Appalachian English

Introduction

Learn more about a variety of English found in the Appalachian mountains.

Background

In the 1730s, the Scotch-Irish people (immigrants who moved from Scotland to Ireland) began coming to America. Finding Pennsylvania already settled by the English, they moved south and west of Pennsylvania to settle. Because of the geographic barriers of Eastern America, the Scotch-Irish virtually isolated themselves from the rest of the early American settlements—which is why many archaic forms of the language still exist there.

Modern Appalachian English is spoken in a wide variety of states, including West Virginia, Ohio, Georgia, Kentucky, and South Carolina. A very wide variety of pronunciation and vocabulary is found within Appalachian English because of the geographical barriers between communities.

Because of its unique grammatical constructions and archaic pronoun paradigms, Appalachian English is highly stigmatized.

Pronunciation

All the example recordings can be found at this link:

PRICE vowel monophthongization. PRICE vowels are not pronounced with a diphthong, but rather with a monophthong [ɑ].
- 3:07 Look at them tires.
- [tɑɹz]

Pin/pen merger. The [ɛ] sound is pronounced as [ɪ] before nasal consonants like [m] and [n].
- 34:09 Well, I'd buy my love a paper and a pen.
- [pɪn]

G-dropping. In words ending with “-ing,” the alveolar nasal [n] is used instead of the velar nasal [ŋ].
- 5:16 I feel much more comfortable here, being twenty years behind everybody…
- [biɛn]

Word-final schwa replaced with [i]. When a word ends with [ə], they often use [i] instead.
- 9:16 You’re talking about like a soda pop.
- [sodi]

Words ending in [o] are pronounced as [ɚɹ].
- 12:31 Like down in Yellow Creek, he was so strange…
- [jɛlɚɹ]

[ɪ]-[i] merger. The [ɪ] vowel is often replaced with the [i] vowel.
- 16:10 That part, that I do too, is Old English.
- [iŋgliʃ]

Consonant cluster reduction. Stop consonants like [t], [d], p], or [k] are deleted at the end of a word if they follow another consonant.
- 19:58 We were so isolated for so many years, that’s how we kept it I think.
- [kɪɛp]

Initial [ð] deletion. In words beginning with [ð], the sound is often deleted entirely.
- 27:20 That’s how folks put bread on the table for their kids to eat and put clothes on them.
- [əm]

Fricative stopping before nasals. A fricative consonant is often replaced with a stop when it occurs before a nasal consonant.
- 32:40 We as going to sing a song or two, wasn’t we?
- [wʌʔn̩]

MOUNTAIN TALK DOCUMENTARY

Grammar

Highlighted material includes features that are more likely to be confused for a speech disorder by SLPs.

Double modals
- might could

A-prefixing. Speakers may add a- to the beginning of verbs ending in -ing.
- a-running

Irregular possessives. Originating from the Old English possessives mine and thine
- His’n
- Our’n
- Your’n

Plural forms
- When we pluralize words ending in sibilant consonants [s], [z], or [ʃ], the plural takes the form of [ɪz]
- AE speakers do this with most words, whether they end in sibilant consonants or not.
  - desk pluralizes to deskes

Speakers may reverse words with the suffix “-ever.” Whatever may become everwhat and however may become everhow.

Speakers may regularize verbs. For example, the irregular verb know may become knowed and see may become seed.

Speakers may use the helping verb done. “She’s done lost the dog again.”

Speakers may add the linking verb is and the suffix -s to plural noun subjects, resulting in constructions like people is and people hears. They do not, however, add these to plural pronoun subjects, and use they are and they hear.

They may use irregular past-tense forms as past participles, as in have went and have took.

Speakers may use all after pronouns, like “what all, who all.”

Speakers may use personal dative pronouns. “I made me a sandwich.”

To introduce a clause, speakers sometimes use they meaning ‘there.’ “They’s a problem with Susie.”

They may use prepositions in series. “There was several houses on up around on the street.”

Lexical Features

Allow ‘suppose’
- Example: He allowed she would arrive tomorrow.

Afeared ‘afraid’
- Example: I’m afeared that something bad will happen to him.

Everly ‘constantly’
- Example: I everly go fishing early in the morning.

Nary ‘not any/none’
- Example: They ain't got nary an aunt or uncle on my daddy's side a-living.

Ary/Ary’ne ‘any/any one’
- Example: I don’t think he took ary’ne of those biscuits.

Discomfit ‘to inconvenience’
- Example: She was not discomfited by his presence there tonight.

Fit ‘fought’
- Example: He fit two men that day.

Swan/Swanny ‘to swear, to declare’
- Example: I swan, if he comes back on the property there will be trouble.

References

1. Dial, Wylene P (1969). The Dialect of The Appalachian People. West Virginia History, 30(2), 463–471. http://129.71.204.160/history/journal_wvh/wvh30-2.html

2. Hazen, Kirk, & Fluharty, Ellen. (2004). Defining Appalachian English. In Margaret Bender (Ed.), Linguistic diversity in the South: Changing codes, practices, and ideology (pp. 50–65). The University of Georgia Press.

3. Hazen & Fluharty, 2004, 56.

4. Renwick, M. E. L. (n.d.). Appalachian English. https://mrenwick.franklinresearch.uga.edu/southern_speech/AE

5. Renwick.

6. Renwick.

7. Hazen & Fluharty, 2004, 56.

8. Renwick.

9. Hazen & Fluharty, 2004, 56.

10. Hazen & Fluharty, 2004, 56.

11. Montgomery, M., & Johnson, E. (2007). The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture:

Vols. 5: Language (C. Reagan Wilson, Ed.) [Review of The New Encyclopedia of

Southern Culture]. University of Mississippi

12. Luu, C. (2018, August 8). The Legendary Language of the Appalachian “Holler.” JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/the-legendary-language-of-the-appalachian-holler/

13. Luu, 2018.

14. Renwick

15. Renwick.

16. University of South Carolina. (n.d.). Glossary for Hall Transcripts. Glossary for Hall Transcripts | Southern Appalachian English. https://artsandsciences.sc.edu/appalachianenglish/dictionary.html

17. University of South Carolina. Glossary for Hall Transcripts.

18. Renwick.

19. University of South Carolina. Glossary for Hall Transcripts.

20. Anderson, D. (2023, June 27). About our words. Appalachia Bare: Revealing Appalachia Story by Story. Retrieved December 9, 2023, from https://www.appalachiabare.com/about-our-words/.

Recordings

The Language and Life Project. (2018, March 27). MOUNTAIN TALK (full documentary, official video). [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=iHIJfbYhQFg