From Redlands, Loma Linda or Yucaipa? We want to talk to YOU!

Were you raised in Redlands, Loma Linda or Yucaipa? Researchers from Stanford University’s Department of Linguistics want to talk to you! Visit: web.stanford.edu/dept/linguistics/VoCal/participate, call 909-602-3354 or email redlandsVOC@gmail.com.

They are in the Redlands area (including Loma Linda, Highlands and Yucaipa) until September 18th to conduct interviews with local residents. The group of around fifteen researchers consists of both faculty and graduate students, all of whom are part of a multi-year research endeavor called Voices of California, which documents language and life across the state. During their stay, the researchers will conduct one-on-one interviews with over 100 natives of the area.

Now in its ninth year, the Voices of California project studies regional differences in English as it’s spoken across California. The project focuses on the language and culture of Californians in non-urban areas of the state, because most dialectology studies in the United States have been based in big, coastal cities. In California, linguists have studied English in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, but not the Central Valley, coastal towns or smaller communities. The Voices of California project aims to fill that knowledge gap by visiting those important but understudied parts of the state. Thus far researchers visited sites in Merced county in 2010, Shasta county in 2011, Kern county in 2012, Sacramento county in 2014, Salinas county in 2016, and Humboldt County in 2017.

Penny Eckert, a professor of Linguistics and Anthropology, initiated the project along with two fellow faculty and several graduate students in linguistics. “We wanted to make sure California was represented as it is, rather than just the California you see on TV. There’s cultural and linguistic diversity across the state that doesn’t fit neatly into those California stereotypes we see over and over again in popular media.”

The great environmental diversity of California results in vastly different ways of life across the state. And the diversity of the state’s population brings a variety of linguistic influences to the dialects of California. The Stanford research team are conducting interviews with lifelong residents of Redlands, Yucaipa and Loma Linda who are members of all ethnic communities that have been in the area for several generations.

“There are definitely many ways of talking ‘like a Californian’,” says graduate student Emily Lake. “And that’s what we want to learn about. We know that the Redlands area has a rich and diverse history, and in our interviews we get to find out how all of that factors into life here. We want to learn what residents think makes this part of California unique!”.

In the interviews, which are recorded and last upwards of 45 minutes, interviewees are asked to share their oral histories and their perspectives on the community, the region, and the rest of the state. Interviewees also read a standard list of words so that pronunciations of the same set of words have been recorded for all participants.

The group are in the wider Redlands, Yucaipa and Loma Linda areas until September 18, 2018. Lifelong residents of the area who are interested in participating in an interview should visit the project website – web.stanford.edu/dept/linguistics/VoCal/participate, call 909-602-3354 or email redlandsVOC@gmail.com