants in Detroit
Presentation #4 Title
Who was Appalachia's First Linguist?
Intersection of Appalachian Speech and Culture
Harris Hall 443
Presentation 1 Best Practices for Accurately Representing Appalachian Speech In Appalachia, there is ample evidence that the language varieties are divergent from other regional/mainstream dialects (Hall 1942, Wolfram and Christian 1976, Montgomery and Hall 2004, among others). Most natives of Appalachia know this fact, but they may lack the understanding of how systematic this variation is and/or how to represent it. This divergence has been noted by authors and researchers, many of whom use orthographic changes in the representation of speech from the region to demonstrate the differences from standard/mainstream orthography. However, many attempts utilize stereotypical and linguistically misinformed modifications. Many of these attempts use ‘eye dialect’ (making the spelling look different on the page), but use orthographic changes for pronunciations that are actually common to all varieties of English without capturing the nuance that differentiates Appalachian varieties. This paper will help to equip listeners with tools to better understand variation and how best to signify it in a more informed manner. This paper will present a brief overview of the primary vowel features of Appalachian English, monophthongization of /ay/, fronting of /u/ and /o/, and vowel reduction in unstressed syllables. I will then present basic principles, based on linguistically accurate information, for respelling these specific pronunciations. The focus will be on using normal orthography rather than the specialized alphabets of linguists or speech scientists, which allows all interested individuals the opportunity to better represent Appalachian speech. These principles make competing, sometimes conflicting, recommendations. The pros and cons of these choices will be discussed. Presentation 2 Ethnography, Stance, and Appalachian Migrants in Detroit This paper argues that ethnographic research is necessary for better understanding the Appalachian migrant experience in the Diaspora. Ethnography is the study of “everyday” life. It often involves participant observation, in which the researcher spends time engaging with the communities in which they are working. It is an especially robust fieldwork method for linguistic research because it is suited to more natural, “real world” speech. Another important component of ethnography is that it takes into account the experiences of individuals. In the telling of narratives about experiences, participants present a variety of stances. Stances concern the ways in which people position themselves with respect to who they are talking to and what they are talking about. Stances can be used, for example, to evaluate or to lay claims to authority or knowledge. As researchers, we can’t understand groups until we take the time to listen to individuals. This paper gives an analysis of clusters of stances revealed in the course of four years of ethnographic research in the Detroit Metropolitan area. The analysis describes stances on family, burial practices, food traditions, work, ties to other Appalachian migrants and to African American migrants from the South, and the persistence of yet changing nature of ties to the Appalachian Homeland. I argue that linguistic research should pay better attention to individual speakers and individual experience. Eyes that are only trained on statistical significance of group patterns miss the significance of the everyday lived experiences and the truths that emerge out of different ways of “telling” the world.
