SCIENCE: Linguists Analyze Sarah Palin’s Accent

November 17, 2009

By Judy Grundstrom

sarah-palin

Sarah Palin has been in the news a lot lately. From her memoir “Going Rouge” to the Oprah interview its hard not to hear about what is going on with Palin. In some not so heard of news, researches from the University of Wisconsin have been studying former Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin’s speech pattens to see the effect her home-spun phrases on the general public.

The study specifically analyzed Palin’s use of colloquial words and phrases, which were perceived as informal by many. The study also compared her use of “g-dropping” on words such as “talking,” “bringing” and “going”. Palin’s “g-dropping” caused much debate as to whether or not the Alaska governor actually dropped her g’s or was simply doing so to appeal to a certain demographic.

“She [g-drops] only on very common words, like to talk and to bring. … She doesn’t do it with educated vocabulary,” said Joe Salmos, UW professor of linguistics . “That sounds like it’s probably a real pattern.”

As for “heck,” “darn” and “you betcha,” Salmons said the evidence points to exaggeration by Palin, but there is no way to know for sure.

Ken Goldstein, UW professor of political science, said he does not believe the way Palin talks affects the outcome of her political endeavors.

“Sarah Palin is a complex character, and I think her actual speech patterns have very little to do with her success or failure,” Goldstein said.

alaska_map

Another aspect of the study was focused on the origin of Palin’s speech patterns, particularly the upper-Midwestern undertones in her speech. Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, was settled during the Great Depression by families from northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The online magazine Slate wrote an article in 2008 titled, “What Kind of Accent Does Sarah Palin Have?”

The article discusses that many people have noticed that Pailn’s accent does sound as if she comes from Minnesota, but her accent is from Alaska. The next big town over from Wasilla, Alaska (where Pailin grew up and was Mayor) is Palmer, AK. Palin spent a lot of time in Palmer and it turns out that the government moved a large group of Minnesotans to the city in 1930.

If anyone was ever wondering if Palin’s accent was a “fake” Minnesotan” accent, it’s not. It’s a real Alaskan-Minnesota accent.

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Tags: Alaska, minnesota, Sarah Palin

This entry was posted on November 17, 2009 at 2:11 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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