Abstract

In this study, two experiments are conducted to study language regard of Utah English. Experiment 1 is a draw-a-map study wherein participants were asked to mark areas on a map to of Utah where people speak differently (Preston 1989; Bucholtz et al. 2007). Experiment 2 uses a new research method, referred to here as a "perceptual audio survey". With this method, participants are asked to listen to recordings of native English speakers and identify where in Utah the speaker is likely from (Preston 1996:320-328; Cramer & Montgomery 2016:11). Crucially though, the speakers used in this experiment were from throughout the United States and not limited to Utah. Although participants were not explicitly deceived into believing these speakers were native Utahns, this is greatly implied. Generally, speakers with features of Southern United States English (SUSE) are far more likely to be placed in rural areas. The data also shows that participants favored placing age 20-49 speakers in urban areas and age 50+ speakers away from urban centers. The data from both experiments is cross-examined, revealing certain perceptual alignments and misalignments held by Utahns. Although speakers with features of SUSE are placed in rural areas, there is no objective linguistic evidence to show that speakers in these areas have features of SUSE. This illustrates that features of SUSE are indexed as being part of rural regions of Utah by Utahns. Other regions of Utah, namely the Wasatch Front and St. George, are labeled as "California" in the draw-a-map task. When presented with California English speakers in Experiment 2, however, participants mainly placed these speakers along the Wasatch Front and not St. George. So, perceptions of certain regions don't necessarily align across experiments. Overall, this study has a great deal to contribute to the ongoing studies of Utah English, language regard, and perceived Southern-ness in certain regions of rural America (Hall-Lew & Stephens 2012; Podesva et al. 2015).

Degree

College and Department

Humanities; Linguistics

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