From the Archives: Voices of California

Once again there was no Voices of California field trip this summer, but we bring you an excerpt from the Stanford Report article about the 2012 trip to Bakersfield, featuring Penny Eckert:

“Eckert's team has been documenting the breadth of California dialects for the last two years. Each September, a team of 10 to 15 Stanford linguists heads off to record how Californians speak. In previous years, the group has visited Merced and Redding; this year they are focusing on Bakersfield.

The team spends about 10 days in each city interviewing residents who grew up in the area. They talk about themselves, their lives and their communities. The researchers record these free-flowing conversations, along with a list of words designed to elicit specific pronunciations.”

Read the full article here.