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An Examination of Selected Vowel Structures of Three Generations of Native Appalachian English Speakers

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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2001 An Examination of Selected Vowel Structures of Three Generations of Native Appalachian English Speakers Melinda L. Richards University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Speech and Hearing Science Commons Recommended Citation Richards, Melinda L., "An Examination of Selected Vowel Structures of Three Generations of Native Appalachian English Speakers. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2001. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/2074 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Melinda L. Richards entitled "An Examination of Selected Vowel Structures of Three Generations of Native Appalachian English Speakers." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Speech and Hearing Science. Dr. Lori A. Swanson, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Dr. Mary L. Erickson, Dr. Peter Flipsen, Jr., Dr. Stephen Handel, Dr. Pearl A. Payne Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Melinda L. Richards entitled “An Examination of Selected Vowel Structures of Three Generations of Native Appalachian English Speakers.” I have examined the final copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Speech and Hearing Science. Dr. Lori A. Swanson Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Dr. Mary L. Erickson Dr. Peter Flipsen, Jr. Dr. Stephen Handel Dr. Pearl A. Payne Accepted for the Council: Dr. Anne Mayhew Interim Vice Provost and Dean of The Graduate School (Original signatures are on file in the Graduate Student Services Office.) An Examination of Change in Selected Vowel Structures of Three Generations of Native Appalachian Speakers A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Melinda L. Richards August 2001 ii Dedication In Memory of Dr. Joseph S. Hall and Mr. Wilfred Metcalf “The Scholar and the Hill Man” “I will look up my eyes to the hills, from whence my help comes” Psalm 121: 1 iii Acknowledgments No one ever wrote a thesis or dissertation alone. I have so many people to whom I am grateful that I am afraid I will forget to mention some of them. Their contributions have been many and varied, and valued, and I am deeply indebted to each and every one of them. First of all, I want to thank Dr. Lori Swanson, my research director and advisor. She held that “hot poker” to my back on many occasions, providing much needed motivation, as well as her insights, not to mention the seminal idea for this project. Other committee members, past and present, deserve special thanks: to Dr. Pete, for challenging me constantly to “be more clear,” to Dr. Stephen Handel, for his statistical dialogues, to Drs. Molly Erickson, Peter Flipsen, and Pearl A. Payne for their valued suggestions and contributions to my dissertation. And finally, thanks to my long-time friend and colleague, Dr. Suellen Alfred, whose keen editorial eye and equally keen analytical mind were of immeasurable support to me at all the right times. There were many friends and colleagues who don’t know it, but were integral in keeping my head on straight, thinking clearly, and staying focused. Drs. Wanda Webb and Rebecca Fischer, as well as Ms’ Libby Griffin, Linda Overly and Lynne Harmon who kept me going when I thought the light at the end of the tunnel was indeed a train. My fellow students need thanked as well, especially Dr. Dee Lance. You all were right: we DON’T do this thing alone. Thank you so much for “being there.” How could I have gotten this project done without the able help at the most strategic times from Mrs. Kay iv Gross, Mrs. Tammy Pass, and Ms. Penny Tinnin, who shall be forever known as “Assistant Doc?” I have a good many people to thank, some of whom I have never met, except in e-mails and messages: Dr. Karen Pollock of the University of Memphis lent her expertise in the area of vowel analysis, taught me the sentence-completion task, and indeed introduced me to a gentleman without whose suggestions and connections I could not have even begun this project: Dr. Guy Bailey of the University of Texas at San Antonio, who in turn, introduced me to Dr. Michael Montgomery of the University of South Carolina, who in turn, graciously allowed me to prowl the archives of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) by putting me in touch with Ms. Annette Hartigan, the GSMNP’s Archivist, who was of immense help to me. Professor Walt Wolfram and Dr. Natalie Schilling-Estes each provided input by sending me reprints of articles and resources at the most crucial times. They have each in their own way added immeasurably to the depth and quality of this study. “ . it takes a village. .” The very fine people of Del Rio Tennessee deserve my heartfelt thanks and undying gratitude, for allowing me to disrupt their lives all summer. Most especially, I would like to thank my Liaisons, Mrs. Jamie Freshour and Mrs. Vernell Metcalf Holt. This project would have been impossible, and a whole lot less fun, without you! I come away from this dissertation a much better person, richer by far because of the new friends I have made in the process. v Finally, I would be remiss if I did not offer my deepest thanks, love, and gratitude to my family. To my Mom and Dad, who have made it possible in so many, many ways for me to continue my education to this point. They have carefully passed on to me their legacy, and that of their own parents: a love for life-long learning, and a strong belief that you finish what you begin. These things have carried me much further in Life than I ever thought I would go, and enabled me to do more than I ever thought possible with the gifts I have been given. To my sister, Claire and her family, special thanks. Especially son Chase, whose summer lawn-mowing business freed me up to do what I knew I had to do. Thank you, everyone who has been the “wind beneath my wings.” I love you all. vi Abstract Appalachian English (AppE) is a relic dialect, until recently considered to be resistant to change due to the relative isolation of its speakers. AppE may have become an “endangered dialect,” much in the same manner as other insular dialects such as those spoken on Ocracoke Island, Smith Island, and the Sea Islands (Wolfram & Schilling-Estes, 1995; Wolfram & Schilling-Estes, 1998). The purpose of this investigation was to answer two research questions: (1) Are there significant cross-generational differences in the production of eight selected vowels during conversational speech, and (2) Are there significant cross-generational differences in the degree to which speakers style shift as the speech task becomes progressively more formal? Ten families of three generations (G1, G2, and G3) of native adult speakers of AppE living in a remote community of upper East Tennessee participated in the study: G1 (between the ages of 70 to 90), G2 (between the ages of 44 to 55), and G3 (between the ages of 22 to 32). Each individual engaged in two types of conversation: a “breathless narrative” and monitored conversation, to determine the amount of AppE present by generation. Each participant also performed three constructed tasks: (1) reading task; (2) sentence-completion task; and (3) minimal pairs word task, to determine the degree to which style shifting occurs toward Southern American English (SAE), after Labov (1981). vii For Research Question One, a significant two-way interaction was found between generation and vowel (p < .05). Significant differences were found between G1 and G2 for five of the vowels, and between G1 and G3 for three of the vowels, but no differences were found between G2 and G3. For Research Question Two, a significant three-way interaction was found between generation, condition, and vowel (p < .05). Pairwise comparisons between tasks showed the following: (1) for G1, significant differences in the direction of SAE for 11 pairs of tasks among four vowels; (2) for G2, significant differences in the direction of SAE for four pairs of tasks among three vowels; and (3) for G3, significant differences in the direction of SAE for 11 pairs of tasks among three vowels. The style-shifting differences in the direction of SAE were statistically significant (p < .05) for G1, but not for G2 and G3. These findings indicate that change in the relic dialect of AppE across three generations in this community was detectable, suggesting that a shift toward the “American Standard” of English may be in progress. The quantity and direction of the changes in AppE indicate a need for continued investigation as the decline in AppE dialect is expected to progress (Wolfram & Schilling-Estes, 1995), and perhaps accelerate.
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