This paper discusses the linguistic, social, and geographic distribution of a-prefixing data in the Linguistic Atlas Project (LAP) of North America. Over 3800 instances of the a-prefix were extracted for analysis from the LAP interview data of 1527 speakers from across the United States, collected between 1931 and 2006. While the LAP a-prefix data do not generally deviate from patterns observed in the sociolinguistic literature, they do offer a more nuanced picture of infrequent prefixed forms, including uncommon constructions and verbs that appear as a-prefixed forms less frequently. A-prefixers in LAP tended to be white men, although it should be noted that between 30-47% of the female speakers in four of the surveyed LAP projects also used this feature. The geographic distribution of the feature suggests that the a-prefix is not Southern so much as it is Eastern, with pockets of lesser and greater usage as one moves westward across the country. Additionally, this paper casts the a-prefix as a rural phenomenon, rather than as a strictly Southern one, which opens the door to discussions of the feature as a means of indexing participation in (or affinity for) a rural lifestyle. Overall, this paper demonstrates that LAP data are a tremendous resource and a key piece of the puzzle of understanding regional and social variation.

中文翻译：

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Linguistic Atlas Project 数据中的 A 前缀

本文讨论了北美语言地图集项目 (LAP) 中 a 前缀数据的语言、社会和地理分布。从 1931 年至 2006 年间收集的来自美国各地的 1527 位演讲者的 LAP 访谈数据中提取了超过 3800 个 a 前缀实例进行分析。虽然 LAP a 前缀数据通常不会偏离社会语言学文献中观察到的模式，它们确实为不常见的前缀形式提供了更细致入微的画面，包括不常见的结构和不太频繁地以 a 前缀形式出现的动词。LAP 中的 A 前缀往往是白人男性，但应该注意的是，在四个被调查的 LAP 项目中，30-47% 的女性演讲者也使用了这个功能。该特征的地理分布表明，a-前缀与其说是南方不如说是东方，随着一个人在全国范围内向西移动，使用的地方越来越少。此外，本文将 a-前缀视为一种农村现象，而不是严格意义上的南方现象，这为讨论该特征作为一种索引参与（或亲近）农村生活方式的手段打开了大门。总体而言，本文表明 LAP 数据是一种巨大的资源，是理解区域和社会变化难题的关键部分。这为讨论该功能打开了大门，将其作为索引参与（或亲近）农村生活方式的一种手段。总体而言，本文表明 LAP 数据是一种巨大的资源，是理解区域和社会变化难题的关键部分。这为讨论该功能打开了大门，将其作为索引参与（或亲近）农村生活方式的一种手段。总体而言，本文表明 LAP 数据是一种巨大的资源，是理解区域和社会变化难题的关键部分。