The article reports on an acoustic investigation into the duration of five American English vowels, those found in hid, head, had, hayed, and hide. We compare duration across three major dialect areas: the Inland North, Midlands, and South. The results show systematic differences across all vowels studied, with the longest durations in the South and the shortest in the Inland North, with the Midlands in an intermediate but distinct position. More generally, the sample differs from and complements other work on this question by including detailed evidence from relatively small, cohesive areas, each within a different established dialect region.

When analyzing dialectology survey data, researchers usually exclude respondents who do not complete the survey as directed. It is argued here that such "unusable" responses can be considered "outlier" data and analyzed rather than be excluded, allowing otherwise overlooked language ideologies to emerge. Responses to a perceptual dialectology map survey in which 31 of the 229 respondents wrote comments on a map of Washington state, without drawing lines around perceived dialect areas as instructed, are described to illustrate this point. In the present data, ideologies such as the homogeneity of dialects and the importance of an urban/rural dichotomy surfaced. These themes are examined in terms outlined by Judith Irvine and Susan Gal in their discussion of how ideological processes are evident in language data. In addition, methodological issues regarding the presuppositions and orientation of respondents to the questionnaire itself are raised.