Date of Award
8-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Education and Human Development
Committee Chair/Advisor
Dr. Lindsey Rowe
Committee Member
Dr. Heather Dunham
Committee Member
Dr. Sandra Linder
Committee Member
Dr. Michelle Devereaux
Abstract
Southern dialects are often stereotyped, and southern speakers are often negatively perceived. The prejudice they may face is perpetuated by Standard Language Ideology (SLI) in which linguistic discrimination is intentionally or unintentionally perpetuated through power structures. While scholarship exists regarding southern dialectal speakers facing SLI in settings such as K-12 classrooms, the workforce, and dialectally unique communities, research into southern dialectal college students navigating the power structure of higher education is sparse. What research does exist in this space often utilizes a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods to track linguistic variables in light of these experiences. This dissertation, however, fills that gap by utilizing hermeneutic phenomenology to ask: What are the lived experiences of southern dialectal undergraduate college students navigating the linguistic ecosystem of a large research university in the southeast? Utilizing sociocultural linguistics, perceptual dialectology, and languaging frameworks to propel this work, I interviewed 17 participants (co-constructors), currently enrolled as undergraduates at a large university in the southeast. Interviews were recorded, and then manually transcribed by auditory impressions, with transcripts written in a denaturalized format to empower the southern voices of these students. Other data sources included a reflective journal kept for the entirety of the research, as well as a linguistic features table, and hermeneutic circle table whereby transcripts were analyzed and meaning units interpreted from over 500 pages worth of transcripts. Findings, which are not findings in phenomenology but rather descriptions of meaning, interpreted that 1) Southern dialectal undergraduates had generally positive experiences within higher education, but often did not perceive themselves as having a unique southern dialect until beginning college, 2) Students often connected their speech to agricultural pastimes or decried assumptions about their speech and agriculture, 3) There remains a deep connection between southern linguistic identity and cultural items, 4) Marginal experiences with students took place outside of the classroom, with rare instances of marginal experiences inside the classroom with students or faculty, and 5) Desires for more southern language representation in higher education. Southern dialectal undergraduates exhibited awareness of the stereotypes and uniqueness of their voice once on campus, occasionally modifying their speech or placing pressure on themselves in light of these experiences. Their ability to utilize their full and desired linguistic identity was not yet attainable within the higher education linguistic ecosystem. Ultimately, this work contributes to the field by building on previous mixed methodology studies into southern dialectal college students and illuminates the real life implications of SLI on their time in college.
Recommended Citation
Farmer, Michael J., "Speakin’ Southern: A Phenomenological Exploration of the Lived Experiences of College Students with a Southern Dialect" (2026). All Dissertations. 4355.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/4355
Author ORCID Identifier
0009-0009-9197-2852
Included in
Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons, Higher Education Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons