Preview of Webinar
• Response to Questions & Comments
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The persistence of language ideology
Review a-prefixing
Review r-dropping
Dialect and the media
• North Carolina Language History
• Introduction to Regional Dialects
• Regional Dialects of the Carolinas, including:
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Language and dialect endangerment
Outer Banks language history
Appalachian language history
Cherokee language
On the Persistence of
Language Ideology
 We are socialized into beliefs about language and language
differences. This ideology is expressed in common terms
such as “good” and “bad” English, “correct” and “incorrect,”
“proper” and “improper,” “grammatical,” and “ungrammatical”
 Language prejudice and discrimination are common and
pervasive—and typically tolerated even by those who
proactively pursue social equality in other areas
 Language bias and prejudice is most effectively confronted
by inductive learning about language patterning and an
understanding of history, culture, and society
 The two most-frequently mentioned benefits from our
curriculum (from both students and teachers) focus on the
themes of language patterning and language prejudice
Reviewing A-Prefixing
From the workbook
1. The team was playing real hard.
2. The team won by playing great defense.
3. The team was remembering the game.
Can you Apply A-Prefixing?
1 ___ The King’s Speech was surprising.
2 ___ Walt was planning new sentences.
3 ___ They kept on working on dialects
Understanding R- Dropping
Rules for r- dropping:
 After a vowel: e.g. fear, far, porch, NOT program, ride
 Not before a vowel: e.g. fear nothing but NOT fear
everything
From the workbook
1. The teacher picked on three students for an answer
2. Four cars parked far away from the fair
Applying the Rule
3. Three features of this here exercise are patterned.
The Atlas of North American English (Labov et al. 2006)
From the Atlas of North American English
6
Dialect Quizzes
• A quiz for the US:
http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/
map/map.html
OR: tiny.cc/nkzf5
• A quiz for North Carolina:
http://ncsu.edu/linguistics/ncllp/dialectquiz.php
OR: tiny.cc/4187d
The Southern Shift
hit
kids
beatin’
set
grade
bed
Danny
Guy
wipin’
8
The Northern Cities Shift
desk
mat
busses
head
boss
block
socks
10
Native American History
 Paleo-Indians: 10,000 BCE



Stone weapons for hunting large animals (woolly mammoths)
Buried dead in mounds
Migratory
 First permanent Native American settlements: 1000 BCE
 Pottery
 Bow hunting
 Agriculture

At least 34 languages; 4 major groups
 Iroquoian, Algonquian, Siouan, and Muskogen
 Lexical contribution:
 Pamlico, Roanoke, Croatan, Hatteras, Waccamaw, Catawba, Pee
Dee, Cheraw, etc.
 Pocosin, woodchuck, raccoon, pecan, hominy, kayak, hickory, etc.
Native American Language Groups
Native American Languages
European Settlement
 English
 Lost Colony (Manteo), 1584-1587
 Jamestown, VA, 1607
 Bath, NC, incorporated March 8, 1705
 Scots-Irish (ca. 1740)
 Great Wagon Road
 Coastal settlement

Germans and Moravians (ca. 1750)
 Present day Winston-Salem area

Welsh
 Present day Onslow Co., Pender Co., Duplin Co. areas
(Jacksonville, NC)

French Huguenots and Swiss
 Inland coastal regions: Cape Fear, Neuse, and Tar River areas

Highland Scots
 Scotland Co., Robeson Co., and Hoke Co., Moore Co., Cumberland Co.
Scots-Irish
Scots-Irish
Scots-Irish
British
Germans
Early
British
French
Highland
Scots
Welsh
African Slaves
French
15
NC Dialect Regions Today
The Sociohistorical Context and
Transformation of the Outer Banks
 One of the earliest settlements of European Americans,
1630s, migration from coastal Virginia via waterways
 Longstanding, marine based economy isolated from mainland
 Development of unique, iconic coastal dialect; “hoi toiders,”
“Banker” speech, “Brogue,” etc.
 Mid-twentieth century: the economic base shifts from a
relatively self-sufficient marine economy to one dependent on
the tourist industry
 Social networks extend beyond the island; social relationships
with mainlanders become more commonplace
Languages of the World
Language and Dialect Endangerment
 90% of the world’s language approximately
6,000 languages will become extinct during
the twenty-first century
 California alone has lost 50 languages during
the last century
 By comparison, 8% of mammals are
endangered and 3% of birds are endangered
 When a language dies, history, culture, and
essential scientific data are lost
 Languages like Cherokee and dialects like the
Outer Banks are considered endangered
Location of Ocracoke
Location of Smith Island
Percentage
Comparing Ocracoke and Smith Island
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Smith Island
Ocracoke
Older
Middle
Younger
Dissipation vs. Intensification:
Front-gliding of ou in sound (“saind”)
Percentage
Comparing Ocracoke and Smith Island
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Smith Island, Voiced
Smith Island, Voiceless
Ocracoke, Voiced
Ocracoke, Voiceless
Older
Middle-Aged
Younger
Dissipation vs. Intensification:
Backing of long i in tide (as “toid")
Symbolic Dialect Performance: Ocracoke
Came out there and said, said, "I'm studying
speech." I said, "Well, it's high [hoi] tide
[toid] on the sound [saund] side [soid], last
night the water fire [far], tonight the moon
shine, no fish [feesh]. No fish [feesh].
Whatcha suppose the matter, Uncle
Woods?“
Symbolic Dialect Performance: Smith Island
JK:
Well, my mother was from Tylerton. I say, um, house [hæIs],
brown [bræIn], you know, just as flat and broad as it can be. But
they--she still says house [haUs] and brown [braUn].
FW:
Just like--like I would.
JK:
Yeah, mmhmm. They say it down [dæIn] there... down
[dæIn], down [daUn]. I don't know if she says--I don't know about
down [dæIn]. I know about house [haUs]. I know about that.
FW:
Now she would say, just like this: Would she say house
[haUs]?
JK:
Uhhuh. Yep. And I say house [hæIs]. I heard her say house
[haUs], but I say house [hæIs]. Cause that's how Tylerton says that.
I can pick up a--I don't know how to say it, up at Rhodes Point
[another Smith Island community], it seems like they say--use the
long uh i [aI]. Like I say pie [paI]. And maybe that's right, but it's
like they go pie [paI]. It's like a long /ay/ or something in there. I
can just pick it up. I don't even know if I'm saying..
FW:
You can't necessarily copy it, but you can hear it.
JK:
No, no, I can't say it.
Review of Outer Banks
Pronunciations
• Long i: toim and toid for “time” and “tide”
• Long i for ow: hice and saind for “house”
and “sound”
• h with it and ain’t: hit and hain’t
• Final t after s: oncet, twicet, accrosst
• er for ow: feller, yeller, winder
• ar for ire: far and tar for “fire” and “tire”
Review of Outer Banks Grammar
•
•
•
•
•
•
Weren’t for wasn’t
Plural absence on some nouns
a-prefixing
Use of locative to instead of at
Double helping verbs
Multiple negation
Plural –s Absence
LIST A: Nouns that Require -s
1. We caught two hundred cats
2. How many dogs does he have?
3. There are two bucks sitting in
the back yard
4. They have lots of ponies down
below
5. They have three sisters
6. It’s about six teachers
LIST B: Nouns that Do Not
Require -s to be Plural
1. We caught two hundred
pound_ of flounder
2. How many bushel_ does he
have?
3. There are two pint_ sitting in
the back yard
4. here are lots of gallon_ of
water
5. They have three acre_ for
building
6. It’s about six mile_ up the road
Plural –s Absence
LIST B: Nouns that Do Not
Require -s to be Plural
1. We caught two hundred
pound_ of flounder
2. How many bushel_ does he
have?
3. There are two pint_ sitting in
the back yard
4. here are lots of gallon_ of
water
5. They have three acre_ for
building
6. It’s about six mile_ up the road
LIST C: Nouns that Require -s
1. We had pounds of flounder
that spoiled
2. Sometimes people use
bushels instead of pounds
3. The pints of ice cream are
in the freezer
4. We had gallons of water in
the skiff
5. The best acres are owned
by the government
6. The beautiful beach goes
for miles
Plural –s Absence
LIST D: Predicting Plural –s Absence
1. ____She had three pound__ of fish left
2. ____ She had pound__ of fish left
No quantifier
3. ____ It’s forty inch__ to the top
4. ____ It’s inch__ to the top
No quantifier
5. ____ There are rat__ in the yard
No quantifier and not a
measure noun
6. ____ There are six rat__ in that yard Not a measure noun
Weren’t Regularization
Weren’t Regularization
Weren’t Regularization
Weren’t Regularization
How would an O’cocker say the following?
1. You weren’t going to the dock
[no change]
2. I wasn’t here last night
[I weren’t there last night]
3. They weren’t at the beach this morning
[no change]
4. We weren’t fishing
[no change]
5. She wasn’t sick last week
[She weren’t sick last week]
Research Findings: 15 Years Later

Overall language recession continues in terms of socially
marked features such as the long i of tide and the ow vowel of
sound

Selective focusing of features such as weren’t regularization
remain as a part of the Ocracoke Brogue

Changes in dialect do not occur in the lifespan of middle-aged
and older speakers; younger speakers might show shifts as
they establish their adult roles

Generational changes take place within nuclear family units;
families in which both parents are ancestral islanders may
help impede traditional dialect erosion
The Effect of the Dialect Curriculum on Ocracoke
The dialect curriculum we have taught for
18 years on Ocracoke has made a great
difference in language attitudes and the
community acceptance of the traditional
dialect. Islanders now view their dialect
heritage with pride and celebrate its
unique status.
But overall dialect revitalization has not
taken place—apart from a few
superficial vocabulary terms
The Relevance of Hyde County
for Dialect Study
 One of the oldest counties in North Carolina (c. 1700); small
rural communities separated by swampy areas
 Long-term co-existence of African-Americans (c. 33% of
population in 1740 and 1990 census, 36% in 2010) and
European Americans
 Relative geographic, economic, and social detachment from
other inland regions of North Carolina
• 85% wetlands, farming, fishing, logging
• no airport, railroad, freeway
• no mall, movie theater, fast food
 Longstanding sparse population(1790 census: 4,120; 2010
census: 5,218); little in-migration
 Unique coastal dialect-Outer Banks Brogue
The Significance of Region and
Culture
In the next section (Worksheet 19, Listening Exercise 3)
you will be listening to different generations of White and
African American speakers from Hyde County. Listen to the
different generations of speakers and consider the
questions asked in the curriculum
1. How does the oldest speaker compare with the younger
speaker? What changes do you see across the
generations?
2. What do you think is happening in the Outer Banks
Brogue over time in this family?
3. Why do you think some of these Changes are taking
place?
Comparison of Dialect Vocabulary
Dialect Vocabulary and Slang
• Dialect Vocabulary: “The ways in which
speakers of a certain dialect use different
words to mean the same thing.”
• Slang: “words or phrases with special
connotations of informality and in-group
solidarity that replace words with more
neutral connotations. These words often
have a short lifespan.”
Comparison of Pronunciation
Features
Comparison of Grammar Features
The Cherokee Context:
The Great Removal Act (1830)
The Trail of Tears
• Removal Act (1830) – President Jackson:
Oklahoma (literally, “red people”) was
established as the “Indian's Promised Land”
by “permanent treaty … for as long as grass
grows and water flows”
• 16,000 Cherokee resisted and were granted
land in TN and GA until gold was discovered
there
• Forcibly removed in 1838
• Rev. Bushyhead: “The trail where they cried”
• Approximately 4000 Cherokee died en route
(cf. 60% mortality rate with earlier groups)
The Cherokee Syllabary
• Developed by Sequoyah in the early 1800s
• Originally conceived of as a pictogram system
• Converted to a syllabary and completed in
1821
• Has 85 symbols
• By 1830, 90% of Cherokee were literate (a rate
not reached by white Americans until 1890)
• Books, pamphlets, and newspapers were
printed
• The Cherokee Phoenix began production in
1828
Part of the Cherokee Syllabary
Homework (estimated time: 2 hours)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Watch: chapters 26, 27, and 34
From student workbook, complete exercises on pages: 31, 32, 36-37, &
42
Read: Teacher’s Manual Days 3-5 (check answers to exercises)
Write a brief reflection on the exercises
Watch: Spanish Voices:
http://www.ncsu.edu/linguistics/dialectcurriculum.php
In Webinar box, click on Spanish Voices
Write a brief reflection on Spanish Voices
Submit responses to #4 and #6 as a single attached file or in the body of a
single email by 5:00 PM, Friday, March 25
to: VoicesWebinar@gmail.com
For a copy of this PowerPoint:
http://www.ncsu.edu/linguistics/dialectcurriculum.php
Look in the Webinar Box-webinar2