LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 02.DEC.2000 (03) [Ap/E]

[Lowlands-L]

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 02.DEC.2000 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Language varieties"

> From: Richard L Turner [fr.andreas at juno.com]
> Subject: LL-L: "Language varieties" LOWLANDS-L, 29.NOV.2000 (03) [E]
>
> Hey.
>
> Ron writ:
> "However, if Appalachian is a dialect, is it a dialect of English or of
> Scots, since it is a mixed variety?  If we assume that English and Scots
> are separate languages (though very closely related ones), then this
> would beg the question what a mixed English-Scots variety is: language or

> dialect, and if a dialect, of which."
>
>     They's a raft o thankin on sech a question, een amongst arselves. Dr
> Michael Montgomery says at Appalachian is a dialect o Inglish wi a Scots
> underlayment. A say hit's tother way round.

Richard, I would agree with you rather than the professor,
although judging from discussions on Lowlands-L I think I
probably don't see Scots as being as influential on
Appalachian as either of you do!

As you know, I collect and read whatever texts I can in
Scots, Wessexian and Appalachian (tho Wessexian and
Appalachian are hard to come by), and while intuition
derived from long acquaintance with the subject matter
is no substitute for proper research, the more I read
the more I feel that Appalachian is a form of Wessexian
with later acquisitions from Scots. I see the pattern as
Scots establishing itself in Ireland, then Wessexian
establishing itself in Ireland and North America
(particularly in the Southern states, but also in
Newfoundland), confining much of the Scots in Ireland to
the north, then Scots and Irish settlers in the
Appalachians bringing in a fair amount of their
vocabulary.

A lot of the evidence lies in the pronunciation - for
example in traditional (but modern - eg early C20)
Wessexian dialect writings the voicing of medial
consonants such as we hear in North American speech
is actually written - "kiddle" (kettle), "liddle"
(little), "tiddies" (potatoes) &c, as well as the
unturned diphthong in "by", "line" &c that's so
characteristic of speech in the Southern States.

There are also grammatical considerations - for example
the "a-" that's often prefixed to verbs in Appalachian
is also rife in Wessexian. This is often taken to be
Scots influence in Appalachian, but while the rules
vary between Appalachian and Wessexian, they have very
little in common with the Scots forms, which, rather than
being associated with verbs, seem to be just vestigial
prepositions of all sorts. Typical Scots is "a-clock" for
"o'clock", "a-rain" for "on rain" (eg "poorin a-rain"
for "pouring with (in Scots "on") rain". Appalachian
does have some of these vestigial forms in common with
Scots (eg "afore"), but then again, these are also
normal in Wessexian (eg "avore").

I think Wessexian also scores highly in the vocabulary
stakes, many of the "general American" words in
Appalachian having originally come from the southwest
of England - perdy (for pretty), buddy, fall (for autumn)
&c, and many Appalachian words that are generally thought
of as Scots could just as easily have come from Wessex -
afore, taters, bile (for boil) &c.

So my guess is that Appalachian is Wessexian as used in
the Southern States, garnished with Scots and a fair
amount of native ingenuity!

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
A dinna dout him, for he says that he
On nae accoont wad ever tell a lee.
                          - C.W.Wade,
                    'The Adventures o McNab'

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