Local meanings for supra-local change: Perceptions of TRAP backing in Kansas1

Abstract

While the retraction of TRAP is found throughout the American West (Fridland et al. 2016), it is associated with California and supposed Californian values in both the popular media (Pratt and D’Onofrio 2017) and the ears of Californian listeners (Villarreal 2018). This study investigates the local construction of meaning for a supra-local sound change by examining perceptions of TRAP backing in Kansas, a locale that has undergone front lax vowel retraction (Kohn and Stithem 2015). Thirty-five college students heard matched-guise stimuli differing only by TRAP F2, guessed speakers’ regional origin, and rated speakers on 14 affective scales. Listeners associated TRAP backing with California (despite local participation in the sound shift) and general prestige. We suggest that that this association with general prestige may help to explain the presence of this vowel shift in Kansas despite considerable ideological differences with California. We argue that these results highlight the interaction between local construction of meaning and broader national discourses for a sound change: While stereotypical associations with a sound change can spread rapidly through means like popular media, stance and identity associations are constructed at the local level.