This class has been the most challenging class that I have taken in my education career, and I was a math minor. I think the reason it strikes so far off with me is because it is so far out of my norm of studies. For year, I have studied English and Linguistics because those are the subjects I teach. When thinking about this proposal, my only hope is to tie it to something I know.
Earlier in the year, while doing research for this course, I found this map that showed different dying languages in an interactive way. It allowed visitors to click on these links and hear sample of the lost language. This really hit my love for linguistics and it really made me think. During my undergrad, I was shown a video called American Tongues. I remember it in great detail because I realized of large our country really is. This thought combined with the map helped me to discover my Start-up Project.
For my Digital Humanities project, I would like to create an interactive map that will all for the collection of the American English language. I would love to think big picture, but for the sake of keeping the project under control, I will only consider the United States. In the interactive map, I would like to identify the locations, histories, and legacy of the different dialects that exist in this country. I would like the map to contain a message read by people around the United States that will showcase the difference in accents and dialects.
Why? I don’t think this will just benefit linguists. We will be creating an electronic history of the languages and dialects spoken within this country. As time goes on, languages are dying away, especially and civilization spreads to inhabit more areas. We have already lost so many languages and dialects, the program could allow for the storage of dialects regardless of how our history moves forward.
So, for my proposal I need to think about expense, function ability, and creation. I think that the project would be relatively cheap. The difficult part would be getting people all around the United States to participate and to make sure the project is completed and not leaving out any accents or dialects. The creation of the map seems relatively easy. Not for me, but for people who understand how to make an interactive map.
The project supports the history of our country and it allows for easier study of dialect. As a twenty two year old, I saw that video and it fascinated me to a point where I remember its title five years later. I think this website could do a lot to help the study of language acquisition, historical impact, and could create a modernized version of a twenty seven year old video.