Arkie (& Okie & Ozark/Branson) Talk

[Wilson Gray]

You can even find some of them in "How to Talk Strine," which consists
mainly of mere folk-phonetic spellings.

-Wilson


On Dec 10, 2007 6:13 AM, Dennis Preston <preston at msu.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Arkie (& Okie & Ozark/Branson) Talk
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
> >-----------------------
> >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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> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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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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