A Computerized Questionnaire for the Dialectal Survey of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Author : Peterson, Joseph and Thundyil, Zacharias

Publication date : 1971

Questionnaire URL : https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED123927

Bibliographical references :
Peterson, Joseph and Thundyil, Zacharias. 1971. A Computerized Questionnaire for the Dialectal Survey of he Upper Peninsula of lichigan. Papers, from the Michigan Linguistic Society Meeting, Vol. 1, No. 3. Central Michigan Univ., Mount Pleasant. Dept. of English.

Goals

"This survey aimed to determine the dialectal characteristics of the residents of the Upper Peninsula". (Peterson and Thundyil, 1971:5) 

Protocol summary

''This questionnaire presents about 450 phonological, lexical, and grammatical items that are used in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In composing the dialect survey, terms pertaining to climate, topography, and ethnic groups were taken into account, as were other words and phrases which might be used by Upper Peninsula native speakers. The survey involve[d] residents from each of the fifteen counties of the Upper Peninsula.  A field worker interview[ed] each informant regarding his vocabulary, grammar, and the way he pronounces his words. The outstanding feature of the survey is the fact that all results [were] tabulated by a Computer. This facilitate[d] the compilation of the results greatly.'' (Peterson and Thundyil, 1971:4)

The questionnaire contains three major categories :

- GRAMMAR: 157 sentences
- VOCABULARY: 172 sentences
- PRONUNCIATION: 107 words

It needs to be distributed to the participants,who fill it out by themselves.

Development context

"The material for this questionnaire has been derived from dialectal work sheets, especially from A Compilation of The Work Sheets of the Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada and Asociated Projects, personal inquiries, and with the invaluable aid of Dr. Zacharias Thundyil, asistant professor of English, at Northern Michigan University." (Peterson and Thundyil, 1971:4)