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Linguists have long accepted the inevitability of linguistic variation as scientific fact. However, the general public continues to associate regional variation with low intelligence and to promote a non-regional, “accentless” English as the ideal. The result of this ideology, which ignores the natural diversity of all languages, is that speakers of marked, stigmatized dialects suffer from linguistic discrimination. As a solution to the problem of dialect discrimination, many linguists have attempted to disseminate knowledge about the natural diversity of all languages; however, only one study (Reaser, 2006) has quantitatively evaluated the effectiveness of such dialect awareness programs. The purpose of the present study is to determine if explicitly teaching dialect awareness can provide a successful counter to pervasive negative attitudes towards stigmatized dialects. In order to determine the effectiveness of teaching dialect awareness, I designed a dialect awareness unit for a first-year composition course. This unit incorporates previously published language and dialect awareness lessons with original lesson plans. This eight-week dialect awareness unit was taught to 19 students at Ball State University. The effectiveness of this dialect awareness unit was evaluated using a pre-test post-test study design; a control group was also given the pre-test and the post-test for comparison purposes. The results of the Likert-style scale pre-tests and post-tests were subjected to statistical analysis and the participants’ written responses were analyzed qualitatively. The results of statistical tests and qualitative analysis of the students’ answers support the hypothesis that the dialect awareness unit increased students’ tolerance for stigmatized dialects and increased their linguistic awareness. The paired samples t-test for the experimental group was statistically significant, indicating that the dialect awareness unit made a measurable difference in their answers. The qualitative results reveal that although the participants learned basic linguistic facts about the nature of linguistic variation, a few participants resisted some learning objectives of the dialect awareness unit. These results indicate that college-age adults learned to be more tolerant of linguistic variation at approximately the same rate as Reaser’s eighth-grade learners (2006). We can therefore conclude that college-age adults are not too old to unlearn myths related to the standard language ideology or to develop tolerance for nonstandard dialects. / Department of English

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC) is a site of linguistic diversity where speakers of three major dialects of American English--Northern, Midland, and Southern--are brought into contact with one another. The speech of undergraduates at SIUC is subject to the processes of dialect contact and accommodation; as a result, regional speech features are lost in favor of an overarching SIUC dialect norm or koiné. The linguistic contact that takes place at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale is unique. Previous studies of dialect contact involve situations created by migrations of large populations of settlers moving to a new area. These --migrants‖ settle permanently in the new area and become isolated from their original anchor dialects. The dialect mixture that arises from countless single instances of interpersonal accommodation will, under many circumstances, lead to koinéization or new dialect formation. However, the dialect contact situation at SIUC is different from these previous studies. First, the contact situation at SIUC is made up of fluid populations of highly mobile individuals--undergraduates. While the groups in contact remain consistent, individual students comprising the populations of these groups come and go every year. Additionally, rather than permanently relocating, the contact between the different groups at SIUC is interrupted by students leaving for three months of summer break and one month of winter break every year, thereby preventing speakers of the displaced dialects from becoming isolated from their original anchor dialects. The presence of these factors at SIUC provides a way to test and expand our existing models of language use and language attitudes in regards to dialect contact, accommodation, self- and group- categorization, and individual- and community-level notions of linguistic variation and language change. / text

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This dissertation is an investigation into the 'Standard English' debate in South Africa using South African Indian English (SAlE) as a case study. I examine the 'Standard English' debate from both a sociolinguistic and a syntactic point of view. Since English underwent a process of standardization in the eighteenth century, the concept of 'Standard English' has influenced peoples' attitudes towards different varieties of English and the speakers of those varieties. 'Standard English' has, since this time, been used as a yardstick against which other varieties of English have been judged. In South Africa, where during the apartheid era, language as well as skin colour and ethnicity were used as a basis for discrimination, the 'Standard English' debate and the standard language ideology need to be explored in order to draw attention to areas of potential discrimination. Through an extended review of the literature on the 'Standard English' Debate and a particular focus on South African Indian English, as well as interviews with South African Indian participants, I investigate how the 'Standard English' debate is, more often than not, a debate about ideology, power and inequality, rather than simply about 'good' or 'correct' language usage. I argue that language attitudes are, in many cases, attitudes towards speakers, making them a potential vehicle for discrimination and prejudice. I examine the social history of the South African Indian community and SAIE and argue that the unique history of the South African Indian community has affected the development of SAlE and attitudes towards its speakers, and the attitudes of speakers of SAlE toward their own variety. Furthermore, I explore how this history has affected the syntactic structure of SAlE and provide, through a syntactic analysis of South African Indian English wh-questions, evidence for the fact that these constructions are formed on the basis of a systematic and rule-governed grammar that is different to that of 'Standard English', but is not, as a result of this difference, incorrect. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.

This thesis explores the experience of dialect speakers of Indigenous English in the Standard English School. Indigenous English is a dialect of English spoken by many Aboriginal people in Canada; it is especially discernable in the Prairie Provinces, yet it is not widely recognized by the majority of the population. This classroom study was conducted in a semi-urban community in East Central Saskatchewan. The focus of the research was six children in a Grade 3 classroom, four of whom are First Nations and Indigenous English Speakers. The remaining two children are White and speakers of Standard English. The results of this study indicate that the First Nations children of this study speak a dialect of English that differs phonologically, morphologically, syntactically, and lexically from the Standard English spoken in Saskatchewan. These children are all below grade level in Language Arts and follow modified programs. They experience difficulty in phonics and spelling and are receiving additional support from classroom assistants, resource room teachers and speech pathologists. It would also appear that these children are experiencing institutional racism in a number of forms. Possible resolutions to the problems faced by these students may include teacher training and dialect awareness classes. This field has not been adequately explored and further research is needed to discover viable solutions to the issues experienced by dialect speakers of Indigenous English in the Standard English classroom.

This thesis has explored the relationship between attitudes toward New York City speech expressed by twelve New York City speakers currently attending Ball State University and values in the speech of these informants of three phonological variables: (1) presence of word final or preconsonantal /r/, (2) height of the midfront vowel /eh/, and (3) height of the midback rounded vowel /oh/. A Likert attitude scale was used to measure attitude. Of thirteen null hypotheses tested, one was rejected. It was therefore concluded that for the sample studied, there is no relationship between attitude toward New York City speech and values of /r/. /eh/, and /oh/.Contrary to reports of other investigators, attitudes toward New York City speech of the sample studied were generally positive. As speech styles increased in formality, however, all of the informants exhibited a tendency, to depart from distinctive, New York City values for /r/, /eh/, and /oh/.

Photocopy of typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1978. / Bibliography: leaves 186-188. / Microfiche. / xii, 188 leaves ill. 28 cm

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 235-250). / Microfiche. / xx, 250 leaves, bound 29 cm