Arkie (& Okie & Ozark/Branson) Talk

[Dennis Preston]

I can assure you that "inneresting" (for "interesting") and "cumpny"
(for "company") are also not uniquely Missouri. Many of the same
features appear in nearly evey "Howdytawksuthrun" volume area-wide. I
just looked and found nearly all of these "Arkie-isms" in "How to
Talk Hoosier."

dInIs

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       David Donnell <David.Donnell at EARTHLINK.NET>
>Subject:      Arkie (& Okie & Ozark/Branson) Talk
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>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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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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