Interesting Dialect Survey

Carol   Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:49 am GMT
Here's a site that has the results of a Dialect Survey by state. It asks how certain words are pronounced and a number of "what do you call <this>?"

I found it interesting, especially since I have lived in a number of states.

http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/states.html
Johnny   Mon Sep 22, 2008 12:09 pm GMT
Very interesting. This one seems to be the only one where you can notice there's a real regional difference though: http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_105.html
Johnny   Mon Sep 22, 2008 12:18 pm GMT
Sorry, there are others. I had missed them, but that pop-soda thing is amazing :)
Guest   Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:31 pm GMT
it's not a good survey.
the real survey affects only those 1. who have always lived in the state; 2. whose parents lived in the state.

In Labov atlas, California is 90 % low back merged (no transplants were counted). In this internet survey, everyone could have written they're from California, so, the low back merger percentage is rather low 70or so %.

A NewYorker, living in Cali for 2 years is hardly a representative of Californian English, just to give an example
Milton   Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:50 pm GMT
Cot Caught merger is spreading:

OHIO:

28. Do you pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same?
a. different (55.35%)
b. same (44.65%)
Milton   Mon Sep 22, 2008 3:59 pm GMT
TEXAS:

28. Do you pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same?
a. different (45.29%)
b. same (54.71%)