A phonology of the dialect of Rainow in the County Palatine of Chester
The department has received a request to make a 1956 dissertation called ‘The phonology of the dialect of Rainow in the County Palatine of Chester’ more accessible to a non-specialist audience. The dissertation is based on fieldwork notes made for the renowned Survey of English Dialects (‘a groundbreaking nationwide survey of the vernacular speech of England, undertaken by researchers based at the University of Leeds’, according to the British Library website). At present, the dissertation is held in the University’s Special Collections. It is partly typed and partly hand-written, and contains lots of phonetic transcriptions. Part of its focus is on the development of the dialect from Old and Middle English, so the dissertation contains many correspondence tables full of symbols.
The aims of this project are to
- Produce an electronic version of the dissertation, or at least the most important sections describing the (then) present-day phonology of the dialect
- Make sure that all phonetic transcriptions follow current IPA conventions
- Consider what explanatory notes may be needed for the dissertation to be readable by an interested lay person
Places available: 2
Duration of the project: 6-8 weeks
Hours per week: 2
Estimated start date: negotiable
This project is ideal for students who are enrolled on, or have completed LING3210 Phonetics & Phonology of English
Skills outcomes: this project will develop your proof-reading and editing skills, your command of the IPA alphabet and insight into phonetic transcription and phonological analysis systems, and potentially your writing skills (if you contribute to explanatory notes)
Students who have questions about this project should contact Dr Leendert Plug on [email protected]
If you would like to work on this project, please complete an RES application form via the ‘How to apply’ tab by 7/11/14. If your application is successful, the supervisor will be in touch in due course.