LINGUIST List 8.216

Sun Feb 16 1997

Sum: Appalachian English addendum

Editor for this issue: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar <aristarlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Christen Marie Pearson, Sum: Appalachian English addendum

Dear List members -

The response to my query concerning Appalachian English continues to
amaze me. Here is the update from this past week. I would like to thank
those from the previous two weeks who have continued to help me, as well
as add my thank you to these from this past week:

Joseph P. McGowan
Johanna Rubba
Anita Puckett
Rick McCallister

NPR Saturday Weekend Edition was suggested, as they recently this past
month aired a show on Appalachian folktales and songs. They can be
contacted at 1 800 888 NEWS. The tape costs approximately $15.00.


1997a Seldom Ask, Never Tell: Speech Acts and Socioeconomic
	Relations in a Rural Eastern Kentucky Community.
	Oxford Series in Anthropological Linguistics. New York: Oxford
	University Press.
1997b Rights, Claims, Orders, and Imperatives in Rural Eastern
	Kentucky Task-Focused Discourse. In. More Than Class:
	Studying Power in U.S. Workplaces. Ann. E. Kingsolver, ed.
	Series in the Anthropology of Work. New York: SUNY Press. In press.
1995 Speech Acts and Cultural Resistance in a Rural Eastern
	Kentucky Community. Journal of the Appalachian Studies
	Association 7:111-120.
1992 Let the Girls Do the Spelling and Dan Will Do the
	Shooting": Literacy, the Division of Labor, and Identity
	in Rural Appalachian Community. Issue on Negotiating Identity in
	Rural Appalachian Communities. Anthropological Quarterly 65
	(3): 137-147.


While not a formal linguistic description, _Southern Mountain Speech_ by
Cratis D. Williams (Berea, KY: Berea College Press, 1992) is of interest
for its word lists and native informant samples (mainly Appalachian folk
tales). Williams was a researcher and promoter of things Appalachian;
his book is available from The Appalachian Center at Berea College (CPO
2336 / Berea, KY 40404; 606-986-9341, ext. 5140). The Center also
offers cassettes from the Appalachian Sound Archive, including one of
Appalachian storyteller Leonard Roberts entitled _Raglif Taglif Tetarlif
Pole_ (which includes an Appalachian variant of the Jack & the Beanstalk
tale and others in the Thompson Index).


Although Pittsburgh "yenz" is obviously related to Kentucky "you'uns"
"Burghese" is phonetically light years away from my family's pronounciation
in Lincoln Co. WV, where they say "Set down hyuhr en thuh chuhr, not over
thuhr in thet chuhr" with an almost gutteral pronunciation. Pittsburgh's
accent is almost lilting in comparison, e.g. when they "go to the hoss to
get some toles." But "Burghese" and W PA (I lived 3 years near New Castle)
do use "yet" the same way as my family does, "He's there yet," for "He's
still there." The ethnicity of the first settlers is pretty much the same,
so I suppose there are more parallels.

Again, my appreciation to all those who have shared resources and
experiences with me. Thank you!

Christen M. Pearson
cpearsonindiana.edu
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN