Y’all Talk Real Funny
Huck Finn Dialect Activity
Y’all talk real funny
• Read the following article on a Dialect
Survey that appeared in the Houston
Chronicle on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2003
http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.
mpl?id=2003_3617331
Class Survey
• Take a class survey on how everyone
pronounces certain words
Dialect Survey
• Check out the current dialect survey at
http://www.ling.cam.ac.uk/survey/
Key Terms
• Dialect
– the form of spoken language peculiar to a
region or social group
• Colloquialisms
– the words or phrases of informal speech or
writing
Mark Twain
• In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
Mark Twain wrote in the regional dialect of
several different groups of people. He
used inventive spelling to make these
words sound the way someone would
actually pronounce them with the accent of
the region and used colloquial phrases of
the time and place.
Dialect Activity
• In groups of 3 or 4, choose 2 quotes from
Huckleberry Finn that contain heavy
dialect – like Jim’s speech, not Huck
• Quote the lines from the book as Twain
wrote them:
– “… en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on
the head er dey fren’s en makes ‘em
ashamed.” (Chapter 15)
Dialect Activity
• Translate the lines literally by spelling
correctly, writing out shortened/abbreviated
words, etc.
– … and trash is what people is that puts dirt on
the head of their friends and makes them
ashamed.
Dialect Activity
• Rewrite the line as it would be spoken
today in proper modern English, including
generic American expressions
– Someone who would try to make a fool of
their friend and make them feel ashamed is
cruel.
Dialect Activity
• Then recreate the lines in another dialect
in English. Any will do: Cajun, Bronx,
Valley girl, island, Hip/hop urban,
Spanglish, Shakespearean, Redneck, etc.
Be creative!
– Thou dost act like rubbish whence thou dost
attempt to make a jester of me.
Dialect Activity
• You will place all of the above on poster
paper and present to the class.
• Be sure all writing is visible and
presentable to the audience
• Everyone in the group must present
something
– Read the lines as Twain wrote it
– Read the translated words and modern
version
– Read the lines in the “other” dialects.