Zuzanna Witt has always been fascinated by history. While studying English in Poznań, she became passionate about linguistics and the Southern United States. Today, she combines her interests in her doctoral project. A post about her upcoming scholarship trip to Alabama next year attracted special interest from fans of University Life on Facebook.
Zuzanna Witt's academic journey into the history of the Southern United States began with collaboration with her supervisor, Professor Radosław Dylewski, from Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań. Under his guidance, the young researcher is writing her doctoral dissertation on the 19th-century dialect of Alabama.
"In my work, I focus on sources from the first half of the 19th century. I have access to an extensive range of fantastic documents. I found letters, diaries, and travel commentary. I managed to reach audio recordings of speakers born in the 1880s. Based on these materials, I wish to examine what else we can learn about the history of the Alabama dialect and its structure, as well as, in general, the history of the American Southern dialect,” says Zuzanna Witt.
Among other things, we associate the dialect of the southern United States with characteristic vowel lengthening and the use of ain't as a negative. In Alabama, widely considered the heart of Dixie, manuscripts dating back to the state's founding in 1819 have been preserved. These materials are an excellent source of knowledge for linguists about the formation of the dialect.
Last year, the doctoral student received a scholarship from the Kosciuszko Foundation, allowing her to spend a semester at East Tennessee State University. The months devoted to queries in archives, libraries, and conversations with scientists proved to be the most fruitful in her research work to date. However, her stay in the United States revised the linguist's plans, and upon returning to Poland, Zuzanna Witt wrote a new proposal for her doctoral project.
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