Jon Forrest

My research focuses on language variation and change in Southern US Englishes, using sociological theory to explain loss of older features and the adoption and diffusion of new sound changes.  I am especially interested in the ways that sociological analyses of meso-level social groups like organizations or neighborhoods can help integrate social-structural factors into the study of language variation.  My most recent project examined stylistic variation in native Southerners working at a technology firm in the South, contrasting self-recordings made by participants while on the job with their recordings of friend and family interactions.