Appalachian English is
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
native to the
Appalachian mountain region of the
Eastern United States
The Eastern United States, commonly referred to as the American East, Eastern America, or simply the East, is the region of the United States to the east of the Mississippi River. In some cases the term may refer to a smaller area or the East C ...
. Historically, the term "Appalachian dialect" refers to a local English variety of southern Appalachia, also known as Smoky Mountain English or Southern Mountain English in American linguistics. This variety is both influential upon and influenced by the
Southern U.S. regional dialect, which has become predominant in central and southern Appalachia today, while a
Western Pennsylvania regional dialect has become predominant in northern Appalachia, according to the 2006 ''
Atlas of North American English'' (ANAE). The ANAE identifies the "Inland South,” a dialect sub-region in which the Southern U.S. dialect's defining
vowel shift
A vowel shift is a systematic sound change in the pronunciation of the vowel sounds of a language.
The best-known example in the English language is the Great Vowel Shift, which began in the 15th century. The Greek language also underwent a vowe ...
is the most developed, as centering squarely in southern Appalachia: namely, the cities of
Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...
and
Chattanooga
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
;
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
and
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...
and
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...
. All Appalachian English is
rhotic and characterized by distinct
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
,
morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
* Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
* Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...
,
syntax
In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...
, and lexicon. It is mostly oral but its features are also sometimes represented in literary works.
Extensive research has been conducted since the 1930s to determine the origin of the Appalachian dialect. One popular theory is that the dialect is a preserved remnant of 16th-century (or "Elizabethan") English in isolation, though a far more accurate comparison would be to 18th-century (or "colonial") English. Regardless, the Appalachian dialect studied within the last century, like most dialects, actually shows a mix of both
older and newer features, with particular
Ulster Scots immigrant influences.
Appalachian English has long been a popular
stereotype of Appalachians and is criticized both inside and outside the speaking area as an inferior dialect, which is often mistakenly attributed to supposed laziness, lack of education, or the region's relative isolation. American writers throughout the 20th century have used the dialect as the chosen speech of uneducated and unsophisticated characters, though research has largely disproven these stereotypes; however, due to such prejudice, the use of the Appalachian dialect is still often an impediment to educational and social advancement.
Along with these pejorative associations, there has been much debate as to whether Appalachian English constitutes a dialect separate from the American Southern regional dialect, as it shares many core components with it. Research reveals that Appalachian English also includes many grammatical components similar to those of the
Midland regional dialect, as well as several unique grammatical, lexical, and phonological features of its own.
Phonology
Phonetics
* The Southern Shift and
Southern Drawl
A drawl is a perceived feature of some varieties of spoken English and generally indicates slower, longer vowel sounds and diphthongs. The drawl is often perceived as a method of speaking more slowly and may be erroneously attributed to laziness ...
: A
vowel shift
A vowel shift is a systematic sound change in the pronunciation of the vowel sounds of a language.
The best-known example in the English language is the Great Vowel Shift, which began in the 15th century. The Greek language also underwent a vowe ...
known as the
Southern Shift, which largely defines the speech of most of the
Southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
, is the most developed both in
Texas English and here in Appalachian English (located in a dialect region which ''
The Atlas of North American English
''The Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology and Sound Change'' (abbreviated ANAE; formerly, the ''Phonological Atlas of North America'') is an overview of the pronunciation patterns ( accents) in all the major regional dia ...
'' identifies as the "Inland South"). This involves several unique vowel changes, in three complex stages:
** Stage 1: In the diphthong , the second half of the diphthong is often omitted (referred to as
monophthongization
Monophthongization is a sound change by which a diphthong becomes a monophthong, a type of vowel shift. It is also known as ungliding, as diphthongs are also known as gliding vowels. In languages that have undergone monophthongization, digraphs ...
), and it is thus pronounced similar to . (Thus, for example, the word ''tide'' in this dialect may sound to outsiders more like ''Todd'' or even ''tad''). In extreme instances, words such as "wire," "fire," "tire," and "hired" are pronounced so as to sound completely identical to the words "war," "far," "tar," and "hard" respectively.
** Stage 2: The diphthong begins further back and open in the mouth, so that, for example, ''fish bait'' and ''old lace'' in this dialect may sound to other English speakers more like ''fish bite'' and ''old lice''. The vowel then moves in the opposite direction and acquires a "drawl" or longer, glide-like sound quality, so that ''red'' may be said to sound more like ''ray-ud'' or ''rih-yud''. Stage 2 is most common in heavily stressed syllables.
**Stage 3: The vowel is pronounced higher in the mouth and with a drawl, so that ''hit'' may be said to sound like ''hee-it''. Conversely, the vowel lowers and then glides up again, so that ''feet'' may sound more like ''fih-eet'' or ''fuh-eet''. Stage 3 is most common in heavily stressed syllables.
* Lax and tense vowels often
neutralize before , making pairs like ''feel''/''fill'' and ''fail''/''fell''
homophone
A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (p ...
s for speakers in some areas. Some speakers may distinguish between the two sets of words by reversing the normal vowel sound, e.g., ''feel'' may sound like ''fill'', and vice versa.
* Short "i" and short "e"
have the same pronunciation when appearing before "n" or "m" (e.g., "pen" and "pin" are both pronounced "pin"). Adjectives are often used to distinguish between the two (e.g., "ink pen", "sewing pin").
Phonemic incidence
Research suggests that the Appalachian dialect is one of the most distinctive and divergent dialects within the United States.
* An
epenthetic
In phonology, epenthesis (; Greek language, Greek ) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the beginning syllable (''prothesis (linguistics), prothesis'') or in the ending syllable (''paragoge'') or in-between two syll ...
sometimes occurs in some words such as ''wash'', leading to the pronunciation .
* An "-er" sound is often used for long "o" at the end of a word. For example, ''hollow''— "a small, sheltered valley"— is pronounced , homophonous with ''holler''. Other examples are "potato" (pronounced "tader"), "tomato" (pronounced "mader"), and "tobacco" (pronounced "backer").
* H retention occurs at the beginning of certain words. ''It'', in particular, is pronounced ''hit'' at the beginning of a sentence and also when emphasized. The word "ain't" is pronounced ''hain't''.
* Participles and gerunds such as ''doing'' and ''mining'' end in instead of . While this occurs to some extent in all dialects of American English, it possibly occurs with greater frequency in Southern Appalachia.
* Word final ''a'' is sometimes pronounced , as in ''okra'' (). Also see "opera"-->"opry" as in the "Gran' Ol' Opry" and "Dula"-->"Dooley" as in "Tom Dula" (Dooley).
* Intervocalic ''s'' in ''greasy'' is pronounced , as in other Southern American and some British speech. A related matter: The noun "grease" is pronounced with an "s," but this consonant turns into a "z" in the adjective and in the verb "to grease."
* People who live in the Appalachian dialect area or elsewhere in the
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
pronounce the word Appalachia with a short "a" sound (as in "latch") in the third syllable, or , while those who live outside of the Appalachian dialect area or at its outer edges tend to pronounce it with a long "a" sound (as in "lay"), .
Grammar
Conjugation of the verb "to be"
The conjugation of the verb "to be" is different from that of standard English in several ways, and sometimes more than one form of the verb "to be" is acceptable in Appalachian English.
Divergence from standard English conjugation of the verb "to be" occurs with the highest frequency in the past tense, where grammatically plural subjects also take the singular form "was" rather than "were". Thus, the paradigm of the verb "to be" in Appalachian English more closely resembles the paradigm for other non-"be" verbs in English, where the past tense takes a single form, regardless of number or person.
The use of the word ''
ain't
The word "ain't" is a contraction for ''am not'', ''is not'', ''are not'', ''has not'', ''have not'' in the common English language vernacular. In some dialects ''ain't'' is also used as a contraction of ''do not'', ''does not'' and ''did not''. ...
'' is also one of the most salient features of this dialect. While "ain't" is used to some extent in most American English dialects, it is used with much greater frequency in the Appalachian dialect. Similarly, the phrase "it is" frequently appeared as "it are" in Appalachian English as late as the mid-twentieth century.
Conjugation among other verb types
While the greatest amount of divergence in subject-verb concord occurs in the past tense of the verb 'to be', certain types of plural subjects have an effect on concord across various types of verbs. However, plural subjects continue to show the greatest frequency of non-concord. The example below is taken from :
Conjoined noun phrases:
* "Me and my sister gets into a fight sometimes."
*"A boy and his daddy was a-huntin'."
Collective noun phrases:
*"Some people makes it from fat off a pig."
*"People's not concerned."
Other plural noun phrases:
*"...no matter what their parents has taught 'em."
*"The cars was all tore up."
Expletive 'there':
*"There's different breeds of 'em."
*"There was 5 in our family."
A-''verb''-ing (''a''-prefixing)
A notable feature of Appalachian English is the ''a''-prefix which occurs with participle forms ending in ''-ing''. This prefix is pronounced as a schwa . The ''a''-prefix most commonly occurs with progressives, in both past and non-past tenses. For example, "My cousin had a little pony and we was a-ridin' it one day" Common contexts also include where the participle form functions as an adverbial complement, such as after movement verbs (''come'', ''go'', ''take off'') and with verbs of continuing or starting (''keep'', ''start'', ''get to''). Examples include "All of a sudden a bear come a-runnin'", and "He just kep' a-beggin'".
Phonological rules and restrictions apply to ''a''-prefixing; for example, it can only occur with verbs accented on the initial syllable: ''a-fóllowin'' but not ''a-discóverin'' or ''a-retírin''.
[Wolfram, Walt, and Natalie Schilling-Estes. ''American English: Dialects and Variation''. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2008.] Moreover, it cannot occur on ''–ing'' forms functioning as nouns or adjectives; the forms must function as verbs. Thus, sentences like ''the movie was a-charmin'' are ungrammatical.
'A' can only be a prefix of verbs or complements of verbs with ''–ing''.
However, the ''a''-prefix may not be attached to a verb which begins with an unstressed syllable, such as ''discover'' or ''retire''.
While much less frequent or productive, the ''a''-prefix can also occur on participles ending in ''-ed'', such as "a-haunted"
The ''a''-prefix has been found to occur most frequently in more animated or vivid narratives, as a stylistic device.
Studies suggest that ''a''-prefixing is more common with older speakers and might therefore disappear completely in a few years.
[Frazer, Timothy C. "More on the Semantics of A-Prefixing." ''American Speech'', 65.1 (1990): 89-93.] Because of the considerable difference of ''a''-prefixing frequency according to age (the frequency varied between 10% and 50%),
Walt Wolfram
Walt Wolfram (; born February 15, 1941) is an American sociolinguist specializing in social and ethnic dialects of American English. He was one of the early pioneers in the study of urban African American English through his work in Detroit in 19 ...
(1976) supports the "(...) contention that ''a''-prefixing is a phenomenon that is dying out in Appalachia".
''A''-prefixing can be traced back to the 16th century: The construction reached its height from 1500 to 1700 and developed out of using the preposition "on" and a verbal noun ending in ''-ing''. Only used in formal and educated writing in the 17th century, it became nonstandard in the 18th century. Montgomery (2009) argues that a-prefixing developed from the preposition "an"/"on" in Early Middle English and suggests that it arose from the loss of the -n from "on" in examples like "hee set before his eyes king Henrie the eight with all his Lordes ''on hunting'' in his forrest at Windsore" (Thomas Nashe, "Unfortunate Traveller," 1594).
Other verb forms
*Sometimes the past participle of a strong verb such as "do" is used in place of the past tense. For example, "I done it already" instead of "I did it already" or in the case of the verb "see," "I seen" instead of "I saw." "Went" is often used instead of "gone" as the past participle of the verb "to go." ''She had went to Ashland.'' Less frequently, "gone" is used as the simple past tense. ''I gone down to the meeting, but wasn't nobody there.'' "Done" is used with the past tense (or a past participle commonly used as a past tense, such as "gone") to express action just completed, as in, "I done went/gone to the store".
*Some English strong verbs are occasionally conjugated as weak verbs in Appalachian English, e.g. "knowed," and "seed."
*The construction "don't...no" is used with transitive verbs to indicate the negative, e.g. "He don't know no better." This is commonly referred to as the
double negative
A double negative is a construction occurring when two forms of grammatical negation are used in the same sentence. Multiple negation is the more general term referring to the occurrence of more than one negative in a clause. In some languages, ...
, and is either negative or emphatically negative, never positive. "None" is often used in place of "any," as in "I don't have none."
*Verb forms for the verb "to lay" are used instead of forms of the verb "to lie." For example, "Lay down and hush." The same occurs with "set" for "sit," and "leave" for "let."
*"Might could" is sometimes used where a speaker of standard English would say, "might be able to" or "could maybe." This is found in Scots as well.
*Verbs ending in -st, -sk, and -sp take the syllabic -es rather than Standard -s, pronounced /ɪz/, e.g. "costes".
Double nouns
Some nouns are spoken in pairs, the first noun describing the seemingly redundant second noun, as in "hound dog", "Cadillac car", "widow woman", "toad frog", "biscuit bread", or "rifle gun".
Pronouns and demonstratives
"Them" is sometimes used in place of "those" as a demonstrative in both nominative and oblique constructions. Examples are "Them are the pants I want" and "Give me some of them crackers."
Oblique forms of the personal pronouns are used as nominative when more than one is used (cf. French ''moi et toi''). For example, "Me and him are real good friends" instead of "He and I are really good friends." Accusative case personal pronouns are used as reflexives in situations which, in American English, do not typically demand them (e.g., "I'm gonna get me a haircut"). The -self/-selves forms are used almost exclusively as emphatics, and then often in non-standard forms (e.g., "the preacher hisself"). Second person pronouns are often retained as subjects in imperative sentences (e.g., "You go an' get you a cookie").
Plural pronouns can take the suffix -un, mentioned below, turning ''we, you,'' and ''they'' into ''we'uns, you'uns,'' and ''they'uns''.
The possessive absolutive forms, Standard ''yours, his, hers, theirs,'' and ''ours'' appear as ''yourn, hisn, hern, theirn,'' and ''ourn''.
The possessive absolute form of "yinz/yunz/you'uns" is ''yournses''.
Other grammatical forms
'Liketa'
In Appalachian English, the form 'liketa' functions as an adverb and occurs before the past form of a verb. 'Liketa' carries a meaning similar to "on the verge of" or "came so close that I really thought ''x'' would", where ''x'' is the subject of the verb. Coming from a compression of the phrase "likely to".
*"I ''liketa'' never went to sleep last night."
*"And I knew what I'd done and boy it ''liketa'' scared me to death."
'Liketa' also imposes a notion of impossibility on the clause in which it appears, distinguishing it from the word 'almost'. For example, "They almost made it to the top of the mountain" is allowed but not "They liketa made it to the top of the mountain." 'Liketa' does not carry the same notion of partial truth as 'almost'.
Other
*Pronouns and adjectives are sometimes combined with "'un" (meaning "one"), such as "young'un" to mean "child," "big'un" to mean "big one," and "you'uns" to mean "you all." "Young'n'" and "'big'n'" also are common in
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
.
*The word element "-ever" is sometimes reversed in words such as "whatever" ("everwhat"), "whoever" ("everwho"), and "however" ("everhow"), but the usage remains the same (e.g., "Everwho did this is in big trouble").
*The word ''right'' can be used with adjectives (e.g., "a right cold morning") and along with its standard use with adverbs, can also be used with adverbs of manner and time (e.g., "right loud" or "right often"). That is an acceptable formation in some areas of British English.
*Measurements such as "foot" and "mile" often retain their singular form even when used in the plural sense. For example, "That stick is 3 foot long", or "We need 6 foot of drywall".
This is found in Scots.
Vocabulary
Being part of the greater Southern United States, the dialect shares many of the same terms of the South. In its relation to south of the Midland, it has several terms in common with its North Midland counterpart, including ''poke'' (paper bag), ''hull'' (to shell), and ''blinds'' (shutters). Certain German-derived words such as ''smearcase'' (cottage cheese), however, are present in the North Midland dialect but absent in the Appalachian dialect.
The following is a list of words which occur in the Appalachian dialect. These words are not exclusive to the region, but tend to occur with greater frequency than in other English dialects:
* ''afeared'' — afraid
* ''airish'' — cool, chilly
* ''ary''/''ary'ne'' — any
* ''bald'' — a treeless mountain summit (see ''
Appalachian balds
In the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States, balds are mountain summits or crests covered primarily by thick vegetation of native grasses or shrubs occurring in areas where heavy forest growth would be expected.
Balds are found prim ...
'')
* ''ball-hoot ''— to drive recklessly fast on dangerous rural or mountain roads; derived from an old logging term for rolling or skidding logs downhill
* ''blinds'' — window shades or window shutters. While ''blinds'' usually refers to window shades, in Appalachia and the greater Midland dialect, it can also refer to window shutters.
* ''blinked'' — sour, rotten
* ''boomer'' — a small red squirrel
* ''brickle'' — brittle
* ''britches'' - pants; a derivation of the word "breeches"
* ''buggy'' — shopping cart
* ''caps'' — popcorn
* ''cat-head'' — a large biscuit
* ''chancy'' — doubtful
* ''chaw'' — a wad of chewing tobacco
* ''clean'' — a verb modifier which is used to mean entirely completing an action; can be used in place of 'all the way'; e.g., "He knocked it clean off the table."
* ''coke'' — short for
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
, but applied to all flavored, carbonated sodas, regardless of brand, flavor or type. ''Coke'' is used primarily in the southern half of the dialect region, whereas ''pop'' receives more usage in southern Ohio, Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and most of
Southwest Virginia
Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Located within the broader region of western Virginia, Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all Vir ...
.
* ''Co'-cola'' — colloquial term for Coca-Cola, but used in the same sense as ''coke'' above.
* ''cornpone'' — skillet cornbread made without eggs
* ''counterpane'' — bedspread
* ''
cove
A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...
'' — a valley between two ridges
* ''discomfit'' — to inconvenience
* ''directly'' — later, after a while; when it becomes convenient, soon, immediately (largely depending on context)
* ''dope'' — soda
* ''fireboard'' —
mantel
* ''fit'' — used in replacement of 'fought'
* ''fixin'' —
**a serving or helping of food; e.g., "Can I get a fixin' of fritters?"
**an event, party or social function where food is served; e.g., "They're having a fixin' in the hall next Friday."
**about to; e.g., "They're fixin' to get hitched."
* ''flannel cake'' —
pancake
A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a Starch, starch-based batter (cooking), batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or fryi ...
* ''gaum'' — mess; used as a noun and a transitive verb; e.g., 'to gaum up' (to mess up).
* ''haint'' — used in the context of 'ghost, spirit', and not the derivation of ''ain't''.
* ''holler'' — hollow, as in a valley between two hills; e.g., "I continue to travel between hollers and cities."
* ''hull'' — to shell, as in to shell beans
* ''ill'' — bad-tempered
* ''jacket'' — a vest
* ''jarfly'' —
cicada
The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...
* ''jasper'' — acquaintance
* ''kyarn'' — carrion; dead flesh, such as roadkill; e.g., "That smells like kyarn."
* ''kindly'' — kind of, sort of; e.g., "Just kindly give it a little twist when you throw."
* ''lamp oil''/''coal oil'' —
kerosene
Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...
* ''lay out'' — to be truant; e.g., 'to lay out of school', 'to lay out of work'
* ''meeting'' — a gathering of people for religious purposes
* ''nary''/''nary'ne'' — none
* ''palings'' — fence posts
* ''peckerwood'' — a disliked person
* ''piece'' — distance; e.g., "He'd have went up the road a piece to get on the main road."; also refers to a snack
* ''plum''/''plumb'' — completely; e.g., "Son, you're plum crazy."
* ''poke'' — a brown paper bag
* ''poke sallet''/''salat''/''salit'' (etc.) ''—'' a type of salad made from
boiled greens
Leaf vegetables, also called leafy greens, pot herbs, vegetable greens, or simply greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Leaf vegetables eaten raw in a salad can be called salad gre ...
(usually
pokeweed
''Phytolacca americana'', also known as American pokeweed, pokeweed, poke sallet, dragonberries, and inkberry, is a poisonous, herbaceous perennial plant in the pokeweed family Phytolaccaceae. This pokeweed grows . It has simple leaves on green ...
)
* ''pokestock''/''polkstalk'' — a single shot shotgun; historically a rifle with an unusually long barrel popular with Kentucky frontiersmen
[Harry Caudill, ''Night Comes to the Cumberlands'' (Boston: Little, Brown, 1963).]
* ''pop'' — see ''coke'' above
* ''quare'' — queer, strange, odd; completely unrelated to sexuality; e.g., "He's shore a quare 'un."
* ''reckon'' — to suppose; e.g., "I reckon you don't like
soup beans Soup beans is a term common in the Southern United States, particularly the regions around the Appalachian Mountains. Soup beans are usually served with cornbread, greens (such as boiled cabbage, cauliflower, or sauerkraut and sausage), and potatoe ...
."
* ''right smart'' — good deal of; e.g., 'a right smart piece' (a long way)
* ''scald'' — poor land, bad land
* ''sigogglin'' — not built correctly, crooked, out of balance
* ''skift'' — a dusting of snow
* ''slap'' — full, complete; e.g., "A fall in the river, which went slap-right and straight down."
* ''smart'' — hard-working; e.g., "She's a smart womern—always a-cleanin and a-sewin and a-cookin fer 'er famly."
* ''sop'' —
gravy
Gravy is a sauce often made from the juices of meats that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with wheat flour or corn starch for added texture. The gravy may be further coloured and flavoured with gravy salt (a simple mix of salt an ...
* ''springhouse ''— a building; usually positioned over a
spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season)
Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...
used for refrigeration before the advent of refrigerators
* ''sugar tree —''
sugar maple tree
* ''swan''/''swanny'' — to swear, to declare to be true
* ''toboggan'' — a knit hat or
tuque
A knit cap is a piece of knitted headwear designed to provide warmth in cold weather. It usually has a simple tapered shape, although more elaborate variants exist. Historically made of wool, it is now often made of synthetic fibers.
Found ...
; rarely used to describe a type of sled
* ''tote'' — to carry
* ''tow sack —'' burlap sack
* ''whistle pig —''
groundhog
The groundhog (''Marmota monax''), also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots.
The groundhog is a lowland creature of North America; it is found through mu ...
* ''yonder''/''yander'' — a directional adverb meaning distant from both the speaker and the listener; e.g., "Look over yonder."
Origins
Early theories regarding the origins of the Appalachian dialect tend to revolve around popular notions regarding the region's general isolation and the belief that the region is culturally static or homogenous. The tendency of Appalachian speakers to retain many aspects of their dialect for a generation or more after moving to large urban areas in the north and west suggests that Appalachian English is ''conservative'' rather than isolated.
Beliefs about Appalachia's isolation led to the early suggestion that the dialect was a surviving relic of long-forgotten forms of English. The most enduring of these early theories suggested that the Appalachian dialect was a remnant of Elizabethan English, a theory popularized by
Berea College
Berea College is a private liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky. Founded in 1855, Berea College was the first college in the Southern United States to be coeducational and racially integrated. Berea College charges no tuition; every a ...
president William Goddell Frost in the late 1800s. However, while Shakespearean words occasionally appear in Appalachian speech (e.g., ''afeared''), these occurrences are rare.
Examples of archaic phrases include the use of ''might could'' for ''might be able to'', the use of "'un" with pronouns and adjectives (e.g., ''young'un''), the use of "done" as a helping verb (e.g., ''we done finished it''), and the use of words such as ''airish'', ''brickle'', ''swan'', and ''bottom land'' all of which were common in Southern and Central England in 17th and 18th centuries. The use of double negatives wasn't uncommon in England during the 17th and 18th centuries. Similarly the use of "it are" in place of "it is" was common among the rural population of
Southern England
Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes G ...
and the English region of
the Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
in the 1500s, 1600s and 1700s was correspondingly common amongst British colonists, in particular English colonists in the original thirteen colonies, usually pronounced as "it err". The phrase fell out of use in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
sometime in the early 1800s, however it remained in use in the
Appalachia
Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...
region of
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
until the mid-to-late twentieth century.
Similarly, the use of the "a-" prefix (e.g., "a-goin'" for "going") and the attachment of "-ed" to certain verbs (e.g., ''knowed''), originated in South England. Some speech habits which can be traced back to the rural areas of northern and Central England include the h-retention (e.g., ''hit'' for ''it''), the use of the word ''right'' in the place of ''very'' (e.g., ''right cold''), and the presence of words such as ''yonder''. Similarly the word "afeared" was common in
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
and the
Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
throughout the 1500s, 1600s and 1700s, though fell out of use in the early 1800s when it was supplanted in literary English after 1700 by the word "afraid". The word was used frequently in the work of Shakespeare. In Appalachia the word simply remained in use and did not get completely supplanted by the word "afraid," unlike in most of the English-speaking world. Though the word "afeared" originates in
northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
and throughout the region of England known as
the Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
it is nonetheless incorrect to refer to the word "afeared" as "Elizabethan" because it was commonly used in England long after the Elizabethan era (including throughout the 1600s). In many older works of literature set in southern England, rural or poor characters demonstrate many of these speech habits. For example, in ''
A Tale of Two Cities
''A Tale of Two Cities'' is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the ...
'' by
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
, the speech of the character
Jerry Cruncher
Jeremiah "Jerry" Cruncher is a fictional character in Charles Dickens' 1859 novel ''A Tale of Two Cities''.
Overview
Jeremiah "Jerry" Cruncher is employed as a ''porter'' for Tellson's Bank of London. He earns extra money as a Resurrectionists ...
is distinguished by the frequent use of double negatives and the a- prefix, among other characteristics today associated with areas such as Appalachia.
Some pronunciation features reminiscent of those in lowland Scotland and Ulster can also be heard, such as the pin-pen merger and goose fronting, the Scotch-Irish and English settlers had a strong influence on the Appalachian dialect, linguistic analyses suggest that Appalachian English developed as a distinctive dialect among English-speaking people in North America. The Appalachian dialect retains a number of speech patterns found in Colonial American English but largely discarded in Standard speech, such as "r" intrusion (e.g., "warsh" for "wash") and a "y" sound in place of "a" on the end of certain words (e.g., "okry" for "okra"). The southern drawl is of an unknown American origin.
Native American influences in the Appalachian dialect are virtually nonexistent except for place names (e.g., "Appalachia", "Tennessee", "Chattahoochee River", "Cheoah Mountains"). While early settlers adopted numerous customs from tribes such as the
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
and
Shawnee
The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
, they typically applied existing words from their own languages to those customs.
Relation to the Ozarks
The traditional Appalachian dialect spread to the
Ozark Mountains
The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant portio ...
in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri. Ozark and Appalachian English have been documented together as a single Southern Mountain dialect of the United States.
Appalachian terms found in Ozark English include ''fireboard'', ''tow sack'', ''jarfly'', and ''brickle'' and similar speech patterns also exist, such as epenthetic ''h'' (''hit'' instead of ''it''), the use of the "a-" prefix ("a-goin'" for "going"), and the ''d''-stop in place of certain "z" sounds (e.g., "idn't" for "isn't"), all of which is seen in other dialects of
older Southern American English. Studies have shown that Ozark English has more in common with the dialect of East Tennessee than with the dialect of West Tennessee or even Eastern
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
. Other distinctive features of Ozark English include phonological idiosyncrasies (many of which it shares with Appalachian English);
certain syntactic patterns, such as the use of ''for to'', rather than ''to'', before infinitives in some constructions; and a number of lexical peculiarities.
Controversies surrounding Appalachian English
Linguistic boundaries of Appalachian English
The systematic study of linguistic boundaries in the United States has advanced, succeeding its inception in 1949. The systematic study of linguistic boundaries in the United States was established by
Hans Kurath
Hans Kurath (13 December 1891 – 2 January 1992) was an American linguist of Austrian origin. He was full professor for English and Linguistics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The many varieties of regional English that he encountered d ...
.
Hans Kurath was an American linguist who is acknowledged for his role as chief editor of the ''
Linguistic Atlas of New England
The ''Linguistic Atlas of New England'' (LANE), edited by Hans Kurath in collaboration with Miles L. Hanley, Bernard Bloch, Guy S. Lowman, Marcus L. Hansen and Julia Bloch, is a book of linguistic maps describing the dialects of New England in t ...
.
The Linguistic Atlas of New England'' was the earliest, complete linguistic atlas of a broad region. Furthermore, many of Hans Kurath's initial ideas about linguistic boundaries are under discussion in the modern-day.
Appalachian English is one of the linguistic boundaries constructed by Hans Kurath. The origins of Appalachian English can be traced back to Scottish-Irish ancestors, and include unique grammatical and lexical differences Appalachian English can be found in the following states: West Virginia; Eastern Kentucky; North Carolina; Northwestern Georgia; Northern South Carolina; western Virginia; Alabama; and Tennessee. Notwithstanding, when it comes to determining its specific boundaries, some linguists believe that the boundaries should be fuzzy lines. These fuzzy lines should provide rough ideas of boundaries, rather than hard lines, because there is a lot of dialectic variety within these small areas that is often difficult to differentiate.
The reality is a range of dialectic variants are commonplace in the Appalachian area of the country. Categorizing all of these different variants under one umbrella may actually further complicate the process of studying the variants of Appalachian speech. Appalachian English is thought to be the oldest form of English to date-including the Shakespearean dialect-which can be a factor contributing to the myth of the dialect being outdated.
Stereotypical views of Appalachian English
In addition to the linguistic boundary debates, Appalachian English is surrounded by stereotypical views of the area and the people living in it. A sense of "Appalachianism" is positively correlated with a shortage in access to environmental influences. These environmental influences include the following: housing; schooling; employment; medical assistance; and money.
Appalachian English is often viewed by outsiders as a dialect of uneducated people. Individuals from Appalachia tend to be perceived as low-income and lower class, regardless of the individual's actual situation.
Historically, these ideas originated prior to the onset of the American Civil War.
Appalachian stereotypes are damaging to natives of the area. Consequently, natives hide or modify their accent when visiting or moving to areas outside of Appalachia. This is done in fear of
accent discrimination. Accent discrimination undermines intelligence and the character of an individual.
Furthermore, easier access to social relations via the internet has expanded the quantity of negative beliefs associated with individuals from Appalachia.
Despite all of the debates surrounding this dialect and whether or not its boundaries are legitimate and correct, to the people of Appalachia, their variety of English is central to their identities regardless of how it is seen by linguists, as well as outsiders.
According to expert linguist Kirk Hazen, "Appalachia is the most misunderstood region in the nation".
There are roles/portrayals of the language that have inspired it to be falsely associated with a stereotypical "hillbilly". Thus, creating misjudgments from non-Appalachians about the region.
See also
*
Appalachian American
Appalachian Americans or simply Appalachians describes Americans living in the geocultural area of Appalachia in the eastern United States, or their descendants
While not an official demographic used or recognized by the United States Census ...
*
Southern American English
Southern American English or Southern U.S. English is a regional dialect or collection of dialects of American English spoken throughout the Southern United States, though concentrated increasingly in more rural areas, and spoken primarily by Wh ...
Notes
References
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Further reading
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External links
* – sound files of interviews with long-time residents of the
Great Smoky Mountains
The Great Smoky Mountains (, ''Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv'') are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge ...
conducted in 1939 by the University of South Carolina.
{{Appalachian people
American English
Appalachian culture
Scotch-Irish American history
Languages of Pennsylvania