Dr. Jon Forrest joins the UGA Department of Linguistics

We are very happy to announce the appointment of Dr. Jon Forrest as Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics. Dr. Forrest received his B.A. in English with a World Literature & Japanese minor, M.A. in English with a sociolinguistics concentration, and Ph.D. in Sociology from North Carolina State University.

His 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. He is 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. His 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.