Talkin’ Country: Locating an Ideological Speech Community Lauren Hall-Lew & Nola Stephens Stanford University, Dept. of Linguistics dialect @stanford.edu & nola @stanford.edu Interdisciplinary Conference on Culture, Language, and Social Practice October 5-7, 2007 at the University of Colorado at Boulder

Background Dialectology enriched by speakers perceptions & attitudes (Preston 2003) foundation: language attitudes toward dialects Country Talk no overt geographical boundaries dual role: sub-region & pan-national Measuring Attitudes interviews with residents of Texoma language attitudes assessed by analysis of referential identity categories (Bucholtz & Hall 2005) Southern and Rural + Hick and Redneck

Dialectology enriched by speakers perceptions & attitudes (Preston 2003)

foundation: language attitudes toward dialects

Country Talk

no overt geographical boundaries

dual role: sub-region & pan-national

Measuring Attitudes

interviews with residents of Texoma

language attitudes assessed by analysis of referential identity categories (Bucholtz & Hall 2005)

Southern and Rural + Hick and Redneck

Interview Questions Biographical What do you (dis)like about living here? How has the town changed in your lifetime? Would you say that this town is Southern? Personal Styles What kind of people live here? What do they do? How can you tell if someone’s not from around here? Are there any interesting ‘characters’ you know? Language Attitudes How do you feel about the way you talk? Do you think you have an accent? If people have commented on it, what do they say? How did that make you feel? What do people around here sound like? Are there local expressions that you (dis)like?

Biographical

What do you (dis)like about living here?

How has the town changed in your lifetime?

Would you say that this town is Southern?

Personal Styles

What kind of people live here? What do they do?

How can you tell if someone’s not from around here?

Are there any interesting ‘characters’ you know?

Language Attitudes

How do you feel about the way you talk?

Do you think you have an accent? If people have commented on it, what do they say? How did that make you feel?

What do people around here sound like? Are there local expressions that you (dis)like?

Interview Questions Identity Categories What does it mean to talk country ? What does talking country sound like? Does it sound the same as hick ? Does it sound the same as redneck ? Does it sound the same as hillbilly ? Are they the same as sounding Southern ? What about Southern Belle ? Is it the same as sounding Rural ? Is it the same as sounding Texan ?

Identity Categories

What does it mean to talk country ?

What does talking country sound like?

Does it sound the same as hick ?

Does it sound the same as redneck ?

Does it sound the same as hillbilly ?

Are they the same as sounding Southern ?

What about Southern Belle ?

Is it the same as sounding Rural ?

Is it the same as sounding Texan ?

Linguistic Features Phonological: monophthongal (ay) & dipthongized lax vowels producing suffix -ing with a dental nasal Prosodic features: slower rate of speech reduced pitch range louder Nonstandard lexical stress Nonstandard syntax Lexicon: y’all (Tillery & Bailey 1998; Tillery, Wilke & Bailey 2000) fixin’ to (Berstein 2003)

Phonological:

monophthongal (ay) & dipthongized lax vowels

producing suffix -ing with a dental nasal

Prosodic features:

slower rate of speech

reduced pitch range

louder

Nonstandard lexical stress

Nonstandard syntax

Lexicon:

y’all (Tillery & Bailey 1998; Tillery, Wilke & Bailey 2000)

fixin’ to (Berstein 2003)

Olivia : Oh the quintessential country? Well I'd say things like “ bidness that's none of yo’ bidness I'd say git git on outta here and I'd say I need to go do some warshin’ and some dryin ’ after I'd be(en) gettin' on outta here, After you git on outta here I'm gonna git my washin' and dryin' done.”

Nola: The main question here is what is ‘ talking country,’ what does that sound like, to you? Kevin : Well probably just the way I sound. (laughing) I probably sound country. Nola: Can you do like an imitation of what talking country sounds like? Kevin : Well that's what I'm doing right now, (laughing) I don't have to imitate. Uh… (pause) Nope! (laughing)

Figure 1: Only Texomans talk ‘Country’ (US map)

Figure 2: ‘Country Talk’ is Southern & Midwestern (US map) Kyle

Figure 3: Only the central South ‘talks country’ (US map) Hannah

Is ‘Country Talk’ Regional? Tremendous variation in drawn borders Commonality: Everyone at least circled Texoma. Common regional ideology: Our town is a Southern town. Does ‘Country Talk’ = ‘Southern Speech’?

Tremendous variation in drawn borders

Commonality: Everyone at least circled Texoma.

Common regional ideology: Our town is a Southern town.

Does ‘Country Talk’ = ‘Southern Speech’?

Nola: Do you think that talking country sounds Southern? Pete : I think it's more Southern than anything else, um, I- I think it is, yes I would definitely I think it has to go back to a lot of the South, and then when people migrated up into this area and all you know.

Nola: Would you say that you have a Southern accent? Kyle: (pause) Not so much a Southern accent just more of a Texas accent than anything. ‘ Cause really you get to a Southern accent you're more in along the area of Alabama, and South Carolina, those where you consider a Southern accent and all that. Our accent is completely different from theirs … Nola: Would you say that we have a country accent? Kyle: Yeah

‘ Country Talk’ ≠ Southern true “Southern” = the Deep South “ The way we talk” is more ‘Texan’ (But not more ‘Oklahoman’...) Southern Speech: Deep South Speech vs. Country Talk (Country = Texan)

true “Southern” = the Deep South

“ The way we talk” is more ‘Texan’

(But not more ‘Oklahoman’...)

Southern Speech:

Deep South Speech vs. Country Talk

(Country = Texan)

Nola: Do you think people who are more from the city talk differently? Hannah : I think they do, um, because probably in the country we um there may tend to be little- um, verb verbage usages that everybody just, they just get in the habit of using. Nola: What are some of those? Expressions that... Hannah : Sometimes we'll use the term y'all or, um, gosh I can't think of an actual phrase it's just more-- we probably tend to shorten words more? You know, we-- Texas you, you think of the word howdy a lot um, you think of-- sometimes words are more centered around country um that we tend to say kind of hickville? More so than the sophisticated city city word usage.

Country = Rural? ‘Country Talk’ as an ideological variety ‘Country Talk’ defined by lifestyle: farming & ranching opposition to The City ‘Country Talk’ clearly not limited to the South or Texas ‘Country Talk’ has gradient boundaries, if any...

‘Country Talk’ as an ideological variety

‘Country Talk’ defined by lifestyle:

farming & ranching

opposition to The City

‘Country Talk’ clearly not limited to the South or Texas

‘Country Talk’ has gradient boundaries, if any...

(Nola: Do you think someone could talk country in...outside of the south? Or outside of even Texas and the Deep South?) Robert: Um, well I- I do remember in California there were different-- Uh, some of the, some of my classmates in college, um, who weren't from the city who were from the country, whether it was a farm or whatever they had a slight-- It was not quite a drawl? But it was, it was different than someone from say LA or San Diego or Sacramento or something like that it was, it was, you could tell that they grew up earthy. (laughter) Nola: Would you characterize the way the spoke as country? Robert: Country, yeah

Country = Rural ‘Country Talk’ as an ideological variety ‘Country Talk’ defined by lifestyle: farming & ranching opposition to The City ‘Country Talk’ clearly not limited to the South or Texas ‘Country Talk’ has gradient boundaries, if any...

‘Country Talk’ as an ideological variety

‘Country Talk’ defined by lifestyle:

farming & ranching

opposition to The City

‘Country Talk’ clearly not limited to the South or Texas

‘Country Talk’ has gradient boundaries, if any...

Nola: What about country versus rural? Sandy: I perceive those both as pretty much the same in this area but I ha- I suspect there are rural areas in the north where they don't talk like we do, but I would still say “ Oh you guys are r- rural folks you because you farm or you ranch or you're raising wheat or whatever,” and so, I suspect that we're all rural folks that are out doing that kind of thing I would categorize as as that but I don't think we probably talk the same.

‘ Country Talk’ ≠ Rural Rurality exists everywhere ‘ Country Talk’ does not exist everywhere ‘ Country Talk’ is not a cover term for the speech of all rural Americans If it’s a regional object, its boundaries must be gradient and ideological

Rurality exists everywhere

‘ Country Talk’ does not exist everywhere

‘ Country Talk’ is not a cover term for the speech of all rural Americans

If it’s a regional object, its boundaries must be gradient and ideological

Nola: Do you think that hick and country is different? Lisa : In my mind it probably is a little bit I think that hick is probably a little lower down the ladder than country (laughter) and I don't even know if that's right, that's just what I think. Around here, you know like if somebody says something and you think they sound funny you may...or you know you may say, "you sound like a hick"

(Nola: Do you think um, do you think that's different than hick?) Kathy : Well, I think that people that are sometimes classified as 'hick' have huge grammatical errors in their speech and we don't always have as many of those. We have some, but when I think of people who we say are hicks, they use the word ain't , and they have extreme subject and verb agreement issues like they say, "I seen" and "we seen" and "we done," things like that. They don't use those helping verbs.

Country vs. Hick Level of education & Level of ‘grammatical correctness’ Pejoration maps onto ways of talking

Level of education &

Level of ‘grammatical correctness’

Pejoration maps onto ways of talking

Nola: What do you think about the difference is is redneck different from country? Ed : Oh I think so I think redneck (laughing) you talk about redneck you're talking about uh more how they do things and how they live than then how they speak. Nola: Mm hm. Do you think they would sound any differently than someone who talked country? Ed : No.

Diane: a lot of country people are rednecks but it's not necessary to be from the country to be a redneck. Nola: Do you think redneck sounds Southern? Or Texan? Diane: (pause) I believe rednecks is more Southern, but- there's no geographical location that (laughing) they don't have a Redneck ( e.g., location) in the United States anywhere, there's no boundaries on rednecks! (laughing)

Nola: And do you think that, say, country is the same as hick? Alissa: Um, no? I don't think it's the same. I mean hick would be generally defined probably as being uneducated, but one from the country could be educated. Nola: What about rednecks? Alissa: That would be uneducated. (laughter) That would be someone who's proud to be a hick . (laughter)

Irene: Mmm, redneck could be...well, they insinuate rednecks are sorta dumb. But I think sometimes rednecks just are people that like to have more fun. Kid around, and joke and... And some people just can't take the joking and the kidding around, so they call them rednecks. Nola: Do you think they sound any differently from somebody who talks country? Irene: No…. Nola: Do you think rednecks tend to have a southern accent? Irene: Oh, yeah, they can have a southern accent.

Nola: Um, is there about a southern accent or how people talk in Texas that you find annoying? Irene: Oh, no! Everybody in the United States should talk the way Texans do they'd be a lot friendlier then. Nola: (laughter) So there's a correlation between how you talk and your level of friendliness? Irene: Yes, I believe so. Instead of saying “You can do it,” “Y’ALL can do it!”

Comparing Categories PLACE: South, Texas, Texoma LIFESTYLE: Rural PERSONALITY: Hick, Redneck Link to linguistic style? Link to ‘Country Talk’? Parts of a shared ideological map Oppositions & Overlaps define the space

PLACE: South, Texas, Texoma

LIFESTYLE: Rural

PERSONALITY: Hick, Redneck

Link to linguistic style?

Link to ‘Country Talk’?

Parts of a shared ideological map

Oppositions & Overlaps define the space

Looking Forward Other Communities: urban + Texan rural + non-Southern urban + non-Southern urban/rural + “Deep South” Country Music Famous ‘Country Talkers’

Other Communities:

urban + Texan

rural + non-Southern

urban + non-Southern

urban/rural + “Deep South”

Country Music

Famous ‘Country Talkers’

Thanks, y’all! We’d like to especially thank, in no real order: Kira Hall, Mary Bucholtz, Mary Rose, Rebecca Greene, Rebecca Starr, and all the Stanford Sociorap attendees, particularly Tom Wasow, John Rickford, and Penny Eckert. Finally, thanks to all the participants of our study, and to you!

References Bailey, Guy and Jan Tillery. 1996. “The Persistence of Southern American English.” Journal of English Linguistics , 24:308-21. Benét, William Rose. 1936. “Man from Main: An Evaluation of the Latest Poet to Win the Pulitzer Prize.” The English Journal , 25(7):523-533. Bernstein, Cynthia. 2003. “Grammatical features of southern speech: yall, might could, and fixin to.” English in the Southern United States , ed. by Stephen J. Nagle and Sara L. Sanders, 106-18. Cambridge, UK/New York, USA: Cambridge University Press. Bucholtz, Mary and Hall, Kira. 2005. “Identity and interaction: a sociocultural linguistic approach.” Discourse Studies . 7(4-5):585-614. Hall-Lew, Lauren. 2005. “One shift, two groups: When fronting alone is not enough.” Penn Working Papers in Linguistics . 10.2.105-16. Huber, Patrick. 1994. "Redneck: A Short Note from American Labor History." American Speech , 69(1):106-110 Jordan, Terry G. 1978. “Perceptual Regions in Texas.” Geographical Review. 68:3, 293-307 Preston, Dennis R. 1986. “Five Visions of America.” Language in Society , 15.221-40. _____. 1993. American dialect research, 100th anniversary of the American Dialect Society. Amsterdam: Benjamins. _____. 2003. “Needed research in American English.” Publication of the American Dialect Society (PADS) 88. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Rose, Mary. 2005. Language, Place and Identity in Later Life. Dissertation, Stanford University. Rose, Mary and Lauren Hall-Lew. “Linguistic Variation and the Rural Imaginary.” NWAV33. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, October 2004. Tillery, Jan and Guy Bailey. 1998. “YALL in Oklahoma.” American Speech, 73.257-78. _____. 2003. “Urbanization and the evolution of Southern American English.” English in the Southern United States , ed. by Stephen J. Nagle and Sara L. Sanders, 159-72. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tillery, Jan, Tom Wikle, and Guy Bailey. 2000. “The Nationalization of a Southernism.” Journal of English Linguistics . 28.280-94. Vanderbeck, Robert M. and Dunkley, Cheryl Morse. 2003. “Young People’s Narratives of Rural-Urban Difference.” Children’s Geographies . 1:2, 241-259.

Bailey, Guy and Jan Tillery. 1996. “The Persistence of Southern American English.” Journal of English Linguistics , 24:308-21.

Benét, William Rose. 1936. “Man from Main: An Evaluation of the Latest Poet to Win the Pulitzer Prize.” The English Journal , 25(7):523-533.

Bernstein, Cynthia. 2003. “Grammatical features of southern speech: yall, might could, and fixin to.” English in the Southern United States , ed. by Stephen J. Nagle and Sara L. Sanders, 106-18. Cambridge, UK/New York, USA: Cambridge University Press.

Bucholtz, Mary and Hall, Kira. 2005. “Identity and interaction: a sociocultural linguistic approach.” Discourse Studies . 7(4-5):585-614.

Hall-Lew, Lauren. 2005. “One shift, two groups: When fronting alone is not enough.” Penn Working Papers in Linguistics . 10.2.105-16.

Huber, Patrick. 1994. "Redneck: A Short Note from American Labor History." American Speech , 69(1):106-110

Jordan, Terry G. 1978. “Perceptual Regions in Texas.” Geographical Review. 68:3, 293-307

Preston, Dennis R. 1986. “Five Visions of America.” Language in Society , 15.221-40.

_____. 1993. American dialect research, 100th anniversary of the American Dialect Society. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

_____. 2003. “Needed research in American English.” Publication of the American Dialect Society (PADS) 88. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Rose, Mary. 2005. Language, Place and Identity in Later Life. Dissertation, Stanford University.

Rose, Mary and Lauren Hall-Lew. “Linguistic Variation and the Rural Imaginary.” NWAV33. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, October 2004.

Tillery, Jan and Guy Bailey. 1998. “YALL in Oklahoma.” American Speech, 73.257-78.

_____. 2003. “Urbanization and the evolution of Southern American English.” English in the Southern United States , ed. by Stephen J. Nagle and Sara L. Sanders, 159-72. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tillery, Jan, Tom Wikle, and Guy Bailey. 2000. “The Nationalization of a Southernism.” Journal of English Linguistics . 28.280-94.

Vanderbeck, Robert M. and Dunkley, Cheryl Morse. 2003. “Young People’s Narratives of Rural-Urban Difference.” Children’s Geographies . 1:2, 241-259.

Nola: Do you think that it's pretty limited to the South? Talking country? Sandy: I, I would think so I've, I've traveled some and I have not really noticed it anywhere else. And I think it's kind of a proud thing actually for people, you know, to have that uh nobody that I know is certainly embarrassed by it and uh I'm certainly not gonna change my accent or anything if I traveled to New York City I'm just gonna be myself and uh- So I think it's a sense of pride actually.

Nola: You mentioned that country a country accent and a Texas accent, weren't necessarily the same… Olivia : Well I just meant if you're in a big city like Austin you can't really say you speak country if you've been born and raised in Austin. But a Texas accent, I mean there'll be people who, travel to and from Austin with a with more of a country accent that end up in Austin from time to time.

“ The federal census of 1950 revealed that for the first time the population of Texas had become an urban, industrial one. Previously most Texans had lived on farms and ranches, or in small communities. Since 1950 the majority of Texans reside in cities of 100,000 or more. But in our everyday common language, we still evidently cling to our ‘country talk.’ We still compare whatever we are talking about with cotton patches, dippers, cowtracks, and billy goats more than we do with freeways, parking lots, down payments, and conveyor belts. Forty-eight per cent of our folk similes comes from rural life; only four per cent come from urban life.” -- Hendricks (1960:262) Texas talk = Country talk

“ The federal census of 1950 revealed that for the first time the population of Texas had become an urban, industrial one. Previously most Texans had lived on farms and ranches, or in small communities. Since 1950 the majority of Texans reside in cities of 100,000 or more. But in our everyday common language, we still evidently cling to our ‘country talk.’ We still compare whatever we are talking about with cotton patches, dippers, cowtracks, and billy goats more than we do with freeways, parking lots, down payments, and conveyor belts. Forty-eight per cent of our folk similes comes from rural life; only four per cent come from urban life.”

-- Hendricks (1960:262)

Nola: Are there other sort of phrases that you think are kind of typical country? Lisa : Oh, there probably are. I don't know if it's more in the way they sound or if they're just, uh, you know, some of the things that we say that are more things that probably country people would say then... You know, "it's rainin’ like a cow peeing on a flat rock," (laughter) you know, you probably don't hear that in New York! More on metaphors and country talk

Nola: Are there other sort of phrases that you

think are kind of typical country?

Lisa : Oh, there probably are. I don't know if it's

more in the way they sound or if they're

just, uh, you know, some of the things

that we say that are more things that

probably country people would say then...

You know, "it's rainin’ like a cow peeing on

a flat rock," (laughter) you know, you

probably don't hear that in New York!

Nola: Do you think that hick and country are the same or different? Robert: I think...I think they're pretty close um, I think they're a lot of similarities um, hick, I think, to me, the way I define hick is that...is that hick just doesn't care um, a hick is someone who's loud, boisterous, maybe not very intelligent, that type of person country to me is...can be someone who's very intelligent and but just has a southern slang or southern dialogue or dialect, whatever Nola: Do you think that somebody from the country and a hick would talk differently or have a different accent? Robert: uh, I think they would probably...I don't know if they would have a different accent I think...I think someone in my definition of country would be more um more educated. Hick to me is uneducated, redneck that's how I define that

More on the relation between ‘country’ and Southern Nola: Do you think that people here sound southern? Julie: Oh yeah, oh yeah Nola: Would you say that you have a southern accent? Julie: Well, I don't know if I would call it....I...I mean, I don't know. I don't really know the difference between like a southern and just maybe what I'd call a country accent (laughter). I mean I know we definitely have an accent around here, but I don't necessarily know what kind of accent it is Nola: Somebody who talks country, would they sound southern? Julie: Well, I think there's probably a difference. I think maybe in, you know, what's considered the deep south or something like that, they probably sound...they have a different sounding accent than we do but...but then we all sound a lot different from like the people in the north, I think Nola: What are some differences between the way we sound and then like a deep south accent? Julie: I really don't know and I...and I don't know that there is that much of a difference I know that when I was a kid and we went on a vacation and I cannot remember where we went, but this guy, a waiter in a restaurant, when I ordered, he asked me if I was from Alabama so, I don't know if it was his ignorance of the way I sounded, so I don't know what the difference would be.

Sandy: I, I don't know that they're so much different as I think the connotation of the word hick is just so much more negative than country to me because it's it lends itself to the to me just seeming like some uneducated person and as I mentioned I know people around here know they use verb tenses wrong and things like that but it's just a part of the culture and the climate and you don't want to act like when you're around your people puttin’ on airs or anything like that so you just use that language even though you've been through college and you're educated and you know better you just you just do it and uh when you're around a different group of people you clean you can clean it up you're still gonna have your accent but you make sure you use your verb tenses correctly and things like that so I guess um you know I would think of hick more as being some something from someone uneducated and using incorrect grammar and things like that and country more of just an accent , perhaps. More on the relation between ‘country’ and ‘hick’

Nola: Do you think that southern is different that hick? Andy : Um, when I think of hick I think more of a kind of a hillbilly, Tennessee, up-in-the-mountain kind of a thing so it's kind of a twang, I'd s...hick is more of a twang nasal kind of a thing Nola: What about hick and country do you think those are different? Andy : I think country's a little more drawn out it doesn't have the nasal as much it's almost kind of like, if you'll notice like country music singin’ you know there's kind of a hillbilly singin' and there's a country singin' and those are kind of like the nasal and the beat and that kind of thing Nola: Which one's the more nasal-y one, do you think? Andy : The hick, the hick, hillbilly. I think country's more ... be more like kinda like me. just a drawl a slower drawl Nola: What about redneck? Andy : Redneck talk is probably about the same as country I think redneck would be more of a intellectual attitude more than it would be a language

Figure 1: Only Texomans talk ‘country’ (Texas map)

Figure 2: All the South & Midlands talks ‘country’ (Texas map)

Figure 3: Just the central South ‘talks country’ (Texas map)