- Smith Island Voices
- Language and Communication in Washington, DC
Smith Island Voices (2015-2023)
Natalie founded and directed this sociolinguistic study to investigate dialect variation and change in the small, endangered dialect community of Smith Island, in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. The study builds on research Natalie led in 2000 as well as earlier work done in 1985. One surprising finding is that some aspects of the dialect have strengthened rather than weakened over time, even as islanders come into more and more contact with outside language varieties.For more on Smith Island English, see:Schilling, Natalie. 2022. Backwards Talk in Smith Island, Maryland. American Speech 97.4: 483-511.
Schilling, Natalie. 2017. Smith Island English: Past, Present, and Future. American Speech 92.2: 176-203.
Language and Communication in Washington, DC (2006-2023)
Natalie co-founded and directed this large-scale research project involving students, faculty, and affiliates of the Georgetown University Linguistics Department in the study of language, dialects, community, and identity in Washington, DC. Study methods include interviews, ethnography/participant-observation, focus groups, and surveys. Communities studied include neighborhoods, practice groups like church congregations, business settings, and ethnicity-based groups like African Americans, Latino Americans, and Asian Americans. Among other aspects of the study, LCDC researchers have made important advances in the study of variation and change in DC African American English.
For more on Washington, DC, African American English, see:
Farrington, Charlie, and Natalie Schilling. 2019. Contextualizing the Corpus of Regional African American Language: DC AAL in the Nation’s Capital. American Speech 94.1: 21-35.
Quartey, Minnie, and Natalie Schilling. 2019. Shaping ‘Connected’ vs. ‘Disconnected’ Identities in Narrative Discourse in DC African American Language. American Speech 94.1: 131-147.