Dialect Perception

This article was very interesting, and it still baffles me to think that when we hear a different accent, we sometimes cannot identify some very distinct differences in vowels. I was surprised that there was a higher frequency of Non-Mobile Northerners perceiving the Northern and Midland dialects as being more similar. Is this the result of either not recognizing actual differences in vowels? Or is it the result of the stigmatization of the Northern accent and the idea that the Midland accent is ideal? I also found it interesting that none of the results were statistically unbiased. Even if the perception of one dialect was at 17% (statistically unbiased) there were other dialects of which there were stronger biases.

Though this experiment was seemingly conducted with the utmost precision, there would still be room for improvement. My idea of mobile and nonmobile speakers definitely conflicts with those presented in the article. I constantly had questions about cases in which the experiment's data could be completely off due to details not included in the general criteria for being classified as either nonmobile or mobile. As far as dialects are concerned, state boundaries can seem rather arbitrary. In looking at the dialect map given to us earlier in the quarter, I noticed that dialect boundaries transcend federal boundaries. This could be problematic if a mobile speaker has been to three different states with the same dialect. Conversely, a state can contain more than one dialect. A way to somewhat imperfectly remedy this situation could be to take distance between residences into account. The criteria for nonmobile speakers is also problematic for the validity of this experiment. For example: I have always lived in the same place, and my parents have always lived in the same place as me as well. Despite my seemingly nonmobile characteristics, I have been exposed to many different accents because I have traveled for extended periods of time (a month at the most), where there were other people in my age range who were from different countries and states. This could seriously skew the results of the experiment if a participant has only lived in one state but has traveled extensively. A way of collecting more accurate results could be to have stricter definitions of nonmobile and mobile speakers.