the curious grammar of Ohio

[Peter A. McGraw]

Anymore, I often wonder about that curious Ohio grammar, too.

Peter Mc.

--On Wednesday, October 27, 2004 2:25 PM -0400 Beverly Flanigan
<flanigan at OHIOU.EDU> wrote:

> Needs looked into indeed!  Since I've been reading Appalachia-based novels
> lately (because they're good, first, and because I'm looking for
> representations of dialect, second), I'll make a point of getting this
> book and reading it over Winter break.  Thanks for the tip!
>
> At 11:50 AM 10/27/2004, you wrote:
>> from David Blaustein's review of Keith Banner's The Smallest People
>> Alive, in the Lambda Book Report, August/September 2004, p. 25:
>> -----
>> Another unifying idea is simply the context of the book: The stories
>> are all set in Ohio, where Banner lives.  Banner uses the curious
>> grammar of the region to great effect throughout his book, employing a
>> series of voices that may not come in for much attention by the
>> publishing centers of this country, making a lie of that often repeated
>> idea that regional differences are being subsumed into a standard (and
>> presumably bland) way of life in this country.  Whether Banner is
>> comfortable being labeled as a regional writer or not, he has produced
>> a work that is wholly of a specific place and time.
>> -----
>>
>> how frustrating is this?  what *part(s)* of Ohio?  (the state has one
>> very big dialect-area split, and of course local varieties.)  i'm
>> guessing the appalachian and ohio river valley east/south, on the basis
>> that Banner is a West Virginia native and that the book was published
>> by Carnegie Mellon University Press, but that's just a guess; we'll
>> have to look at the book to find out.
>>
>> and *what* "curious grammar"?  this question really needs looked into.
>>
>> arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)



*****************************************************************
Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************