Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and Emory University, the Linguistic Atlas of the Gulf States is a comprehensive study of speech variations in an eight-state region (Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and eastern Texas.) The project encompasses more than 5000 hours of taped interviews with more than 1100 individuals in urban and rural areas. Conducted according to subjects outlined in preliminary work-sheets the interviews record respondents' expressions and descriptions of the places, people, and objects in their particular locales.