This project will examine whether indigenous communities across North America have a shared set of English dialect features. Despite the long history of linguistic research on Native American and Canadian First Nations languages, the English dialect features of such communities are noticeably understudied. English plays an important role in indigenous identity across Native America, even though it is not as well known as some other minority dialects. Moreover, most prior research on Native American English features has lacked a continent-wide perspective or lacked quantitative analysis and insiders' perspectives, thus making it difficult to uncover shared patterns. Dr. Stanford's study helps fill these gaps in knowledge about language behavior in North America, while also empowering Native people as sociolinguistic researchers in their own communities. Specifically, it is hypothesized that many Native American and First Nations people across the continent are linguistically constructing a shared indigenous ethnic identity through a set of contemporary English features, including pitch, rhythm, and grammatical features; these features are most prevalent when Native speakers are interacting with other Native speakers.
This two-year study engages three field sites: (1) Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North/South Dakota, (2) a Sahtu Dene community in Northwest Territories, Canada, and (3) the diverse Native community at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Recorded interviews include directed conversation activities and free speech. Pitch and rhythm features are then analyzed with acoustic phonetic methods, and grammatical forms are analyzed quantitatively. Two Native American participants who recently graduated from Dartmouth will conduct field research in their own communities and play key roles in distribution of the new knowledge.
Results will be distributed for both Native and non-Native audiences. Linguists have long promoted the fact that ethnic minority dialects are logical, orderly, linguistic systems, and such information has been valuable for inter-ethnic relations and community self-esteem. But for Native American English, distribution of these socially important perspectives has been much more limited. Dr. Stanford will provide presentations and community discussions, printed materials, and a public interactive website for U.S. reservations and Canadian First Nations communities. In all of these activities, he will coordinate closely with local Native Elders and tribal councils to ensure that the project is beneficial on all sides.
