Date:    Wed, 18 Mar 1998 14:35:28 -0500
<br>From:    Beverly Flanigan  flanigan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OAK.CATS.OHIOU.EDU 
<br>Subject: Re: Fargo
<br>
<br>I'm not sure this went through; will try again.
<br>
<br> Date: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 13:27:59 -0500
<br> To: lindi[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]NETNITCO.NET
<br> From: Beverly Flanigan  flanigan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]oak.cats.ohiou.edu 
<br> Subject: Re: Fargo
<br> 
<br> Linda, as a native Minnesotan, I have to disagree with others on the value
<br>of Jim Crotty's book.  If you were an undergraduate in my "Language in
<br>America" course, _perhaps_ I'd allow you to use his book as a starting
<br>point, but I'd also expect much more research (and my undergrads, most
<br>non-majors in Linguistics, do pretty sophisticated research, analyzing
<br>vowels in particular, as well as peculiar syntactic structures).  But since
<br>you're a graduate student, you should most certainly go deeper than either
<br>the book or the movie--my lit majors aren't excused either!  Check out
<br>Harold Allen's _Linguistic Atlas of the Upper Midwest_ first (as Tom
<br>Creswell suggested), and then do a CD-Rom (or print bibliography) search
<br>under such topics as Northern dialects of AmEng, vowel raising (esp. the
<br>schwa in diphthongs--also called "Canadian Raising" but common throughout
<br>our region), syntactic features such as verb + particle (as in "come
<br>with"), etc.  Be aware too (as I'm sure you are, as a Wisconsinite) that
<br>"Fargo" exaggerates the regional features, even though it's fairly
<br>representative.  And Crotty's work focuses on idiomatic expressions (like
<br>"you betcha"), not grammar and pronunciation.
<br> 
<br> 
<br> At 10:50 AM 3/18/98 -0600, you wrote:
<br>  Hello everyone--I have recently subscribed to this list for the purpose of
<br>  obtaining some help writing a paper, but I have been enjoying reading the
<br>  messages immensely.  Here is my dilemma: I am taking an intro. Linguistics
<br>  class (grad. level but my first exposure), and I would like to write a
<br>  paper about the north central  (or upper midwest?) dialect, particularly as
<br>  it is portrayed, etc. in the movie Fargo.  I chose this topic since most of
<br>  my family came from northern Wisc. and I have been surrounded by this
<br>  speech (in a much less exaggerated form of course) all my life.  So far I
<br>  am having little luck finding any scholarly sources--I may be looking in
<br>  the wrong indices since I am a lit. major.  Can anyone help me--or at least
<br>  steer me in the right direction?
<br>  
<br>  Linda McMillan
<br>  lindi[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]netnitco. com
<br>  
<br>