Appalachian Englishes in the Twenty-First Century
Educational Materials: Chapter 2
Phonological Possibilities in Appalachian Englishes
Paul E. Reed
Exercise 1
In small groups, discuss how accurate are media portrayals of Appalachian accents? What features are used by non-Appalachian actors to "sound Appalachian"? Are there some features that are used and others that aren’t? Which? You may want to look up an actor’s background on IMDB or Wikipedia to see where they are from and where they grew up. Clips from each of these can usually be found on YouTube.
Some examples of media portrayals of Appalachian Englishes:
Portrayals of authentic Appalachian speech for comparison:
- Mountain Talk from the North Carolina Language and Life Project
- Appalachian English Website at the University of South Carolina
- West Virginia Dialect Project at West Virginia University
-Many videos and clips from the Appalachian Media Institute
Exercise 2
Find some written portrayals of Appalachian speech that do not use phonetic symbols, either at the library or on the internet (some examples are below). How have the writers attempted to depict the sounds? Read it aloud. Does it seem to capture the way that Appalachian speakers talk (compare to the authentic portrayals from Exercise 1)? What is missing? What is captured well? Are certain features caricatured?
Written examples:
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith at Comics Kingdom
Bloodroot by Amy Greene excerpt from Penguin Random House
Clay's Quilt by Silas House excerpt from Reading Group Guides
In the Tennessee Mountains by Mary Noalles Murphree (Charles Egbert Craddock) available from UNC
Exercise 3
Propose a hypothetical research project to collect phonetic/phonological data from a cohort of Appalachian English speakers. Consider the following questions:
-How would you recruit speakers?
-What data would you collect? Word lists (and which words)? Conversation? Narratives? Something else? Compare and contrast each data type, and others you might consider. Why use that technique? What does it provide for you?
-How would you record your speakers? In a lab? At their home? Somewhere else? What would be the benefits and drawbacks of each location?