Dialect Exercise

From The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

People in the South speak English with an accent that is distinct to that region of the United States. However, it isn't just an accent that makes Southern English different; Southerners speak a DIALECT of English. A "dialect" is a form of a language that has its own rules and vocabulary.

In Hawaii, locals are familiar with "Pidgin" English, another dialect with its own rules. For example, in Pidgin, one can say, "I like try!" for "I want to try." The rule is: use "like" in place of "want to." You can spot a non-native speaker of a dialect when they unknowingly break the dialect's rules. If someone says, "I like to try" or "I want try," a local will know that person is not a kama'aina! A dialect has grammatical rules, and also comes with its own vocabulary, slang like kama'aina (meaning local in Hawaii).

Below are two excerpts from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The first is from a white woman, the second is from a black man. What is true of both (Southern dialect in general) and which is particular to race (Southern white / Southern black)?

Read each and try to determine the rules and vocabulary of Southern dialect.

Passage 1 - Spoken by a white lady to Huck about the reward money for finding the runaway "nigger," Jim. (N.B. "Nigger," of course, is a highly offensive word, but back then it was used as a matter of course by both blacks and whites).

"Well, you're innocent, ain't you! Does three hundred dollars lay round every day for people to pick up? Some folks thinks the nigger ain't far from here. I'm one of them -- but I hain't talked it around. A few days ago I was talking with an old couple that lives next door in the log shanty, and they happened to say hardly anybody ever goes to that island over yonder that they call Jackson's Island. Don't anybody live there? says I. No, nobody, says they. I didn't say any more, but I done some thinking. I was pretty near certain I'd seen smoke over there, about the head of the island, a day or two before that, so I says to myself, like as not that nigger's hiding over there; anyway, says I, it's worth the trouble to give the old place a hunt. I hain't seen any smoke sence, so I reckon maybe he's gone, if it was him; but husband's going over to see -- him and another man. He was gone up the river; but he got back to-day and I told him as soon as he got here two hours ago."

OBSERVATIONS:

RULES:

LIST OF SLANG:

 


Passage 2 - Spoken by Jim, the runaway slave, to Huck to make Huck feel guilty after Huck plays a trick on Jim.

"What do dey stan' for? I's gwyne to tell you. When I got all wore out wid work, en wid de callin' for you, en went to sleep, my heart wuz mos' broke bekase you wuz los', en I didn' k'yer no mo' what become er me en de raf'. En when I wake up en fine you back agin', all safe en soun', de tears come en I could a got down on my knees en kiss' yo' foot I's so thankful. En all you wuz thinkin 'bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie. Dat truck dah is trash; en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren's en makes 'em ashamed."

OBSERVATIONS:

RULES:

LIST OF SLANG:

 

 


Conclusions? What can you deduce about the Southern dialect as represented by Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?


If you enjoyed figuring this out, try the more challenging Dialect Exercise. You might like to take a Linguistics class in college!

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