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Part of
New Englishes, New Methods
Edited by Guyanne Wilson and Michael Westphal
[Varieties of English Around the World G68] 2023
► pp. 201–220

Mapping perceptions in New Englishes

A case study from St Kitts

ORCID logo | University of Zürich

This chapter presents a case study illustrating the validity of employing a mixed-methods approach based on a draw-a-map task and semi-structured sociolinguistic interviews in language attitude research of a New Englishes context. This is illustrated by the analysis of two data sets. First, 49 participants drew perceptual maps of St Kitts and Nevis. The analysis of these maps shows that the participants exhibit complex perceptual landscapes, including areas with varying degrees of fine-grained subdivisions. In addition, interview data from sociolinguistic interviews allows for triangulation of the data and furthermore provides additional information. Thus, this chapter shows how a mixed-methods approach, including map-drawing tasks, can enrich the toolbox of research in New Englishes.

Keywords: St Kitts, Caribbean, perceptual dialectology, language attitudes, New Englishes, World Englishes, draw-a-map task, mapping, ArcGIS
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Mapping in perceptual dialectology
  • 3.Language attitude research in the Caribbean
  • 4.Case study: St Kitts
    • 4.1St Kitts
    • 4.2Participants and method
    • 4.3Data and analysis
      • 4.3.1Mapping data
      • 4.3.2Interview data
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 14 April 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g68.10sch
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