clarence thomas' dialect

[Dennis Baron]

FWIW, just read this interesting comment in this morning's Chicago
Tribune -- in an article about why J. Thomas never asks questions
during oral arguments:

"In the past, the Georgia-born Thomas has chalked up his silence to
his struggle as a teenager to master standard English after having
grown up speaking Geechee, a kind of dialect that thrived among
former slaves on the islands off the South Carolina, Georgia and
Florida coasts."

Here's the url: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-
scotus-thomas-silence,0,7461288.story






Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron

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