The Detroit Dialect Study: Accessing a Foundational Study on the Social Stratification of American English

The Detroit Dialect Study (DDS) is one of the earliest foundational studies of social stratification in American English and the most expansive survey of an urban area ever undertaken in sociolinguistics. The DDS, led by Roger Shuy, systematically gathered and analyzed data to determine the linguistic patterns at play across race, sex, social class, and age, and the results of this study have informed work on educational policy regarding vernacular American English dialects. At the same time, the DDS allows for deeper insights into the development of African American Language and the spread of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift at a much greater time-depth than current digitized collections, essential for linguists interested in the mechanisms of language variation and change over time. This audio feature highlights the newly digitized and publicly available DDS recordings. Roger Shuy, Walt Wolfram, and Ralph Fasold, involved with the DDS as principal investigator, fieldworker, and researcher, respectively, reflect on the study a half-century later. Complementing their observations are selections from the 1966–67 DDS recordings that highlight linguistic patterns and important stories. The producers hope to highlight the rich data available within, as well as different ways the dataset can be used today.