Keywords

Idaho as average English benchmark, perceptual dialect correctness ratings, least-caricatured Standard English

Abstract

“Epitome of Average English”?

Preston (1989:64–65) chapter 3: “Where they speak correct English”

Indianans ranked all 50 states’ English from most correct to least correct
Mississippi’s ratings clustered low.
Indiana’s ratings clustered high
New York’s was bimodal.
Florida’s was uniform.
Idaho’s was normally distributed, centered around the middle.

“Idaho… [shows] a remarkably normal histogram… It is, apparently, the epitome of average English for these raters. Perhaps it is a least-caricatured state, meeting the negative definition of Standard English – the variety which displays no known non-standard elements.”

Original Publication Citation

Joseph A. Stanley & KaTrina Jackson. “Is Idaho English really ‘the epitome of average English’?” American Dialect Society Annual Meeting. Denver, CO. January 5–8.