A-huntin' The Sources of Appalachian English

Backcountry Notes ^ | March 26, 2010 | Jay Henderson

[jay1949]

An order of the Virginia Colonial Council dated May 4, 1725, concerned an allegation that "divers Indians plundered the Quarters of Mr. John Taliaferro near the great mountains [i.e., the Blue Ridge] . . .[and carried off] some of the Guns belonging to and marked with the name of Spottsylvania County . . . ." The Council concluded: "It is ordered that it be referred to Colo. Harrison to make inquiry which of the Nottoway Indians or other Tributaries have been out ahunting about that time . . . ."

Now, the Colonial Council was an august body and its proceedings were formal, so we can be sure that "ahunting" was not common slang. It was, on the contrary, an accepted usage which is now obsolete except in Appalachia and the Ozarks, where folks still go "out a-huntin'."

[jay1949]

Appalachian: “I give $500 for that car.”

[wardaddy]

and Henning was from southern Mo.

[jay1949]

My Daddy’s drink was “bourbon ‘n branch.”

[DManA]

[and is the only time “creek” is actually pronounced “creek”

I think that’s right. Creek is more formal so used in a formal name. Crik is more informal.

[wardaddy]

and Henning was from southern Mo.

the oil thing got em...no oil in the Smokies

don’t forget their kin in Hooterville too

Aunt Clara?

or did she live in two places..lol

[DManA]

We do the same thing here.

I’m going over to the crik.

Which one?

Ticher Creak.

[jay1949]

I had a dear friend, no longer with us, alas, who grew up in Carbondale and had definite traces of such speech.

[Clemenza]

Ditto the Eastern Shore/Outer Banks accent and the accent spoken in parts of coastal England.

[Salamander]

Yup but ‘forks’ and ‘branches’ seem to be predominantly an eastern-state phenomenon here.

[maybe they just wanted to keep things -extremely- simple, here]...LOL

We do have a few ferrys and fords when headed towards the WV border on the Potomac.

[which is a river but everybody just says “The Potomac” because saying “river” would be redundant since everybody knows it’s the river]...:))

Damn near every little town and village near me is named after something watery.

I always figured the pioneers must’ve been *really* thirsty by the time they got this far on the wagon trail.

My brain hurts.

[Clemenza]

BTW: Since we are speaking of regional accents, let it be said that NOBODY from New Jersey says “Joisey.” Anybody who says that migrated from Brooklyn or Staten Island in New York. For a REAL North Jersey accent, see Anthony Bourdain.

[STONEWALLS]

“We haven’t had a good dialect thread in a while...post your southernisms”

here’s one...the preacher will now “make prayer” instead of saying the preacher will now ‘pray’

here’s another....Jim Wilson is the ‘high sheriff’ of Ashe County

my neighbor makes his sour kraut when ‘the signs’ are right...that means the points of the moon are up.

Stonewalls, who lives deep in the mountains of North Carolina

[HighlyOpinionated]

http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v12/v12p114_Rosit.html

Albion's Seed

* ALBION'S SEED: FOUR BRITISH FOLKWAYS IN AMERICA by David Hackett Fischer. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989, hardbound, 948 pages, illustrations, maps, index, $39.95. ISBN O-19-503794-4.

Reviewed by Nelson Rosit

This book is a comprehensive, almost encyclopedic, guide to the origins of colonial American culture. [And origin of regional language styles.]

According to Fischer, the foundation of American culture was formed from four mass emigrations from four different regions of Britain by four different socio-religious groups. New England's constitutional period occurred between 1629 and 1640 when Puritans, most from East Anglia, settled there. The next mass migration was of southern English cavaliers and their servants to the Chesapeake Bay region between 1640 and 1675. Then, between 1675 and 1725 thousands of Quakers, led by William Penn settled the Delaware Valley. Finally, English, Scots, and Irish from the borderlands settled in Appalachia between 1717 and 1775. Each of these migrations produced a distinct regional culture which can still be seen in America today.



I heartily recommend this book. HO/Carol

[Semper Mark]

"In 48 years of life,..."

Whatta you know, we're the same age...
...but I look so much younger than you though.

(Ducking and headed for cover!!!)

[jay1949]

Every once in awhile magazine like “The Smithsonian” has an article about the “English Language” of hundreds of years ago only now exists in isolated places in Appalachia.

Yes and no. Many features of Appalachian English are old, certainly, but not as old as some think. Attributions claiming that Appalachian English is "Elizabethan" or "Shakespearean" are erroneous. The strongest dialectical influences can be traced to Scottish English and to Irish, especially Northern Ireland where the Scots settled in the 17th century (Scotch Irish, Ulster Scots, Scots-Irish as the immigrants to America are called). The dialect of South England made a contribution, but a relatively minor one, and it was the Southern English dialect of the 17th and 18th centuries -- not of Shakespeare or Queen Elizabeth I. There are many Appalachianisms which are still used in Scotland and Ireland.

[kalee]

From the time I learned to read, my grandmother’s use of K-Mark for K-Mart drove my crazy! I wanted to say Granma, that’s not the way to say it, but I was brought up to be polite and not correct my elders, so I just suffered in silence. Now I wish she was here to say it that way.

[jay1949]

The the Eastern Shore/Outer Banks accent is a hoot — the usual example is “hoy toid” (high tide). Been there, tried o communicate with the natives, bought the T-shirt instead.

[jay1949]

Around here, we have a local chain, Magic Mark, in addition to K-Mark and Wal-Mark.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

I’ve been in Chicago so long, that I have pretty much lost any accent I might have had. Although my wife, a native Chicagoan, pokes fun at certain things that I say that she finds peculiar. I almost never run into anyone up here with any kind of southern way of speech, so when I go back home, or when I talk to my father, it’s a lot more noticeable to me than it was when I lived there.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

Do you have Kay “Roger” too?

[jay1949]

Excellent book. Fischer correctly notes the ethnic relationship between the two groups of “Borderers” — those living in then-Scotland, who were called “Scots,” and those living below the Scottish-English border, who were called “English.” Historically, they were the same folk, all living in then-Scotland above Hadrian’s Wall. So when writers say that both Scots and “English” migrated to Ulster Plantation in the 17th century, they often treat the “English” as being of the same ethnicity as those from southern England, but by and large they were not. Their contribution to Appalachian English therefore cannot be distinguished from the contributions of the Scotch Irish and the Scots — they all spoke similar forms of Scottish English.