dialect in novels

[Dick Heaberlin]

If one writes, "He was eatin' peas" or "He was eatin' goose." Is the first an
example of eye-dialect and the second not, but an effort at rendering the
pronunciation accurately, an effort to get realism, local color? Most speakers
of English, I suspect, pronounce the first with an alveolar nasal, and only some
of us do in the second. In either case, calling attention to the pronunciation
is a way of calling attention away from what was being said as well as
suggesting that the speaker is sloppy in his pronunciation. As a writer of a
work of fiction, one might justify using such spellings as a subtle means of
characterization if it is consistent with the character's other behavior. As a
person interested in dialect, I find eye-dialect interesting, but most of the
time I don't like it. I particularly don't like, "should of" probably because of
the hypocrisy of it. The spelling suggests a realistic rendering of dialect but
provides none.

Dick Heaberlin
San Marcos, Tx