Testing the Effect of Political Ideology on the Southern Vowel Shift Among White Georgians

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the fading Southern Vowel Shift, this paper explores the degree to which different young adults maintain or forego the SVS as a function of demographic traits and self-reported political ideology. Using data from 126 White young adults who grew up in Georgia and were recorded as university students, we find that the more canonically “Southern” pronunciations of the vowels in FACE, DRESS, TRAP, and PRIZE are positively correlated with a continuous measurement of political conservatism, even controlling for gender and hometown. These findings are consistent with speakers’ qualitative impression that the SVS is indexically linked to the conservative political beliefs attributed to a stereotyped White Southerner, constituting one factor that may motivate young adults in this changing landscape to maintain or forego the SVS.