2009/03/31 by Michael Pearce · 2 citations
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Linguistic Variation and Morphology #Lexicography and Language Studies #Spanish Linguistics and Language Studies #Salient #Perception #Geography #Similarity (geometry) #Context (archaeology) #Linguistics #Psychology #Archaeology #Computer science #Artificial intelligence
paper · doi:10.1177/0075424209334026
openalex publication_date 2009/03/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
This study presents perceptual dialect maps derived from a questionnaire completed by almost 1,600 people across North East England. Respondents were given the names of fifty-one locations and asked to provide numerical judgments on the “similarity” or “difference” of the dialect of speakers from these locations compared to speakers from the respondents' hometowns. The questionnaire also invited respondents to comment on accents and dialects in the region. The numerical data are mapped, revealing a perceptual landscape consisting of three broad areas further subdivided into smaller perceptual zones. These perceptual areas are described and discussed in relation to salient geographical, social, and cultural factors. The article concludes by placing this research in the context of dialectological and variationist studies of English in the North East.