dialect in novels

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>... Can you folks think of any
>instance in which such eye-dialect flavor is not denigrating?

There are borderline cases where it's sometimes not clear (at least to me)
whether there is an intent to convey a certain pronunciation.

Other borderline cases which are neutral include those where the variant
spelling is long accepted, like the street sign saying "No Thru Traffic".

The "pure" case of eye-dialect in fictional dialogue is nearly always
denigratory (unless it's perhaps occasionally erroneous on the writer's
part), since the only thing conveyed in the transcription is pronunciation
and since the eye-dialect spelling adds no information about this. Thus
<<"I want likker," said Ike.>> describes exactly the same event as <<"I
want liquor," said Ike.>>; the only difference is the misspelling (not by
Ike, but by the author), which may be seen as equivalent to a footnote to
the effect that the author believes Ike to be illiterate or nearly so
(which opinion is not strictly relevant in most cases).

There are some exceptions. Iain M. Banks' "Feersum Endjinn" comes to mind.
This is a science fiction novel wherein one central character routinely
uses deviant/'phonetic' spellings (as in the title); I don't remember (or
never knew) why this device was used, but it wasn't deprecatory. There are
other examples in special genres.

It is possible to imagine cases where variant spellings in fictional
dialogue might imply different -- not necessarily derogatory --
"footnotes". If one character always says "tyre" while the others say
"tire", maybe the author is -- humorously or otherwise -- trying to specify
the character's nationality. A character's saying "cheque" while the others
say "check" might be an attempt to convey something or other. I don't
remember seeing this sort of thing, but I'm sure it has occurred.

-- Doug Wilson