Dictionary of American Regional English

Explore the links that offer a taste of the kind of information gathered in the decades-old project called The Dictionary of American Regional English . Examine a Sample Page. Survey a large selection of sample entries. How many of these words do you recognize? Listen to some audio files, including the compilation of several voices on "Arthur the Rat." Most of the information was collected in the middle of the twentieth century, and most of the informants were older people who lived their lives in one region. 

Browse through some quirky entries from DARE. 

Other Studies of American Regional English 

New Yawk Tawk: March 12, 1999 NPR interview with William Labov on his forty-year study of the various accents of New York City.

"Do You Say Pop or Soda" and other self-reported dialect surveys. These make for fascinating reading!