In Class (3/19/09)

(Question 1): This research project was done in the 1986. If you were to re-do this project today, at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, what might you as a researcher do differently? What would you do the same?
I would study all parts of the United States, not just areas that are commonly known for having unusual accents. I would want to study the north and southwest areas such as Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, and Arizona. I would also interview more people in Texas and Kentucky, and try to find people that don’t have the heavy accents of their area. Beyond that I thought the study was well done and it was nice to get the opinions of actual residents of people in the stereotypical areas of the US.
(Question 2): What are some of the flaws with the study? Are there any groups that are under-represented? Over-represented? How might you make the study more appealing to an audience (visually, instructionally, etc?)
Some of the flaws of the study is they choose only a few areas of the United States to study. These areas have well-know stereotypes for being places with people that have unusual accents. The groups that are over-represented are the people in Texas, Kentucky, and the New Englanders. I think that it would have been more interesting if the one’s doing the study would have interviewed more people from the different areas. They only chose people with heavy accents from each specific area’s, especially in Texas.
(Question 3): In your opinion (and based on some of the things discussed in the clips), how important is language in terms of how we perceive others? What is revealed (or others think is revealed) about us when we talk?
To me language is important because people judge others based on the way they talk. Some consider southern accents to be associated with racism and Civil War era thinking. In Boston, the residents there have an accent that makes them out to seem tough-city people. When we talk, it also shows signs of our intelligence, or what most people would consider intelligent. Areas of the United States to have people with different dialects tend to be thought of an unintelligent.