How we talk : American regional English today / Allan Metcalf.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Metcalf, Allan A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Spoken English--United States.

English language.

English language--Spoken English.

United States.

English language--United States--Pronunciation.

English language--Variation--United States.

English language--Variation.

English language--Dialects--United States.

English language--Dialects.

Americanisms.

Physical Description:

xvi, 206 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Houghton Mifflin, [2000]

Summary:

In short essays that are easy to read, Metcalf explicates the key features that make American speech so expressive and distinct. He begins in the South, home of the most easily recognized of American dialects, travels north to New England, then west to the Midwest, on to the far West, and even to Alaska and Hawaii. It's all here, the Northern Midwest "Fargo" accent, Louisiana Cajun and New Orleans Yat, dropped R's as in Boston's "Hahvahd Yahd," and intrusive R's as in "Warshington," especially common in America's Midlands. With additional chapters on ethnic dialects and dialects in the movies, Metcalf reveals the resplendence of one of our nation's greatest natural resources -- its endless and varied talk.

Contents:

The South 1

The Upper South or South Midlands 39

The North 55

New England 62

New York City and the Mid-Atlantic 79

The Inland North 93

The West 119

The Mountain West 122

The Far West and Beyond 131

American Ethnic 155

In the Movies 177

Dialects 2100 191.

Notes:

Includes indexes.

ISBN:

0618043632

0618043624

OCLC:

44683508