Attitudes to the Southern Dialect Thesis

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Ethical Concerns and Potential Biases

Because all of the respondents were assured of anonymity and that the results of the survey and study would remain confidential and would be used for academic purposes only, there were few ethical concerns involved in this methodological approach. Although the potential for researcher bias always exists, it was felt that the survey design, the interpolation of the review of the literature and interpretation of the results of the survey were straightforward and were not biased in any fashion.

Summary of the Findings

A recapitulation of the survey results is provided below, followed by a summary of the research and survey findings in the conclusion (bolded terms equate to the constructs of "correctness" and italicized terms equate to the construct of "pleasantness").

Gender

Origin

Male

Female

Northern

Southern

Midland

Pleasant

7

4

3

6

2

Friendly

6

5

2

8

1

Educated

2

1

0

3

0

Unpleasant

0

0

0

0

0

Unfriendly

0

0

0

0

0

Uneducated

2

1

2

0

1

Slow

0

0

0

0

0

Polite

1

2

0

3

0

Chatty

2

1

1

2

0

Ugly

0

1

1

0

0

Beautiful

2

4

0

5

1

Note: Totals equal more than 20 because respondents were allowed to select more than one word from each columnar listing.

What dialect do you attribute to yourself?

Region

Male

Female Northern

3

4

Midland

4

2

Southern

5

2

What dialect do you attribute to your parents?

Region

Male

Female

Northern

2

5

Midland

4

2

Southern

4

3

Conclusion

The research showed that Standard English is spoken differently in various regions of the United States and that linguists such as Dennis Preston believe that most Americans tend to prefer the dialect of their own regions.

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The research question that was used to guide this study was, "Do people tend to prefer the dialect of the region of the United States in which they were raised?" And the findings of the survey support an affirmative answer to this question. The results of the survey showed that none of the negative perceptions concerning the constructs of "pleasantness" and "correctness" were attributed to the southern dialect by the respondents who identified themselves as being from this region of the country, while these responses were restricted to those from the Northern and Midland regions. By sharp contrast, all of the respondents who identified themselves as being from the Southern region provided positive responses to the constructs of "pleasantness" and "correctness," but a majority of the respondents from the Northern and Midland regions likewise included these characterizations of the Southern dialect in their responses as well. These findings suggest that although some Americans from the Northern and Midland regions may regard the Southern dialect as being "unpleasant" and "incorrect," most would appear to consider the Southern dialect to be "charming" in terms of its pleasant and correct qualities. Taken together, these findings confirm the hypothesis of this study which was that those respondents who identified themselves as being from the South would attribute the notions of "pleasantness" and "correctness" to the Southern dialect compared to respondents from other regions of the.....

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