Reflection

As a researcher, I learned that the opinions regarding how often you think people from other parts of the country make fun of southern accents are very similar. The hard part of this research was finding a good research question. In the end, I was able to come up with a good research question. If I was to change my survey question, I would focus it on how peoples reactions towards people from other parts of the country making fun of southern accents.

This research has helped me see how many students believe that people from other parts of the country make fun of southern accents. The research done was from within the freshman class at Decatur High School, and I would want to see how the results change if we survey the whole school.

Recommendations

I believe that my research has brought up more questions involving southern accents. Like, "How do you feel about people from other parts of the country making fun of southern accents?" I want to research the reasoning behind other people making fun southern accents, and I think other researchers should research why, too. Researchers should also research what makes people from other parts of the country want to make fun of southern accents. 

From the research I did, I believe that those people who do make fun of southern accents should not make fun of the accents anymore. I think this because those people are stereotyping southerners as stupid people because of the way they talk.

Conclusion

The data that I collected from the survey showed that the majority of the participants think that people from other parts of the country often make fun of southern accents. The results also showed that the minority thinks that people from other parts of the country never make fun of southern accents.

Data

In a survey of 96 high school freshman, 37% voted often, 28% voted sometimes, 24% voted very often, 10% voted rarely and 1% voted never. I was surprised to see that someone voted never to the question "How often do you think people from other parts of the country make fun of southern accents?"

Sources

Southern accents are spoken from the Virginia Piedmont to North Florida, and westward to Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. The source also says that southerners definitely pronounce "R"s and sometimes my might come out as ma. Southern American English, or SAE, is the most widely recognized regional dialect in the American English. SAE is also considered the most negatively evaluated American English. 90% of people from Michigan and Indiana asked about SAE said that this language was incorrect. The wide recognition of SAE has negative consequences for the people who use it. For example, stereotyping and linguistic discrimination.

agriculture, 1750. This was the first American zone of plantation. "Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American." PBS. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2010.

agriculture, 1750. This was the first American zone of plantation. "Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American." PBS. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2010.