Arkie (& Okie & Ozark/Branson) Talk

[David Donnell]

Saw this article in the Northwest Arkansas Times:

http://nwanews.com/nwat/Living/60084/

Fayetteville's Daniel Hudgins self-publishes a book called "Arkie
Dictionary". Arkie is described as "the language unique to Northwest
Arkansas."

Later in the article we learn that the book has been sold in 3
different regions under 3 different titles, "Arkie Dictionary", "Okie
Dictionary" and "Ozark/Branson Dictionary". The article explains:
"The content in each version is the same, but the covers are
different..."

Examples of Arkie-Okie-Ozark/Branson English mentioned in the article:

sprize = surprise
speck = expect
laig = leg
quain = queen
kaig = keg
chairleader= cheerleader
munts = months
famly = family
defnitly = definitely
simular = similar
bleeves = believes

I hope the book(s) provide(s) more local color than these examples.
Most of the examples in the article don't strike me as being
particularly regional... I'm thinking of some more uniquely
Missourian pronunciations I grew up with, such as "inneresting" (for
"interesting") and "cumpny" (for "company").

The examples above remind me of my simplistic notions of Missourian
speech when I first moved to the east coast 25 years ago: I thought
"git" (for "get") and "sumpin" (for "something") were exclusively
"Missouri hick" pronunciations... took me awhile to realize they're
common pronunciations across the USA.

DD
Missourian @ NYC

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