Pliablemoose
Lifer
Upper South Lexicon
The absence of foreign immigration into the South left distinguishing marks on its speech. The Upper South has very few, if any, non-English words, and no European words. Due to this fact, most Southern words are new terms or adaptations of old words. Many of the upper South's words are folk-like sounding. Some examples of these words are as follows: "snake doctor" is a dragon-fly; "pulley bone" is a wishbone; for one to be "sawing gourds" is to be snoring. Some other words are a little more straightforward--some examples are: "egg turner" for a spatula; "before day" for the time before the sun rises, or predawn. Some odd terms that are used in this type of speech are: "a cat's head" for a large biscuit, and a "cooling board" for the slab of metal on which a corpse is laid out. An unusual characteristic of this lexicon is the tendency to disregard the "standard" rules that govern verb conjugations. One example of this is the term "knowed" instead of know. The Upper South has very interesting language uses and patterns, that have shaped the speech of the whole South in general.
Lower South Lexicon
One of the most recognizable terms in this method of speech is the word "grits," which refers to coursely ground grain. Another is "chitterlings" or as it's usually pronounced "chitlins," which are deep fried hog intestines. "Collard greens," which are smooth leaved kale, are also a very popular food in the South. In the Lower South, the children's game Hopscotch is usually referred to as "hopscot." Another term used in the Lower South is for the meaning "to forget"--the term "to disremember something. The Lower South has many similarities to black speech; some of them are as follows: "big mamma" or "big daddy" are widely used terms in both as the words for grandmother or grandfather, and the word used for a silver dollar is "beau dollar". Some terms brought into Lower Southern speech that have African origin are: cooter, goober, banjo, bogus, jive, and hip. The influence of black speech is still very much alive in the Lower South.
The Transitional zones are masses of land between two different core dialect regions, the black area above. The traits of the transitional zones are a mix of the bordering regions characteristics. They generally have no distinct qualities that are not found in the regions they border.
South Texas
Texas was split into two first order culture regions: the area dominated by Anglo-Americans north of approximately the San Antonio River, and the Hispanic cultural region south of the river. The southern region spreads out to the west, close to the Rio Grande and fades out more gradually along the northern "edge" in West Texas than in south Texas, where the core and hearth of the region is located.
They have many loanwords in all parts of Texas. Mostly borrowed from Spanish words. There are many words that are widely known, but are rarely are used outside the southwest. These words are most likely to be associated with cattle raising. Such words are Toro, for bull, and hacienda, for main ranch house.
When American English came to Texas, it had no name for the broad treeless plains and arid prairies of much of the state and so adopted the indigenous Spanish term llano. This barren land was forbidding to newcomers. One of the high arid plateaus call the Llano Estacado, the staked plain, covers forty thousand square miles of western Texas and eastern New Mexico. In 1834, a visitor to the land captured the trepidation it inspired when he wrote: "The Llano Estacado, on whose borders we then were encamped, and which lay before us like a boundless ocean, was mentioned with a sort of terror..."
Lower South Lexicon
One of the most recognizable terms in this method of speech is the word "grits," which refers to coursely ground grain. Another is "chitterlings" or as it's usually pronounced "chitlins," which are deep fried hog intestines. "Collard greens," which are smooth leaved kale, are also a very popular food in the South. In the Lower South, the children's game Hopscotch is usually referred to as "hopscot." Another term used in the Lower South is for the meaning "to forget"--the term "to disremember something. The Lower South has many similarities to black speech; some of them are as follows: "big mamma" or "big daddy" are widely used terms in both as the words for grandmother or grandfather, and the word used for a silver dollar is "beau dollar". Some terms brought into Lower Southern speech that have African origin are: cooter, goober, banjo, bogus, jive, and hip. The influence of black speech is still very much alive in the Lower South.
NEW ENGLAND AND NORTHEAST
New Englanders' speech is often recognized by their inclination to drop postvocalic r's, as in "go pa'k the ca'," and for inserting r's where they don't belong, for example, "that's a good idear," and for pronouncing "aunt" and "glass" like proper Englishmen. It's hard to believe that this dialect with it's strong accent is the origin of the quite different Northern dialect. Somewhere at some time this conservative parent dialect, which uses old and relic expressions and is less colloquial than any American regional dialect, brought about this lexically innovative North, whose speech is heavy with new coinages, regional colloquialisms and slang usage.
REGIONS OF NEW ENGLAND
There are two major dialect regions of New England, which are Eastern and Western New England, along with seven subregions, including the Boston area, the Lower Connecticut River Valley, the Narragansett Bay area (Rhode Island), Worcester County, the Plymouth area, the Merrimack Valley and Coastal Maine.
The boundary separating Eastern from Western New England starts at the mouth of the Connecticut River, goes north to the southern border of Franklyn County in west-central Massachusetts, where it turns west for almost 50 miles to Berkshire Hills, then goes north again, running along the crest of the Green Mountains to the Vermont-Canadian border.
Some of the words used here are...
* "Sour-milk cheese" instead of "cottage cheese,"
* "The necessary" or "necessary house" instead of "outhouse,"
* "Bonnyclabber" or "bonnyclapper" means "thick sour milk,"
* "Double runner" instead of "bobsled,"
* "Tonic" meaning "carbonated soft drink" and
* "Fuss-pot" or "fuss-budget" means a "finicky or fussy person."
The absence of foreign immigration into the South left distinguishing marks on its speech. The Upper South has very few, if any, non-English words, and no European words. Due to this fact, most Southern words are new terms or adaptations of old words. Many of the upper South's words are folk-like sounding. Some examples of these words are as follows: "snake doctor" is a dragon-fly; "pulley bone" is a wishbone; for one to be "sawing gourds" is to be snoring. Some other words are a little more straightforward--some examples are: "egg turner" for a spatula; "before day" for the time before the sun rises, or predawn. Some odd terms that are used in this type of speech are: "a cat's head" for a large biscuit, and a "cooling board" for the slab of metal on which a corpse is laid out. An unusual characteristic of this lexicon is the tendency to disregard the "standard" rules that govern verb conjugations. One example of this is the term "knowed" instead of know. The Upper South has very interesting language uses and patterns, that have shaped the speech of the whole South in general.
Lower South Lexicon
One of the most recognizable terms in this method of speech is the word "grits," which refers to coursely ground grain. Another is "chitterlings" or as it's usually pronounced "chitlins," which are deep fried hog intestines. "Collard greens," which are smooth leaved kale, are also a very popular food in the South. In the Lower South, the children's game Hopscotch is usually referred to as "hopscot." Another term used in the Lower South is for the meaning "to forget"--the term "to disremember something. The Lower South has many similarities to black speech; some of them are as follows: "big mamma" or "big daddy" are widely used terms in both as the words for grandmother or grandfather, and the word used for a silver dollar is "beau dollar". Some terms brought into Lower Southern speech that have African origin are: cooter, goober, banjo, bogus, jive, and hip. The influence of black speech is still very much alive in the Lower South.
The Transitional zones are masses of land between two different core dialect regions, the black area above. The traits of the transitional zones are a mix of the bordering regions characteristics. They generally have no distinct qualities that are not found in the regions they border.
South Texas
Texas was split into two first order culture regions: the area dominated by Anglo-Americans north of approximately the San Antonio River, and the Hispanic cultural region south of the river. The southern region spreads out to the west, close to the Rio Grande and fades out more gradually along the northern "edge" in West Texas than in south Texas, where the core and hearth of the region is located.
They have many loanwords in all parts of Texas. Mostly borrowed from Spanish words. There are many words that are widely known, but are rarely are used outside the southwest. These words are most likely to be associated with cattle raising. Such words are Toro, for bull, and hacienda, for main ranch house.
When American English came to Texas, it had no name for the broad treeless plains and arid prairies of much of the state and so adopted the indigenous Spanish term llano. This barren land was forbidding to newcomers. One of the high arid plateaus call the Llano Estacado, the staked plain, covers forty thousand square miles of western Texas and eastern New Mexico. In 1834, a visitor to the land captured the trepidation it inspired when he wrote: "The Llano Estacado, on whose borders we then were encamped, and which lay before us like a boundless ocean, was mentioned with a sort of terror..."
Lower South Lexicon
One of the most recognizable terms in this method of speech is the word "grits," which refers to coursely ground grain. Another is "chitterlings" or as it's usually pronounced "chitlins," which are deep fried hog intestines. "Collard greens," which are smooth leaved kale, are also a very popular food in the South. In the Lower South, the children's game Hopscotch is usually referred to as "hopscot." Another term used in the Lower South is for the meaning "to forget"--the term "to disremember something. The Lower South has many similarities to black speech; some of them are as follows: "big mamma" or "big daddy" are widely used terms in both as the words for grandmother or grandfather, and the word used for a silver dollar is "beau dollar". Some terms brought into Lower Southern speech that have African origin are: cooter, goober, banjo, bogus, jive, and hip. The influence of black speech is still very much alive in the Lower South.
NEW ENGLAND AND NORTHEAST
New Englanders' speech is often recognized by their inclination to drop postvocalic r's, as in "go pa'k the ca'," and for inserting r's where they don't belong, for example, "that's a good idear," and for pronouncing "aunt" and "glass" like proper Englishmen. It's hard to believe that this dialect with it's strong accent is the origin of the quite different Northern dialect. Somewhere at some time this conservative parent dialect, which uses old and relic expressions and is less colloquial than any American regional dialect, brought about this lexically innovative North, whose speech is heavy with new coinages, regional colloquialisms and slang usage.
REGIONS OF NEW ENGLAND
There are two major dialect regions of New England, which are Eastern and Western New England, along with seven subregions, including the Boston area, the Lower Connecticut River Valley, the Narragansett Bay area (Rhode Island), Worcester County, the Plymouth area, the Merrimack Valley and Coastal Maine.
The boundary separating Eastern from Western New England starts at the mouth of the Connecticut River, goes north to the southern border of Franklyn County in west-central Massachusetts, where it turns west for almost 50 miles to Berkshire Hills, then goes north again, running along the crest of the Green Mountains to the Vermont-Canadian border.
Some of the words used here are...
* "Sour-milk cheese" instead of "cottage cheese,"
* "The necessary" or "necessary house" instead of "outhouse,"
* "Bonnyclabber" or "bonnyclapper" means "thick sour milk,"
* "Double runner" instead of "bobsled,"
* "Tonic" meaning "carbonated soft drink" and
* "Fuss-pot" or "fuss-budget" means a "finicky or fussy person."
