GENERAL WEBSITES

See below a list of websites that present a broader view on American English dialects.

Wikipedia - American English regional differences

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English_regional_differences

This website presents an overview of what is called General American and of English regional varieties - sometimes called accents here. These are divided into seven regions: Eastern New England; New York City and northern New Jersey; Mid-Atlantic Region (comprising Northeastern Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, Baltimore in Maryland, Pittsburgh and Buffalo in New York); South (comprising New Orleans, Acadiana, Central and South Florida); Inland North; the Midland (comprisinf North Central American English, and St. Louis and vicinity); West (comprising California, Utah and Hawaii). It gives examples of what differentiates them, but they are usually general. The site is noteworthy because of the links it provides for most of the varieties presented. In these links there are usually more detailed information and interesting external links.

Do you speak American?

http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/map/map.html

The website was made by the PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) together with a documentary, and it aims at a broad audience. It provides a list of 14 American dialects, many of which are categorized by region of occurrence (Californian, Midwest, New York City, Pacific Northwest, Pittsburghese, Smoky Mountains, Texan); others by their ethnical influences (African American English, Cajun, Chicano English, Lumbee); and by their linguistic features (Spanglish, A-prefixing, R-ful Sourthern*) * also categorized by region. Descriptions of all 14 dialects contain their most distinctive linguistic features as well as their historical origins. One of the site's highlights is the link "Radio America" that provides recorded samples of speakers from 50 American states.
In addition the website features articles on language prejudice and prestige, the notion of Standard American English and debates for and against declaring English the official language in the US.
There are also very interesting quizzes containing speech samples and regional expressions. By trying them out, you can test your ability to recognize the dialects of various regions in the US and also find out, for example, what Pennsylvanians mean when they say they have “Lucy Bowles”!

National Map

http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap/NationalMap.html

Website designed by the University of Pennsylvania. It contains an overall view of the Telsur project which focuses on the analysis of the vowel phonological systems of urban dialects in the US and aims at creating a Phonological Atlas of North America. The results of the first phase of the project are based on the acoustic analysis of 240 Telsur interviews carried out so far, with further data from a broader analysis of the full sample of 640 speakers representing urban areas.
According to phonological criteria, the project defines 4 large dialectal regions (the North, the West, the South, and the Midland) and calls attention to a change that has taken place in the dialectal boundaries of the US since 1987. Various charts and maps are provided showing the distribution of defining linguistic features of each region. The initial evidences gathered by the project point to an intensification of the great regional phonological patterns rather than the development of specific urban dialects.
The website is heavily descriptive and technical, but no recorded samples are provided for the dialects in question.

Dialect Map of American English

http://www.geocities.com/yvain.geo/dialects.html

An introductory website, it gives basic definitions of dialect, idiolect, pidgin and creole. It presents a map dividing the US territory into 26 American English dialects. The dialects described are: New England Eastern, Boston Urban, New England Western, Hudson Valley, New York City, Bonac, Inland Northern, San Francisco Urban, Upper Midwestern, Chicago Urban, North Midland, Pennsylvania German-English, Rocky Mountain, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest, Southwestern, Hawaii*, South Midland, Ozark, Southern Appalachian, Smokey Mountain English, Virginia Piedmont, Coastal Southern, Ocracoke, Gullah, Gulf Southern and Louisiana) * Hawaiian dialect is described but not featured on the map.
Although the website lists a considerable number of American dialects, the information provided for each of them is quite general and presents few examples of defining linguistic features. Also, there are no recorded samples of the dialects.

American Languages

http://csumc.wisc.edu/AmericanLanguages/

This website is a project of the University of Wisconsin in partnership with The Max Kade Institute, the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures, The Dictionary of American Regional English and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
It contains speech samples of 8 American States (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin) and their respective counties. Each sample is accompanied by a brief commentary on the biographical information of the speaker as well as a transcription of the recording. There are parts that are being constructed but the main goal is to have samples from every county in every state in the United States, collected from interviews conducted by fieldworkers for the Dictionary of American Regional English. In these, they have 844 examples of speakers from different locations, gender and age reading Arthur the Rat that can already be consulted in the Searchable Database available in the site.
The most interesting feature of this website is that it also contains speech samples of Germanic American dialects, such as the Amish Swiss German, Texas German, Pennsylvania Dutch, and many more, as well as essays on the history of such dialects and information on where they are spoken in the US.
There is also a link to Native American Languages, but it is still under construction.

Linguistic Atlas Project

http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/dare/dare.html

It presents a group of research projects performed for the last 80 years around different parts of the United States. Such as the LAMSAS that collected 1162 records, from 1933-1974 in the Middle and South Atlantic States; the LAPNW that researched the Pacific North West from 1953 to 1963.; or the AFAM that collected data focusing in African-American and Gullah speakers. Some of the interviews are taped, others were transcribed.
The map allows us to visualize the coverage of each project.
Just a fraction of the data has been digitalized, though their goal is to make all of it available. For the ones that can be browsed it is possible to search for specific linguistic features, for instance the occurrence of " ain't I?" in the Gullah dialect; or the map of the pronunciation of the vowel in "just" in the Pacific North West. When completed it will be an interesting source for diachronic analysis.