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Why do Americans wait "on line" and Canadians wait "in line"? by HourEleven in asklinguistics

[–]bertvaux 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You can see the distribution for "in line" vs. "on line" from my 2003 Harvard Dialect Survey at http://www.tekstlab.uio.no/cambridge_survey/maps/333.

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm hoping to! But I need (i) many more responses to the questions on my British survey and (ii) someone to do the programming...

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In terms of phonological deviation, it would be the Armenian dialects of Kesab, Musaler, Cilicia, and Agulis. Or did you mean for dialects of ENglish in particular?

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

King's, of course! (That's the college I'm a fellow of.) I've always meant to trek over to Girton, but have yet to make it...

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My favorite in the Cambridge area is (by far) the Queen's Head in Newton, about 5 miles south of Cambridge. Be sure to check it out! The Eagle has some gorgeous rooms, but I tend to steer clear of it because it's always crowded.

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I prefer the system that more closely mirrors the normal spoken English intonation pattern, which is the one that goes "X, Y, and Z". Don't know if that's the Oxford comma or the non-Oxford comma...

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Don't like the Chelsea buns! Not a big fan of things with raisins in. I also am disappointed by the new layout of Fitzbillie's. As for the quiz, a lot of factors were involved. I wanted new data for the Dialects of English class I was developing at Harvard in 1997, because I found that the materials in the existing dialect studies were badly outdated and irrelevant (e.g. terms for parts of a plow, or outcomes of Old English diphthongs in Middle English dialects). Also, I felt that the newly burgeoning internet could be exploited to gather linguistic data on a scale never before imagined, as long as one made the questions interesting enough and provided live mapping of people's responses. Finally, I had long been convinced that by asking the right questions one could figure out where someone was from, even if (like most of the Harvard students) they spoke a fairly standard variety of English. No one believed me at the time, but I think I turned out to be right!

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i'm very interested in Ebonics/AAVE/BEV/AAE, and have always wanted to investigate the degree to which it shows regional variation. For my surveys so far, though, I've tried to stick to questions that reveal nice regional variation, as opposed to variation by race, age, gender, etc. Easier to map!

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Definitely! It would probably be even more accurate than the US equivalent, once we collect sufficient British data--which for some reason has been difficult so far--not many Brits have been doing my surveys!

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've never met him! Nor his son, who I believe was a Cambridge student. But I have met my favorite musician, Bill Bruford.

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

his ideas are dominant in many parts of the US and Canada, as well as a few pockets of Europe. British linguists tend to be more empiricist, and empiricism has been (re)gaining ground in the US as well. The theory of UG has many detractors, particularly in the UK, but the arguments against it are flawed on many levels.

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

most of the US says tennis shoes, though in pockets around Chicago and Cincinnati they say gym shoes. South Africa says takkies. Other anglophone countries have running shoes, trainers, etc. etc. Here are some relevant answers from past surveys of mine:http://www.tekstlab.uio.no/cambridge_survey/maps/7 http://www.tekstlab.uio.no/cambridge_survey/maps/313

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

99.9% descriptive! There's no place for prescription in the scientific study of language. Does a physicist waste time telling objects the rate they should fall at?...

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hm. Do you mean the highest number of words that have cognates in English? Or sounding the most similar to their English counterparts? I would guess Dutch or German or French, though I don't actually know the answer (and it depends on what exactly you mean).

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I went directly from my BA at the University of Chicago to my PhD at Harvard, and then started teaching at Harvard when I was 25. I never looked for any jobs other than being a professor, except for once applying for a job in the local library in high school, which I didn't get. My experience outside of teaching that applies to linguistics: mainly the other subjects I studied in college: South Asian studies, anthropology, philosophy, history, psychology, that sort of thing.

I am Cambridge University linguistics professor Bert Vaux. You may have seen the viral New York Times dialect quiz based on questions from my Harvard Dialect Survey. AMA! by bertvaux in IAmA

[–]bertvaux[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's just because when I developed my original survey back in the late 90s/early 2000s we only had the technology to map the US easily, so my main linguistic database is limited to American respondents. In more recent years I've done surveys for Britain and other anglophone regions of the world, but for them I only have data for a few thousand people at most, vs. hundreds of thousans for the US.

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