Undergraduate Profile: Elliot-Elyjah McWhinnie

Elliot-Elyjah McWhinnie is a fourth-year Linguistics Major and a 2024-2025 Undergraduate Research Fellow and winner of the Bertha N. Melkonian prize for the top proposal for “California Vowel Shift and African American Women’s Language.” We caught up with McWhinnie to learn about his fascinating research on the linguistic patterns of Black women across California.

Hi! Thank you for taking the time to talk with us today. Congratulations on your THI Undergraduate Research Fellowship and winning the Bertha N. Melkonian top prize. Could you tell us a bit about your research and project?

Yes, I would love to! Originally my research project focused on the broader aspects of African American Language(AAL) in California. But recently, I discovered a subcategory within AAL and that is African American Women’s Language (AAWL). This subcategory is even more underrepresented and understudied than AAL. Coming from a family with mostly women, it seemed like a no-brainer to focus on the language that not only the women in my family speak but my partner and dearest friends as well. My goal with this research project is to get a better understanding of how the California vowel shift shows up amongst young African American women in California. And how language shapes and contributes to a person’s identity. 

That is a fascinating project! I know our readers would love to know how you got interested in that subject. I’m also curious to hear more about the interview process and the 15 people that are in your study.

Yes, the interview process was my favorite part! I enjoyed learning more about people’s stories and where they came from. I had three groups of five: the first group was Black students from California, the second group was Black students from out of state, and the last group was white students from California. My professor and I decided on these three groups because we wanted a wide variety to analyze. For the actual interviews, the space that I used was the Cantu queer cabin on campus. It was the most ideal spot because one of my goals was making sure that the participants were comfortable. For the recording equipment, I used a Focusrite Scarlett 4th generation audio interface and a headset that connected to the audio interface.

The most important part was the questions that I asked. I had seven questions that revolved around getting a better understanding of where the person is from, how they view themselves as a person, and their future career goals. After I asked all the questions, I made the participants read a word list that targeted all the vowels I was analyzing. I had them read the word list five times to get the most accurate pronunciation of the targeted vowels. The way my professor explained how the word list would work is kind of like a plan B. Just in case the participant throughout the initial interview did not target any of the vowels (which I doubt) we were looking for, then we relied on the word list. 

What are some aspects of your project that you have learned, and how do you hope to share these findings?

I have learned more about AAWL and how the subcategory of AAL works in the real world. I have learned some of the features that contribute to AAWL. For example, the marking on the usage of “girl” amongst African American women. This one word can communicate so much based on the tone and the way it is used. I want to dismantle the misunderstanding that AAL is monolithic. There is so much beauty and complexity to AAL, and I am hoping this project will show just how beautiful my language is. I am also hoping to continue learning about phonetics, morphology, and phonology pertaining to AAL. I genuinely love learning, especially when it comes to language. Lastly, I am hoping to share these findings by publishing my paper and presenting at the THI poster presentation. 

What are some skills that you developed over the course of this experience?

Some skills that I have developed over the course of this experience, as I mentioned in the previous question, is learning as much as possible about the morphology, phonology, and phonetics pertaining to AAL. In hopes of becoming very skillful in these linguistic subfields. I truly love learning about language and experimenting with different hypotheses on why languages work the way they do. I have also been working with a software called PRAAT (a phonetic analysis software) that allows me to align the transcriptions with the audio of the interviews.

I have stared at sound waves (or spectrograms) for countless hours, teaching myself how to spot consonants and vowels. I want to continue to strengthen this skill of understanding how to navigate phonetic analysis software. Lastly, my communication skills and writing skills have strengthened for sure. 

How do you hope to apply this experience to your future endeavors?

I hope to apply this experience to my future endeavors by applying to grad school. I am very fortunate to be at an institution that allows me to do research on things I truly care about. I want to continue working with anything that is related to linguistics especially if it pertains to AAL or AAWL. I want to take the skills that I have learned and apply them to whatever life has in store for me. 

Banner Image: Working with interviews on a spectrogram