Reed on Place in Appalachian English

Online
@ 4:00 pm

Rootedness, Language Variation, and Appalachia: Place’s place in language

Paul E. Reed, University of Alabama

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Regional variation, that is, variation in linguistic productions by folks from different places, is one of the more widely noticed aspects of language in the United States and around the world. As such, recognizing the role of place and how it can and does affect linguistic productions is crucial to our understanding of language, language variation, and language change. However, place is routinely considered to be somewhat static, with the same or similar effects on all speakers within a particular space. Unfortunately, such a notion overlooks the fact that place can have myriad meanings depending upon the person and the place itself. The fact that some places have nuanced, and even disparate, meanings is especially true for areas such as Appalachia and the broader American South. The present talk will contest this static understanding of place, and will demonstrate that individual speakers can have different degrees of connection to place, what I term rootedness. The difference in rootedness can and does affect linguistic production, from highly stigmatized and noticed features, such as /ay/ monophthongization, to much more subtle features such as prosodic rhythm and pitch accent realization, which tend to escape overt mention or stigma. Thus, without an understanding of differing attachment to place, both solo and in conjunction with other social factors, any description of regional variation is incomplete.

Virtual presentation open to all – register in advance for the link