This is a study of the geographical distribution in Indiana and the social distribution in a few Indiana counties of several hundred lexical items taken from the Linguistic Atlas work-sheets. The material was gathered in 1957 and 1958 by means of a questionnaire distributed using a variation of the correspondence method described and shown to be valid by Alva L. Davis in his Ph. D. dissertation "A Word Atlas of the Great Lakes Region" (University of Michigan, 1948). The purpose of this study was to discover what the primary material shows about the northern and southern boundaries of the Midland dialect area in Indiana, and to show what it reveals about the effect of age and education on vocabulary.The study is based on 263 questionnaires consisting of 147 checklists like those used by Davis in his dissertation. The informant was asked to circle the word or expression in each checklist which he would use to express the idea defined in that semantic unit.The study makes frequency counts of the recurring lexical items by a methodology developed by Charles L. Houck and recorded in his "A Computerized Statistical Methodology for Linguistic Geography: A Pilot Study" [Folia Linguistica, I (1967), 80-95] and in his "A Statistical and Computerized Methodology for Analyzing Dialect Materials" (Ph.D dissertation, University of Iowa, 1969). Houck's programs, designed for the IBM 7044, 32K core computer, are adapted in this study to the IBM 360-40, 331K core computer.The first three chapters of this dissertation describe the problem and the method, review related studies, and survey Indiana settlement history. Chapter IV shows the geographical distribution of items in 133 of the checklists, only those which contain items the regional classification of which could be discovered in former studies. Chapter V is a record of the distribution by age and education among the informants from eastern central Indiana of the items in 23 of the checklists. The Appendix contains a sample questionnaire, maps showing the geographical distribution of the items in 50 checklists, and sample computer programs and read-outs.The conclusions in this study conflict with Davis' "A Word Atlas of the Great Lakes Region" in 50 instances out of 96 checklists which appear on both his questionnaire and the one used in the present study. These conclusions suggest that considerable change in vocabulary occurred in the decade between Davis' study and the time the material was gathered for this study.The limited analysis of the distribution of lexical items based on age and education shows little that is surprising. The older informants tend to have more alternate terms for a specific meaning than do the younger ones. The less well educated informants are generally made up of the older ones; therefore, the discovery that the less education, the more variety of vocabulary is likely insignificant.Generally, this study indicates that dialect boundaries among Northern, Midland, and Southern Regions on the East Coast which other studies have shown to extend westward-are blurring considerably in Indiana.

Thesis (MA (Hons))--Macquarie University, School of English Studies, 1972. / Bibliography: leaves 353-358. / The subject of this thesis is Broad Norfolk, which refers to that variety of speech used for communication between Norfolk Islanders in informal social situations. Previous research on the language has been mainly limited to lexical observations. This study covers a considerably wider area of investigation, viz. description of the phonology and grammatical structure of Norfolk and an assessment of the historical affiliations of its main features. ... The analysis of Norfolk phonology is based on impressionistic evidence, with support from an acoustic study of vocalic nuclei. The statistical values of stressed vowels are compared with those of Cultivated Australian. The quality of weakly stressed vowels and Norfolk consonants is also considered. Study of prosodic phenomena, such as syllabication, stress and reduplication habits is restricted to what was required by the description of Norfolk vowels. ... Definition of the Word Classes of Norfolk precedes the formal description of its grammar. Since Norfolk expresses its grammatical relationships by syntax rather than morphology, the determination of Word Classes reveals the basic level of its grammar. This section also permits comment on important idiomatic features of the language. In the formal treatment of structures, Independent and Dependent Clauses, Phrases and Word level constructions are described according to tagmemic procedures. / The historical section of the thesis begins with a linguistic history of Pitcairn and Norfolk Islands; it estimates which individuals, attitudes and events most influenced the character of their languages. This chapter discusses such related subjects as the reason for Pitcairnese and Norfolk remaining so stable throughout their history, the probable circumstances under which Pitcairnese developed, and the relationship between Norfolk and creole languages. ... Historical connections are then shown more precisely through description of the development of English and Tahitian vowels and consonants in Norfolk, and through relation of English dialects, Tahitian and creole languages to the structural features of Norfolk. ... The Glossary serves as as illustration and extension of the sections preceding it. It contains all Norfolk vocabulary forms and meanings which are known to the author but which do not exist in Standard English; etymological comment is included for most items. Part of the function of the Glossary is to show, in summary, those forms which are local innovations and those which have been preserved from eighteenth century British dialects and Ancient Tahitian. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / 358 leaves ill

The object of this study is to provide a postal questionnaire that may be used for investigating dialectal variation in the province of British Columbia. Such a questionnaire is necessary to provide the groundwork for more intensive and systematic investigation at a later date. The questionnaire will test items for a future questionnaire, establish the dialectal status of B.C. English, and locate the dialectal regions of B.C. The questionnaire draws heavily on work sheets and check lists used in the United States, but includes much material characteristic of Canadian speech, since it is felt that for historical reasons the separateness of the Canadian experience must be stressed. An account of the sources of the items and the criteria for selection are presented along with a methodology for choosing informants and communities, administering the questionnaire, and processing the results. Each question is accompanied by a commentary on the feature to be investigated, giving information on its occurrence in B.C., Canada, or the United States. The data presented on B.C.usage is derived chiefly from research recently carried out by the author. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

LD2668 .T4 1940 B68 / Master of Science

No description available.

abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / English Studies and Comparative Literature / Master / Master of Philosophy

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

Whether Hong Kong English (HKE) should be a linguistic variety has been one of the most-debated topics in HKE studies since the landmark study of Luke and Richards (1982). Scholars dispute over whether the set of features in the English spoken or written by Hong Kong people should be regarded as a variety. Given how this decision should not sole depend on the scholars, and how the users' viewpoints should also be considered, it is necessary to survey the opinions and attitudes of Hong Kong people on these features.The variety status is highly dependable on how people's attitudes towards its recognition and agreement in society. However, little attention was given to the people's attitudes towards online HKE and whether these attitudes help to constitute a linguistic variety of online HKE. In this project, I apply the linguistic norms framework (Poon, forthcoming) to test whether Hong Kong people see these features constitute a variety. This study investigated the attitudes of Hong Kong people towards online HKE, and in the process, explored whether the recognition of online HKE might allow us to recognise Hong Kong English as a variety in both online and offline contexts.

The purpose of this study is to give the common words, together with a collection of old expressions or terms, of the oldest residents of Ellis County and to trace their usage to the states in the Old South. The importance of recording these old words and terms is to preserve the oldest forms of the community for those who are interested in the growth and development of local speech and, also, to trace the history of these words.