1st Edition
The Social Life of Appalachian Englishes A Sociolinguistic Introduction
Preface
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Chapter 1: “It tickles him so good” – The Social Life of Language in Appalachia
Setting in
Appalachia as a construct
Perceptions of Appalachia
The study of language
Introducing sociolinguistics
Appalachia in previous sociolinguistic studies
Contextualizing Appalachian Englishes
Recollection
Discussion Questions
Exercises
Chapter 2: “She’d write him a dun” – Words and Meanings
Setting in
Variability in language
Vocabulary in Appalachia
What the LAP can tell us about an ‘Appalachian vocabulary’
Appalachian vocabulary features in the LAP
A cottage industry
Fanning the lexical flames
Out of the fire and into the pan
Where you put your groceries
Recollection
Discussion Questions
Exercises
Chapter 3: “Build us a far” – Sounding Appalachian
Setting in
The study of speech sound
The sounds of Appalachian Englishes
Appalachian pronunciation features in the LAP
Hwæt happened to the /h/?
Intrusive consonants?
One vowel or two?
Recollection
Discussion Questions
Exercises
Chapter 4: “They didn’t nobody starving” – Making Sense of Grammatical Variation
Setting in
The study of grammar
The grammatical features of Appalachian Englishes
Appalachian grammatical features in the LAP
Growed up too fast
We was all waiting
Three mile of bean plants
Recollection
Discussion Questions
Exercises
Chapter 5: “All he's talked about up that mountain” – Discourse and Narrative
Setting in
Discourse, narrative, and meaning
Appalachian discourses in the LAP
Excerpt 1: That’s good cooking in that
Excerpt 2: Some people call ‘em pokes and things
Excerpt 3: Them’s quilts or coverlets
Excerpt 4: Well of course a pen [pɛn] if you say it distinctly
Excerpt 5: Who? What? Y’all?
Recollection
Discussion Questions
Exercises
Chapter 6: “Roots of my raisin” – Perceptions of Appalachian Englishes
Setting in
Perceptual dialectology
Mental maps
Qualitative approaches
Insiders and outsiders
Where are Appalachian Englishes?
What are Appalachian Englishes?
Recollection
Discussion Questions
Exercises
Chapter 7: “A relatively distinct way of speaking” – Integrating Our Understandings
Setting in
Putting the “dialect” in perceptual dialectology
Mapping production and perceptions
Perception, production, and identity
Appalachia(n) as ‘other’
Recollection
Discussion Questions
Exercises
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Jennifer Cramer is Professor of Linguistics and Affiliate Faculty of Appalachian Studies at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA. She is the author of Contested Southernness (2016), co-editor of Cityscapes and Perceptual Dialectology (2016), and co-author of Linguistic Planets of Belief (2020) and English with an Accent (2022).
Allison Burkette is Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA, where she currently serves as Department Chair and as the Editor of the Linguistic Atlas Project. Burkette is the author of Language and Material Culture (2015) and Language and Classification (2018).
The Social Life of Appalachian Englishes offers the most thorough and engaging portrait of the language and culture of one of America’s most distinctive and iconic regions. The work stems from one of the most ambitious undertakings in dialectology, the Linguistic Atlas Project, and contextualizes the ensuing linguistic analyses in the voices and stories of Appalachian residents. This volume examines not only the history that gave birth to the ways of speaking throughout the Appalachian region, it offers a compelling commentary on how those ways of speaking are viewed from within and outside the region and why this matters. Additionally, the authors persuasively explain why learning more about Appalachian English is essential for anyone interested in language and culture, and in doing so, pays the region the homage it deserves.
Jeffrey Reaser, North Carolina State University, USA
