High Tider, Hoi Toider, or High Tide English is a dialect of
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...
spoken in very limited communities of the South Atlantic United States, particularly several small island and coastal townships in the rural
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...
Outer Banks
The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating ...
and
Pamlico Sound
Pamlico Sound ( ) is a lagoon in North Carolina which is the largest lagoon along the North American East Coast, extending long and 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 km) wide. It is part of a large, interconnected network of lagoon estuaries that i ...
(specifically including
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
,
Sea Level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...
, and
Harkers Island
Harkers Island is a census-designated place (CDP) in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population of Harkers Island was 1,207 at the 2010 census. Harkers Island is unincorporated and receives most public services, including law e ...
in eastern
Carteret County
Carteret County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 67,686. Its county seat is Beaufort. The county was created in 1722 as Carteret Precinct and gained county status in 1739. It was named fo ...
, the village of Wanchese and also Ocracoke) as well as in the
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...
(such as Guinea Neck in
Gloucester County, Virginia
Gloucester County () is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,711. Its county seat is Gloucester Courthouse. The county was founded in 1651 in the Virginia Colony and is named for Henry Stuart, ...
,
Tangier
Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...
and Smith Island). High Tider dialect has been observed by locals as far west as
Bertie County, North Carolina
Bertie County ( , with both syllables stressed) is a county located in the northeast area of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,934. Its county seat is Windsor. The county was created in 1722 as Ber ...
. The term is also a local nickname for any native resident of these regions.
The dialect does not have a name that is uniformly used in the academic literature, but it is referenced by a variety of names, including Hoi Toider (or, more restrictively based on region, Down East, Chesapeake Bay, or Outer Banks) English, dialect, brogue, or accent. ''
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 ...
'' does not consider "Hoi Toider" English to be a subset of
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 b ...
The term "hoi toid" appears in a local colloquial rhyme, "It's high tide on the
sound
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...
side," often phonetically spelled "hoi toide on the saind soide" , as a marker of pronunciation (or
shibboleth
A shibboleth (; hbo, , šībbōleṯ) is any Convention (norm), custom or tradition, usually a choice of phrasing or even a single word, that distinguishes one group of people from another. Shibboleths have been used throughout history in many s ...
) to sharply differentiate speakers of this dialect from speakers of the mainland Southern dialects. The phrase was first recorded as a significant identifier of the dialect in 1993, and has since been used frequently for "performative" purposes by native speakers to demonstrate the dialect to outsiders.
Most native speakers of the dialect refer to it as a brogue.
With a long history of geographical and economic isolation from mainland North Carolina, residents of Harkers Island and other Outer Banks areas such as
Ocracoke Island
Ocracoke , from the North Carolina Collection website at the
and
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
developed a distinct
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...
of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
. Linguists who have studied this dialect note that it has "roots... in a number of
Early Modern English
Early Modern English or Early New English (sometimes abbreviated EModE, EMnE, or ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transition from Middle E ...
dialects", including those spoken in different geographical regions of Great Britain in the Early Modern period (approx. 1500-1800). The dialect of these island communities developed in almost complete isolation for over 250 years. High Tider English shares features with other regional dialects of the US Atlantic coast. Certain
pronunciation
Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct pronunciation") or simply the way a particular ...
,
vocabulary
A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the ...
Westcountry dialect
West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of South West England, the area sometimes popularly known as the West Country.
The West Country is often defined as encompassi ...
). The distinctness of the dialect has survived because the community continues to depend on traditional trades, like fishing, boat building, and decoy carving, and the coastal tourism trade developed much later on islands like Ocracoke.North Carolina Life and Language Project (2006). ''Linguistics at North Carolina State: Harkers Island''. Retrieved July 28, 2006.Linguistic Diversity in the South (2004). ''Linguistic Diversity in the South: Changing Codes, Practices and Ideology''. (University of Georgia Press: Bender, et al.)
As many as 500 islanders on Harkers Island are directly descended from the Harkers Island and Outer Banks original settlers that developed this distinct dialect.
Linguists
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingui ...
from
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The univers ...
,
East Carolina University
East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university, public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina.
Founded on March 8, 1907, as a Normal school, teacher training school, East ...
, and other academic institutions continue to conduct research on the island dialect. It has been in slow decline in the 21st century.
Phonological features
The chart below lists the vowel sounds in two High Tider accents: one of Smith Island (Maryland) in the Chesapeake Bay and the other of Ocracoke (North Carolina) in the Outer Banks. The symbol "~" is used here to indicate that pronunciations on either side of it form a spectrum of possibilities. The symbol ">" indicates that the pronunciations to its left are more widespread and pronunciations to its right are more marginal. Phonologically, these two example accents are united under the High Tider dialect primarily by their similar and vowels; both also show a greater or lesser degree of "
vowel breaking
In historical linguistics, vowel breaking, vowel fracture, or diphthongization is the sound change of a monophthong into a diphthong or triphthong.
Types
Vowel breaking may be unconditioned or conditioned. It may be triggered by the presence of ...
" (or
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 ...
ing) of the
front vowel
A front vowel is a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages, its defining characteristic being that the highest point of the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would otherw ...
s especially when positioned before the consonant .
The
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 ...
, or pronunciation system, of High Tider English is highly different from the English spoken in the rest of the United States. The High Tider dialect is marked with numerous unique phonological features and sound changes:
* The diphthong is , starting very far back in the mouth and retaining its glide, unlike its neighboring Southern dialects. It may also begin with a round-lipped quality, thus , or may even have a triphthongal quality as . Thus, a word like ''high'' may sound like something between ''HAW-ee'' and ''HUH-ee'', similar to its sound in
Cockney
Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or ...
or
Australian accent
Australian English (AuE) is a non-rhotic variety of English spoken by most native-born Australians. Phonologically, it is one of the most regionally homogeneous language varieties in the world. Australian English is notable for vowel length contr ...
s. (This is sometimes mischaracterized by outsiders as sounding very close, like (the vowel, leading to the spelling "Hoi Toider" for "High Tider.")
** Realization of as , so that ''fire'' may begin to merge with the sound of ''far'', as well as ''tire'' with ''tar''.
* The diphthong ends with a more fronted quality, commonly realized as a shorter off-glide with little or no rounding . The sound has also been described as , with a very raised beginning (or on-glide) to the diphthong; for example, making ''town'' sound like ''teh-een''.
* Front vowel raising in certain environments, though most noticeably before and :
** Merger of and , as in the characteristic pronunciation of ''fish'' as ''feesh'' or ''kitchen'' as ''keetchen'' . This may be represented as or .
** Raising of in this environment, causing ''mesh'' to sound almost like ''maysh''.
* The
r-colored vowel
In phonetics, an r-colored or rhotic vowel (also called a retroflex vowel, vocalic r, or a rhotacized vowel) is a vowel that is modified in a way that results in a lowering in frequency of the third formant. R-colored vowels can be articulate ...
may have an opener vowel sound: , making the sound of ''fair'' almost merge with ''fire'' and ''far''.
* There is no ''cot''–''caught'' merger.
* The vowel is largely fronted, as in much of the rest of the modern-day South: .
** Unstressed, word-final may be pronounced , causing ''yellow'' to sound like ''yeller'', ''fellow'' like ''feller'', ''potato'' like ''(po)tater'', and ''mosquito'' like ''(mo)skeeter''.
* Elision of some medial or final stops, as in ''cape'' sounding more like ''cay''.
* Strong, bunched-tongue rhoticity.
* ''Pin''–''pen'' merger.
Lexical features
The island dialect has also retained archaic vocabulary in regular usage. Some examples include ''mommuck'', meaning "to frustrate" or "bother", ''yethy'', describing stale or unpleasant odor, and ''nicket'', meaning a pinch of something used as in cooking. The islanders have also developed unique local words used in regular conversation, including ''dingbatter'' to refer to a visitor or recent arrival to the island, and ''dit-dot'', a term developed from a joke about
Morse code
Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one ...
, and used to describe any visitor to the island who has difficulty understanding the local dialect.Prioli, Carmine and Martin, Edwin (1998). ''Hope for a Good Season: The Ca'e Bankers of Harkers Island''. John F. Blair Publisher, July, 1998.
In popular culture
In the 1991 Paramount film ''
The Butcher's Wife
''The Butcher's Wife'' is a 1991 American romantic comedy film, directed by Terry Hughes and starring Demi Moore and Jeff Daniels.
The film concerns a clairvoyant woman (Moore) thinks that she's met her future husband, whom she has seen in her d ...