“WE HAVE SUCH A NORMAL, NON-ACCENTED VOICE”: A SOCIOPHONETIC STUDY OF ENGLISH IN KANSAS CITY _______________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School At the University of Missouri-Columbia _______________________________________________________ in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________________________________ by CHRISTOPHER STRELLUF Dr. Matthew J. Gordon, Dissertation Supervisor JULY 2014