Graduation Year
2020
Graduation Month
May
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
School or Department
Linguistics
Major
Anthropology – Linguistics
Faculty Mentor Department
Linguistics
Faculty Mentor
Leora Bar-el
Keywords
Dialectology, Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Montana
Subject Categories
Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics | Linguistics
Abstract
Sociolinguistic research claims that there is a common dialect of English shared by all states between the Great Plains and Pacific coast. This dialect area is referred to as the West and is defined by a lack of easily discernable speech characteristics. (Labov et al. 2006). Researchers, especially those residing or hailing from the West, have objected to this presumed homogeneity and have sought to document variation in the dialects of English on a state or regional scale. Research on dialects within Montana is limited. Bar-el et al.’s (2017) perceptual dialect map tasks revealed that many Montanans believe that there are different dialects spoken in eastern and western parts of the state. Research documenting the actual differences in the speech of Montanans from the eastern and western regions of the state has not yet been conducted. My research attempts to determine which dialect features, if any, distinguish between the east and west, and the location of the demarcation between dialects.
This study involves conducting interviews and online questionnaires with people who have grown up in Montana in order to determine whether there are systematic differences in the English spoken in eastern and western Montana. I focus on two aspects of dialect variation: the pronunciation of vowels (in sociolinguistic research vowels shifting and merging alone has defined dialects), and the use of sentence constructions not considered typical of Montana speech but arguably present, such as The car needs washed, and Everyone reads anymore. The collected data will reveal whether or not the perceived differences in eastern and western Montana English are based on actual speech and possibly which parts of Montana are most and least similar and whether certain features are indicative of certain regions, which may lend insight on the construction and bias of perceived social differences.
Honors College Research Project
No
GLI Capstone Project
no
Recommended Citation
Rummel-Lindig, Noah I., "Dialect Divisions in the Treasure State" (2020). Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts. 284.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/utpp/284
© Copyright 2020 Noah I. Rummel-Lindig