dialect in novels

[Dennis R. Preston]

>I have written about the prejudicial aspects of eye dialect, once
>even in American Speech (The Li'l Abner Syndrome) and more recnetly
>in the Journal of Sociolinguistics - the last issue of last year
>which was completely devoted to "respellings."


dInIs (Notice that the respelling of my name is not eye-dialect)





>In a message dated 2/22/01 1:00:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>prichard at LINFIELD.EDU writes:
>
><< an Ebonyx, off to cavort with other mythical beasts such as Yales. >>
>
>Yales are not beasties, they are fishies, as in the old saying, "Yale lox"
>
>Now that I have been corrected on "Ebonics", it is time to get back to the
>original thread.  I would like to commend Herb Stahlke's comments (2/22/01 at
>10:13:13 AM)
>
><<...Compare [Joel Chandler Harris's] representation of AAVE a century ago
>with that of a writer like James Baldwin, and you get a very clear study in
>stereotyping vs. literary art.  The fact that Harris' intent may
>have been benevolent, if condescendingly so, doesn't lessen the
>effect of his heavy use of eye dialect.>>
>
>I dislike eye dialect, feeling that it gives the reader, to use a Harris
>metaphor, an unnecessary tar baby to struggle with.  Discussion, anyone?
>
>(An exception: if the writer is actively working with the nuances and
>wordplays of AAVE, or for that matter any other dialect, then eye dialect is
>necessary, but the reader is already having heavy going so eye dialect is not
>a major additional problem.)
>
>        - James A. Landau

--
Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736