Sociolinguistic Variables in Appalachian Dialects.

413 Pages·2007·5.64 MB·English

DOCUMENT RESUME
FL 007 181
,ED 112 687
95
Wolfram, Walt; Christian, Donna
AUTHOR
Sociolinguistic Variables in Appalachian Dialects.
TITLE
Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C.
INSTITUTION
National Inst. of Education (DHEW), Washington,
SPONS AGENCY
D.C.
BR-4-0493
BUREAU NO
PUB DATE
75
\GRANT
VIE-G-74-0026
NOTE
413p.
MF-$0.76 HC-$20.94 Plus Postage
EDRS., PRICE
*American English; Applied Linguistics; *Dialect
DESCRIPTORS
Studies; Grammar; Language Research; Language Usage;
*Language Variation; Nonstandard Dialects; Phonology;
*Regional Dialects; Sociocultural Patterns;
Socioeconomic Status; *Sociolinguistics
*Appalachian English; West Virginia
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
The aim of the research reported here was to describe
dialect diversity in Appalachia (Monroe and Mercer Counties, West
Virginia) and to examine the possible effect of this diversity on
education. The present volume contains the first two parts of the
report, the third being submitted separately. The first part includes
chapters 1-5, the second 6-9. Chapter 1 sets forth the sociocultural
setting for the study, while chapter 2 establishes a sociolinguistic
framework for viewing the linguistic diversity of the region.
Chapters 3 and 4 outline the main features of Appalachian English,
focusing on phonological and grammatical levels of language
organization. Educational considerations are discussed in chapter 5.
Part One is intended primarily as a reference work for educators,
particularly reading specialists, language arts specialists and
speech pathologists. In Part Two, several select features of
Appalachian English are examined in more technical detail; this
section is intended primarily for the professional linguist. Chapter
6 deals with "A-prefixing," and chapter 7 with irregular verbs.
Chapter 8 discusses the perfective "done," and chapter 9 deals with
subject-verb concord. Appendix A provides a sample of two interview
questionnaires, one used for adults and one for adolescents. Appendix
C gives a
* consists of a sample informant interview, and Appendix
complete list of the informants who participated in the project,
including their age, sex, and occupatiin. A bibliography concludes
(Author/CLK)
the volume.
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SOCIOLINGUISTIC VARIABLES
IN
APPALACHIAN DIALECTS
BY
WALT WOLFRAM
AND
DONNA CHRIS TIAN
HEALTH.
U 5 DEPARTMENT OF
EDUCATION & WELFARE
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF
EDUCATION
REPRO
THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN
RECEIVED FROM
DUCED EXACTLY AS
ORIGIN
THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION
OPINIONS
ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR
REPRE
STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY
INSTITUTE OF
SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL
ICY
EDUCATION POSITION OR Pot
SOCIOLINGUISTIC VARIABLES IN APPALACHIAN DIALECTS
National Institute of Education Grant Number NIE-G-74-0026
Final Report
Walt Wolfram and Donna Christian
Center for Applied Linguistics
Arlington, Virginia
1975
The research reported herein was supported by the
National Institute of Education of the Department
of Health, Education and Welfare.
PREFACE
The research reported here was carried out under contract Number NIE-G-
74-0026, Project Number 4-0493 with the National Institute of Education, from
The aim of the project was to describe
June 20, 1974 to August 31, 1975.
dialect diversity in a negleCted geographical area of the United States and
The report
to examine the possible effect of this diversity on education.
is comprised of three parts, two of which are contained in this volume,, and
The first part, Chapters
a third which is submitted under separate cover.
One through Five, is intended to give an overview of the descriptive features
of Appalachian English and the implications of this linguistic diversity for
Chapter One sets forth the socio-cultural setting for this study
education.
and Chapter Two establishes a sociolinguistic framework for viewing this
In Chapters Three and Four we give an overview of the main fea-
diversity.
tures of Appalachian English, focusing on phonological and grammatical levels
These chapters summarize the bulk of our descrip-
of language organization.
tive work, which serves as a basis for the educational considerations dis-
Although we have adopted a particular sociolinguistic
cussed in Chapter Five.
model for our description, we have attempted to present our findings in such
a way that would make them accessible to specialists in fields other than
professional linguistics, although we have intended them to be useful to
We are primarily interested in providing a meaningful
linguists as well.
reference work for educators, particularly reading specialists, language
arts specialists, and speech pathologists.
Part II of this volume, which includes Chapters Six through Nine, examines
ines several select features of Appalachian,Engish in more technical detail
In these chapters
and is intended primarily for the professional linguist.
Appalachian
we have taken several prominent linguistic features found in
attempted
English which have not been described in great detail previously and
This part of the report should
to give a formal descriptive account of them.
complement the general overview presented in the first part of this volume.
The more comprehensive description of select featureS of Appalachian English
A
includes a-prefixing, irregular verbs, perfective done, and verb concord.
familiarity with current sociolinguistic models for the formal representation
of linguistic variation is assumed in-this section of the report.
Part III of this rept..rt, submitted under separate cover, examines the
possible effect that language differences in Appalachian Engish may have on
the evaluation of reading abilities.
This section provides a sample study
of how the descriptive sociolinguistic information presented in this volume
can be used in looking at one aspect of the educational/implications of lin-
guistic diversity in Appalachia.
Hugh Rudorf, of the University of Nebraska,
was responsible for the research and writing of this part of the report.
The research reported in thos volume was conducted by Walt Wolfram, prin-
cipal investigator, and Donna Christian, research associate.
Since the analysis
reported here was, in all respects, a joint effort, the final report is sub-
mitted under the joint authorship.
There are many people to whom we are indebted for their assistance and
consultation.
Prominent among them are those individuals in Monroe and Mercer
Counties who aided us in our initial contacts in the area.
Mary Compton and
William McNeel in Monroe County and C. D. Lilly and Harold Okes of Mercer
County were most gracious in-helping us establish contacts in the area.
They
generously opened up the schools in these counties for those aspects of the
research which were conducted in connection with the schools.
We could not
have participated in a more cordial working relationship.
They also offered
their kind assistance in extending our contacts to ,other individuals in the
area who assisted us in this venture, including Haskell Shumate, county clerk
of Monroe County, West Virginia, who provided us with invaluable insight into
the history'of the region.
The study could not have been conducted without the assistance of our
f.eldworkers from the two counties.
Nora Mann and Gary M. Pence, of Monroe
County, and Harless Cook, Brenda Lohr, Agnes PietrantoZzi, and Rebecca Michael,
of Mercer County, have demonstrated that indigenous fieldworkers can be used
to great advantage in a study of this type.
Their adaptation of the question-
naire and general knowledgeof the area proved to be a rich, useful resource
in this investigation.
We owe our greatest debt to them and the informants
who provided the interviews that serve as our data base for this analysis.
Although the informants; who remain anonymous in this report, may have been
puzzled by the seeming inanity -of our probing, they willingly tolerated the
intrusion into their everyday world.
Finally, we are indebted to our professional colleagues.
Roger W. Shuy,
Peg Griffin, and Rudolph Troike, of the Center for Applied Linguistics, who
ii
interacted with us at many stages in the formation, analysis, and completion
TerranceGraham, of Virginia Polytechnical Institute, worked
of this project.
with us in setting up the original project and consulted with us throughout
the duration of the research and writing, and Ralph W. Fasold of GeorgetoWtk
University, and Corky Feagin, read and commented on parts of the manuscript.',
Peggy Good has been committed to seeing this project through to completion
Her constant regard
at some inconvenience to her own schedule of activities.
for the final form of the manuscript has been appreciated greatly, even
though her concern for perfection has many times been hindered by the manu-
script from which she had to type the final report.
Walt Wolfram
Principal Investigator
Center for Applied Linguistics
August, 1975
iii
E
>'
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Preface
Table of Contents
iv
Part One
Introduction
Chapter One:
1
Introduction
1.0
1
7
LI
An Historical
Sketch of Appalachia
3
The Linguistic
1.2
12
Sample
A Sociolingui-tic Framework for the Study of
Chapter Two:
Appalachian English
18
Introduction
2.0
18
Social Aspects of Variation
2.1
19
2.1.1 Region
20
2.1.2
Status
21
2.1.3
Style
24
2.1.4 -Age
26
2.1.5
Sex
27
Linguistic Aspects of Variation
2.2
28
2.2.1 Structured Variability
28
Implicational Relations
2.2.2
33
The Description of AE
39
2-3
Toward a Definition of Appalachian English and Standard
2.4
English
40
Phonological Features
Chapter Three:
44
Introduction
3.0
44
Consonant Clusters
3.1
46
Consonant Cluster Simplification
3.1.1
46
Final Consonant Clusters and Plurals
3.1.2
52
Intrusive t in Clusters
3.1.3
54
Copula and Auxiliary
56
3.2
Absence
3.2.1
56
Auxiliary Deletion
3.2.2
61
R and L Deletion
63
3.3
R-lessness
3.3.1
63
3.3.2 L-lessness
67
3.4
68
th
3.4.1
th Sounds
68
th Contiguous to Nasals
3.4.2
69
Initial Segments
70
3.5
Unstressed Syllable Deletion
3.5.1
70
Deletion of Initial
3.5.2
74
Deletion of Initial w
3.5.3
77
Initial h Retention in Auxiliaries and Pronouns
3.6
79
Features Involving Nasals
82
3.7
Consonants Preceding Nasals
82
3.7.1
Voiced Fricatives Preceding Nasals
3.7.1.1
82
iv
Page
Devoicing d to t'Preceding Nasals
3.7.1.2
83
3.7.1.3
The Loss of d Preceding Nasals
83
The Pronunciation of Indefinite Articles
3.7.2
84
3.7.3
Unstressed -ing
85
Other Consonantal Features
3.8
88
Vowel Characteristics
89
3.9
Glide Reduction
3.9.1
90
ire Sequences
3.9.2
90
ea before r
3.9.3
91
Final Unstressed ow
3.9.4
92
Final Unstressed
3.9.5
93
Other Vowel Differences
3.9.6
95
Chapter Four:
Grammatical Features
98
Introduction
4.0
98
Verbs
4.1
98
A-Verb-ing
4.1.1
99
Subject-Verb Concord
4.1.2
108
Irregular Verbs
4.1.3
116
Completive Done
124
4.1.4
Modals, liketa, supposeta
Doubl
130
4.1.5
136
Verb Subclasses
4.1.6
Need"+ Verb + -ed
4.1.6.1
140
4.1.6.2
140
To + Verb + in
141
Have + Noun Phrase + to + Verb
4.1.6.3
142
Adverbs
4.2
142
Time Adverb Placement
4.2.1
Comparatives and Superlatives
4.2.2
144
Intensifying Adverbs
146
4.2.3
151
4.2.4
-ly Absence
152
Positive anymore
4.2.5
Adverbial but
153
4.2.6
155
Druther
4.2.7
Adverbial Lexical Differences
155
4.2.8
4.3
Negation
156
Multiple Negation
157
4.3.1
166
The Use of ain't
4.3.2
169
Nominals
4.4
169
Plurals
4.4.1
172
Definite Articles with Terms for Illness End Disease
4.4.2
172
Pronouns
4.4.3
173
Reflexive Pronouns
4.4.3.1
173
Object Pronoun Forms
4.4.3.2
174
Possessive Pronouns. with -n
4.4.3.3
175
Plural y'all
4.4.3.4
175
Relative Pronouns
4.4.3.5
177
Personal Datives
4.4.4
181
Expletive there
4.4.5
184
Prepositions
4.5
186
Indirect Questions
4.6
188
Conclusions
4.7
8
Page
191
Diversity
The Educational Implications of Dialect
Chapter Five:
.
191
Introduction
5.0
'
191
Language Attitudes
5.1
194
Dialect Diversity and Testing
5.2
196
Differences in Linguistic Form
5.2.1
201
Testing as a Social Occasion
5.2.2
203
Task Bias
5.2.3
207
PrincipleS to Guide the Test User
5.2.4
209
An Illustrative Case
5.2.5
213
Language Arts and Dialect Diversity
5.3
213
Spoken Standard English
5.3.1
219
Written Standard English
5.3.2
223
Integrating Dialect Diversity into Language Arts
5.3.3
226
Dialect Diversity and Reading
5.4
Part Two
237
A-Prefixing
Chapter Six:
237
Introduction
6.0
239
Syntactic Properties of a- Prefixed Forms
6.1
247,
The Underlying Source of a-Prefixing
6.1.1
251
Variability and Grammatical Category
6.1.2
254
Phonological Constraints on a-Prefixing
6.2
261
A Special Alliterative tbnstraint
6.2.1
264
Semantic Aspects of:A7Prefixing
6.3
273
Conclusion
6.4
277
Irregular Verbs
Chapter Seven:
277
Introduction
7.0
278
System
Language Change and the Irregular Vfzb
7.1
282
The Extraction of Data
7.2
285
Standard Forms of Irregular Verbs
7.3
286
Internal Sandhi Verbs
7.3.1
287
Ablauting and Umlauting Verbs
7.3.2
289
Irregular Verbs in Appalachian English
7.4
289
General Patterns
7.4.1
291
Devoiced Past Endings
7.4.2
292
Sit
7.4.3
293
Categorical. Usage of Standard Forms
7.4.4
294
Verbs
Patterns of Variation in the Irregular
7..5
296
Implicational Relationships
7.5.1
298
Implicational Relationships. Among Verb Classes
7.5.2
305
Patterns of Language Change
7.5.3
307
Further Implicational Relationships
7.5.4
312
Conclusion
7.6
316
Perfective Done
Chapter Eight:
316
Introduction
8.0
316
Other Treatments of Done
8.1
319
Syntactic Properties
8.2
326
Semantic Properties
8.3
330
Pragmatic Aspects
8.4
vi
Page
Sociolinguistic Variability
333
8.5
.
334
An Historical Note
8.6
..
336
Chapter Nine:
Subject-Verb Concord
336
Introduction
9.0
s
337
ish
Standard Forms of Concord in ran
9.1
340
Data Extraction
9.2
342
Concord in AE
9.3
348
Patterns of Variation in AE
9.4
348
Other Treatment of Variation in Concord Relationships
9.4.1
352
Implicational Relationships and Concord in AE
9.4.2
356
Other Aspects of Agreement in AE
9.5
357
Conclusion
9.6
Appendices
Interview Questionnaire
362
Appendix A:
367
Sample Informant Interview
Appendix B:
J92
Complete List of Informants in Sample
Appendix C:
395
Bibliography
vii
10