| Description |
This was a dialect study of the mid and low back vowels before (r) in such monosyllabic words as farm and form in the speech of people from Koosharem, Utah, a rural community. The purpose of the study was to determine if these people changed their rural speech to the more prestigious urban variety when they moved to the urban area of Salt Lake City and Ogden. Informants for the study were chosen on the basis of their current residence of either the urban area or Koosharem. The informants were questioned to find out if they used the stigmatized [farm] (form pronounced in' rural Utah as (farm]) or if they had changed to the prestigious urban [or] (form (form) when they moved to the urban area. Also, each informant's age and education were considered as an important part of the study. The study showed that the urban dialect in Utah is definitely influencing the rural dialect. It was found that the social pressures of the urban area affects the speech of the informants, especially when they move into the urban area. Education is probably the most significant factor influencing this change. As the resident of a rural community moves into the urban area, he soon learns that his speech is stigmatized; and he recognizes that he must change in order to be accepted as educated in the urban community. In addition, there was a small amount of hypercorrection-- switching from [or] to [ar] (farm prounounced [form]). However, this change was relatively low and only slightly significant. The study found that the main cause for this hypercorrection was the amount of education which an individual has. If an individual has completed college, he has a greater tendency to use the hypercorrected form. Finally, it was concluded that the urban variety is actually influencing. the change in rural Utah. However, this change is slow, but most residents of the area are aware of the difference, especially the younger people. It appears that the urban variety will eventually be used almost exclusively in rural Utah. |
