this week’s theme is “Language.”
Not all language issues are with source documents.
Sometimes language barriers occur with accents and spelling in your own language.
The Appalachian Dialect...
The Unique Language of Appalachia: A Living Time Capsule
The Appalachian region, stretching from southern New York to northern Alabama and Georgia, is home to one of the most distinctive dialects in North America. Rooted in the early English, Scots-Irish, and German settlers who arrived in the 18th century, Appalachian English has retained many archaic words and phrases that have disappeared elsewhere.
A Time Capsule of Old English
I, for one, do not subscribe to the theory that Appalachians speak "Old English".
It's been said that Appalachian speech is its preservation of Elizabethan English. Words like afeared (afraid), reckon (suppose), and britches (pants) date back centuries (and yes, we do say those words). The grammatical structures also reflect older forms of English, such as double modals ("I might could do that") and the use of a- prefixing ("He was a-hunting")—a feature found in Middle English poetry.
But, extensive research has been conducted since the 1930's to determine the origin of the Appalachian dialect. Most would agree that it's an amalgam of Old English from original settlers, colonial 18th century English from the descendants of the original settlers, and a lot of Ulster-Scot dialect.
Without a doubt, Appalachians have always been taunted for their speech to the point of the Appalachian Dialect inferring poorness, laziness, and lack of education. All of which is completely false.
Click on Read More to see samples on how Appalachians speak and what common words we use in sentences....
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