The perception of regional dialect in the state of Alabama

The purpose of this study was to evaluate how accurate people are in perceiving the dialects in the state of Alabama. This study included 50 speakers, each of whom produced a portion of the “Arthur the Rat” passage, which was then rated by 60 listeners according to whether the speaker was from the state of Alabama or not and whether that person was from an urban or rural area. Overall results showed that people from both inside and outside of Alabama were significantly better than chance at determining if a person is from Alabama. However, when compared to participants from outside of Alabama, participants from Alabama are significantly better at determining if a person was from an urban or rural area. Results suggest that people from the state of Alabama are more attuned to the dialectal differences within the state of Alabama compared to those who are not born in the state of Alabama.