Participate in Our Study: Call for Subjects
Would you like to participate in our study? Please read below, and if you qualify, please contact us!
The Central Ohio Dialect Survey investigates language differences and similarities among residents of Ohio, particularly in the Columbus area. Some of the factors that can affect the way people speak are the neighborhood they live in, their age, sex, ethnicity, socio-economic background, and the groups of people they spend time with. One of the goals of this study is to enrich our understanding of how people use language to forge local and regional identities. For instance, you probably speak differently from your parents and from people who live in Dayton or Cleveland. The study also aims to compare the Central Ohio Dialect to dialects spoken in other parts of Ohio and other parts of the country, such as Southern American English, New York speech, etc., so that all of these ways of speaking can be more deeply understood and appreciated.
As we continue to administer the survey, we are hoping to talk to additional informants. Specifically, we are hoping to find Central Ohio residents over the age of 18 who have either lived in Columbus or its surrounding areas all of their lives, or who moved to Central Ohio before the age of 8. These are the ideal informants we are seeking, but anyone who moved to the Central Ohio area by the age of 12 is also suitable to participate. For the purposes of our study, the Columbus area is defined as in the map at the bottom of this page. The interview typically takes around 45-50 minutes, and you will be paid $10.00 for participating. Interviews are tape recorded; however, all personal information given during the course of the survey is kept confidential.
If you would like to participate, please contact David Durian at either the phone number or the email address given below, or message us on Twitter.
Thank you for your help!
David Durian
Researcher, The Central Ohio Dialect Survey
The Ohio State University Department of Linguistics
Email: ddurian@ling.ohio-state.edu
Phone: 614-329-0381
Twitter: daviddurian
