Accent/dialect inquiry from National Geographic

[Salikoko Mufwene]

Please respond directly to Olivia King at the following email address if
you can assist her with the following request:
olivia.king at wide-eyedentertainment.com

Sali.
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Hello,

I hope you don't mind me contacting you out of the blue - My name is Oli=
via King and I am currently working on a new national geographic series =
about identity. The aim of the series is to see whether it is possible t=
o identify a living person using the power of science alone. We will be =
setting a panel of experts (a detective, forensic scientist and psycholo=
gist) the challenge of identifying a mystery person, somewhere in Americ=
a, from the clues etched on/inside their body (e.g. a strand of hair, a =
microscopic particle on their clothing or an x-ray of a previously broke=
n bone). The aim is to show the viewers what science can tell us about o=
urselves in an entertaining and informative way.=20


We would like to analyze the accent of each of our mystery targets to de=
termine where they might reside in the USA, and ideally details such as =
how long they might have lived there, if there is a hint of any other ac=
cent embedded in their dialect that is a clue to where they might have l=
ived before etc.
I was hoping you may be able to put me in touch with a phonological lang=
uage expert who might be able to help us. We will be filming in Florida,=
  Tennessee and Chicago, so ideally someone in one of those locations.
Thank you so much for your time - All the Best,
Olivia
Olivia King

Assistant Producer

Wide-Eyed Entertainment
The Media Centre
131-151 Great Titchfield Street
London
W1W 5BB

T: 0011 44 2030085649
M: 0044 7900002333
www.wide-eyedentertainment.com
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Salikoko S. Mufwene                    s-mufwene at uchicago.edu
The Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor of Linguistics and the College
Professor, Committee on Evolutionary Biology
Professor, Committee on the Conceptual&  Historical Studies of Science
University of Chicago                  773-702-8531; FAX 773-834-0924
Department of Linguistics
1010 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org