The Talking Appalachian Podcast
Talking Appalachian is a podcast about the Appalachian Mountain region's language or "voiceplaces," cultures, and communities. The podcast is hosted by Dr. Amy Clark, a Professor of Communication Studies and Director of the Center for Appalachian Studies at the University of Virginia's College at Wise. The podcast is based on her 2013 co-edited book Talking Appalachian: Voice, Identity, and Community. Her writing on Appalachia has appeared in the New York Times, Oxford American Magazine, Salon.com, on NPR, and Harvard University Press blog. She is also founder and director of the Appalachian Writing Project, which serves teachers, students, and the communities of the central Appalachian region.
The Talking Appalachian Podcast
'Eye Dialect' as a Contributor to Stereotype and Michael Montgomery's Research on the Written Dialect of 18th Century Documents
What did you think of this episode?
Early authors used "eye dialect," or a deliberate misspelling of words that doesn't change how they sound (like "tu" for "to" or "uv" for "of.") This literary practice, based on the authors' observations of what they heard people say, was to make their Appalachian characters seem foolish or uneducated. This use of eye dialect carried forward into comic characters like Snuffy Smith.
The late Dr. Michael Montgomery's research provided valuable-and more legitimate- groundwork for those of us studying dialect today, as documented in his essay "The Englishes of Appalachia" in Talking Appalachian: Voice, Identity, and Community. He isolates several words and phrases used in early letters that give us insight into how 1700's settlers of central Appalachia would have sounded, and the English, Scots, and Ulster roots that defined them.
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Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Steam Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain