[[{“type”:“media”,“view_mode”:“media_large”,“fid”:null,“attributes”:{“class”:“media-image alignright size-full wp-image-1613”,“typeof”:“foaf:Image”,“style”:“”,“width”:“100”,“height”:“100”,“alt”:“Vermont Public Radio”}}]]In an interview with Vermont Public Radio (VPR), Professor James Stanford explained that the Green Mountains of Vermont no longer serve as the divide for eastern and western speech patterns in New England.

After collecting dialect recordings from residents of the Upper Valley, Stanford, an assistant professor of linguistics at Dartmouth, and his colleagues found that the linguistic divide now lies along the state line of New Hampshire and Vermont. “Nowadays locals talk about the air being different when you cross over the Connecticut River,“ Stanford told VPR. ”And part of that may be an unconscious sense of linguistic differences, but then also a sense of state identity that’s also playing a role.“

Listen to the story, broadcast on 7/3/12 by VPR.