Table of Contents

1. Introducing the Midland: What is it, where is it, how do we know? (by Simon, Beth Lee); 2. 1. What is dialect? - Revisiting the Midland (by Murray, Thomas E.); 3. The Evolving Midland; 4. 1. The North American Midland as a dialect area (by Ash, Sharon); 5. 2. Tracking the low back merger in Missouri (by Gordon, Matthew); 6. 3. Evidence from Ohio on the evolution of /ae/ (by Thomas, Erik R.); 7. Defining The Midland; 8. 4. On the use of geographic names to inform regional language studies (by Callary, Edward); 9. 5. On the eastern edge of the Heartland: Two industrial city dialects (by Donahue, Thomas); 10. 6. The final days of Appalachian Heritage Language (by Hazen, Kirk); 11. 8. It'll kill ye or cure ye, one: The history and function of alternative one - antecedents of the Midland (by Montgomery, Michael); 12. Power and Perception; 13. 7. Standardizing the Heartland (by Bailey, Richard W.); 14. 10. How to get to be one kind of Midwesterner: Accommodation to the Northern Cities Chain Shift (by Evans, Betsy E.); 15. 11. Midland(s) dialect geography: Social and demographic variables (by Frazer, Timothy C.); 16. 12. Drawing out the /ai/: Dialect boundaries and /ai/ variation (by Bernstein, Cynthia); 17. Other Languages, Other Places; 18. 13. Learning Spanish in the North Georgia Mountains (by Johnson, Ellen); 19. 14. The Midland above the Midland: Dialect variation by region, sex, and social group in the linguistic atlas of the Upper Midwest (by Linn, Mike); 20. 15. Portable Community: The linguistic and psychological reality of Midwestern Pennsylvania German (by Hartman Keiser, Steven); 21. 16. The English of the Swiss Amish of Northeastern Indiana (by Thompson, Chad L.); 22. References; 23. Subject Index

Reviews

Language Variation and Change in the American Midland serves as aconsiderable contribution to the growing body of literature on Midland English and, secondarily, is a worthy successor to Fraser's 'Heartland English'. The volume is a must-read book for anyone interested in the state of Midland English in the 21st century.
*Lamont D. Antieau, University of Georgia, on Linguist List 17.2319, 2007*