Grant-Funded Research

The North Carolina Language and Life Project has a long history of grant-funded research. There are usually work being done on several grants at any given time. Below are several of our current projects:

Ongoing Grants

• Voices of North Carolina in the Classroom: School/University Professional Development Initiative to Enhance Middle School Teachers’ Language and Literacy Instruction. NC Quest. $267,000. Jeffrey Reaser and Walt Wolfram, Co-Principal Investigators.


• African American English and its Relation to Literacy Skills in Early Adolescence. Walt Wolfram, Principal Investigator.


• Dialect Loss and Innovation: Documentaries and Outreach Program. National Science Foundation Informal Science Education Program. 4/07-10/08. ESI-0652343. $74,696. (pending final negotiations). Walt Wolfram, Principal Investigator.


• Old and New Ethnic Dialect Development in the American South. National Science Foundation. 03/01/06-2/28/09/ $223,604. Walt Wolfram and Erik Thomas, Co-Principal Investigators.


• A Longitudinal Study of African American Literate Language through Adolescence. National Science Foundation, Frank Porter Graham subcontract. 05/01/06-08/31/09. $105,908. Walt Wolfram, Principal Investigator.


• Ethnic Speech Identification. Erik Thomas, Principal Investigator.

Past Grants

• “Freedom’s Voice: Celebrating the Black Experience on the Outer Banks.” NC State Extension, Engagement, and Economic Development. 01/06-06/06. $10,000. Walt Wolfram, Principal Investigator.
• “Freedom’s Voice: Celebrating the Black Experience on the Outer Banks.” Mini-grant, North Carolina Humanities Council. 02/06-07/06. $1,200. Walt Wolfram, Principal Investigator.
• “Language Diversity in North Carolina: A Documentary and Outreach Program.” National Science Foundation, Communicating Research to Public Audiences. Informal Science Education. 03/01/04-09/30/05. $73,678. Walt Wolfram, Principal Investigator.
• “The Regional Development of African American Vernacular English.” National Science Foundation, Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences Division.Three-year award 03/03-02/06. $217,480. Walt Wolfram, Principal Investigator.
• “A Comparative Investigation of Dialect Maintenance and Accommodation in Sociohistorical Isolation.” National Science Foundation, Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences Division.Three-year award 03/00-02/03. $214,381. Walt Wolfram, Principal Investigator.
• A Documentary and Exhibit on Lumbee English, National Science Foundation, Informal Science Education, 1999-2000, $49,504. Walt Wolfram, Principal Investigator.
• Predicting African American Children’s School Success. Department of Health and Human Services, subcontract with Frank Porter Graham Center, Chapel Hill. 1999-2003. $38,391. Walt Wolfram, Principal Investigator.
• The Dynamic Development of Post-Insular Native American English Varieties. National Science Foundation. 1997-2000. $186,736. Walt Wolfram, Co-Principal Investigator.