Uses interview and telephone survey data to demonstrate that the merger of the vowels in words such as "cot" and "caught," traditionally considered a defining characteristics of the speech of western Pennsylvania, is well established in the mining towns of eastern Pennsylvania. Notes that the data indicate that the merger arose…

Advocates greater use of the Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS), computer readable samples of individual and household records from the manuscript census schedules. An analysis of southern migration during and after World War II reveals the wealth of material in PUMS and the many ways it can be used. (MJP)

The 'rural' definitions applied by the Federal Government, especially by two data-gathering agencies, the Bureau of the Census and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), emphasize different dimensions of the concept, and delineate the rural-urban continuum in different ways. This report discusses the inconsistency of curent "rural"…