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Who uses "skeeter hawk," "snake doctor," and "dragonfly" to refer
to the same insect? Who says "gum band" instead of "rubber band"?
The answers can be found in the "Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and
South Atlantic States" ("LAMSAS"), the largest single survey of
regional and social differences in spoken American English. It
covers the region from New York state to northern Florida and from
the coastline to the borders of Ohio and Kentucky. Through
interviews with nearly twelve hundred people conducted during the
1930s and 1940s, the "LAMSAS" mapped regional variations in
vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation at a time when population
movements were more limited than they are today, thus providing a
unique look at the correspondence of language and settlement
patterns.
This handbook is an essential guide to the "LAMSAS" project, laying
out its history and describing its scope and methodology. In
addition, the handbook reveals biographical information about the
informants and social histories of the communities in which they
lived, including primary settlement areas of the original colonies.
Dialectologists will rely on it for understanding the "LAMSAS," and
historians will find it valuable for its original historical
research.
Since much of the "LAMSAS" questionnaire concerns rural terms, the
data collected from the interviews can pinpoint such language
differences as those between areas of plantation and small-farm
agriculture. For example, "LAMSAS" reveals that two waves of
settlement through the Appalachians created two distinct speech
types. Settlers coming into Georgia and other parts of the Upper
South through the Shenandoah Valley and on to the western side of
themountain range had a Pennsylvania-influenced dialect, and were
typically small farmers. Those who settled the Deep South in the
rich lowlands and plateaus tended to be plantation farmers from
Virginia and the Carolinas who retained the vocabulary and speech
patterns of coastal areas.
With these revealing findings, the "LAMSAS" represents a benchmark
study of the English language, and this handbook is an
indispensable guide to its riches.
Who uses "skeeter hawk," "snake doctor," and "dragonfly" to refer
to the same insect? Who says "gum band" instead of "rubber band"?
The answers can be found in the "Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and
South Atlantic States" ("LAMSAS"), the largest single survey of
regional and social differences in spoken American English. It
covers the region from New York state to northern Florida and from
the coastline to the borders of Ohio and Kentucky. Through
interviews with nearly twelve hundred people conducted during the
1930s and 1940s, the "LAMSAS" mapped regional variations in
vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation at a time when population
movements were more limited than they are today, thus providing a
unique look at the correspondence of language and settlement
patterns.
This handbook is an essential guide to the "LAMSAS" project, laying
out its history and describing its scope and methodology. In
addition, the handbook reveals biographical information about the
informants and social histories of the communities in which they
lived, including primary settlement areas of the original colonies.
Dialectologists will rely on it for understanding the "LAMSAS," and
historians will find it valuable for its original historical
research.
Since much of the "LAMSAS" questionnaire concerns rural terms, the
data collected from the interviews can pinpoint such language
differences as those between areas of plantation and small-farm
agriculture. For example, "LAMSAS" reveals that two waves of
settlement through the Appalachians created two distinct speech
types. Settlers coming into Georgia and other parts of the Upper
South through the Shenandoah Valley and on to the western side of
themountain range had a Pennsylvania-influenced dialect, and were
typically small farmers. Those who settled the Deep South in the
rich lowlands and plateaus tended to be plantation farmers from
Virginia and the Carolinas who retained the vocabulary and speech
patterns of coastal areas.
With these revealing findings, the "LAMSAS" represents a benchmark
study of the English language, and this handbook is an
indispensable guide to its riches.
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