Martha's Vineyard

Question 1

Who conducted this study?

Answer 1

WILLIAM LABOV

Question 2

In what year?

Answer 2

1961

Question 3

What was found?

Answer 3

• Some Islanders were shifting the vowel sounds in words such as ‘sound’ and ‘about’ to central productions (what we might call closed mouth pronunciation) - like ‘seund’ and ‘abeut’
• Young Vineyarders were using ‘older’ vowel sounds more than the older people
• Went in opposite direction to earlier changes in the English spoken in New England

Question 4

Conclusion

Answer 4

Labov concluded that this was due to tourism that started in the 1960s - DIVERGENCE
People who spoken this way tended to be traditional Vineyarders (e.g. fishermen)