Course Description
This course focuses on the Linguistic Atlas Project (LAP) enterprise. Though we start with a brief, contextualized history of dialectology and the developments in with field, the bulk of the course will consider current attempts to bring (sometimes kicking and screaming) the LAP into the 21st century. We will spend time looking at the ways in which technological developments (digitization, online access, GIS mapping tools, social media, etc.) effect LAP data analysis and collection. We will also delve deeply into the theoretical changes that have occurred in sociolinguistics as they relate to dialectology and linguistic geography, specifically the application of ‘third wave’ thinking to LAP data and the conceptualization of LAP interviews as individual interactions. This course will provide hands-on experiences with heritage LAP data and give student the opportunity to examine language change in real time. Students will also learn the new ‘hybrid’ LAP interview procedure, which includes conversational questions and questions to elicit information about language regard (i.e. attitudinal/perceptual data) in addition to traditional, targeted LAP-style questions. Finally, this course will talk about engagement and how the LAP can contribute to contemporary sociolinguistics’ mission to be inclusive, innovative, and actionable.
Area Tags: Dialects, Sociolinguistics, Variation, Historical , Fieldwork, Areal Linguistics
(Sessions 1 & 2) Tuesday/Friday 1:30pm – 2:50pm
Location: ILC S415
Instructor: Allison Burkette
Allison Burkette is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Kentucky where she currently serves as Department Chair and as the Editor of the Linguistic Atlas Project. Her research interests include language variation and change, American English dialects (especially Appalachian Englishes), and the relationship between language and material culture. Burkette is the author of Language and Material Culture (2015) and Language and Classification (2018). Her current projects include a co-authored book, The Social Life of Appalachian Englishes with Jennifer Cramer, and a cross-disciplinary collaboration with Patrick Lee Lucas that focuses on the language of home.
