Transcript Dr. Tony Pi - Dialect Topography

Canadian English
LING 202, Fall 2007
Dr. Tony Pi
Week 6 - Dialects: The Maritimes
The Maritimes
‘Lunenburg Dutch’
• German influence
• among older speakers
– pronunciation
• th -> d (the -> de)
• v -> w (vessels -> wessels)
• w -> v (we -> ve)
– syntax
• ‘talking backwards’ - ‘in the wood it grows’
– sayings
• ‘all’ for ‘all gone’
• final ‘ain’t’ as a request for confirmation
Lunenburg Dutch: evidence
• [U] for [v] and [w]
• back [R] for [r] (tongue high in back of
mouth)
• [b d g] becoming [p t k] at the end of words
– ‘cab’ sounds like ‘cap’, for example
Tendencies - folklore
Exaggeration
1. distortion
making the difference exaggerated
•
word order, reversal of two sounds
2. generalization
making a difference seem more common than it actually
is
•
[b, d, g] -> [p, t, k]
3. perpetuation
once a ‘well known’ feature is established, it lives on
even after the difference has fallen out of use
Lunenburg English
• German influence
– vootshie ‘pig’; all ‘all gone’
– Daks Day ‘Groundhog Day’ or ‘Badger Day’
– snits ‘dried apple slices’; handkase ‘cottage cheese’
• New England influence
– cellar porch, clothes pantry
• Phonology
– Vowel of cat in wash, haunted
– /ai/ in aisle for /oi/ in poison
Elizabethan English
• Nova Scotia’s South Shore - linguistic relics
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
to go aboard of ‘to be aggressively angry with’
forelaying ‘expecting’
hove (up) ‘to tarry, stay, or dwell in a place’
pleasance ‘small rose garden’
rout/rote ‘noise on the waves on the shore’
savoury meat ‘treated and aged venison’
tire ‘cotton cover for a dress’
Tibbs Day/Eve ‘day after Resurrection day; never’
Archaic Strong Verbs & Curses
• Archaic strong verb forms
–
–
–
–
weed
wave
cripple
dive
wed
wove
crupp
div
(*weeded)
(*waved)
(*crippled)
(*dived)
• Curses
– ‘by the holy old twist’
– ‘dyin’ holy dyin’
– ‘blue’ (as in ‘cursing a blue streak’, ‘till the last blue
smoke’; = hell, anger, violence’)
Cape Breton History
– Island’s geography, settlement history, occupation
shapes its dialect
• Mi’kmaq
• 1500-1700 - international seasonal fishery
• 1713 - French colony of Isle Royale
– along east coast, Fortress of Louisbourg
– rugged ‘backlands’ and dense forest restricted inland
settlement
• 1784 - independent British colony after American Revolution
– wave of Loyalists, Scots (largest group), English and Irish
• late 19th-20th century migration to industrial towns
– rural Cape Bretoners and European immigrants
– Newfoundlanders (Whitney Pier, Sydney)
Words That Are ‘Canadianisms’
• Dialect dictionary criteria:
– origin (coinages and new senses)
• gotchie-pull
– greater currency
• chesterfield
– connection to the region
• depanneur
• distinctive (individuality and singularity) and
characteristic (longstanding connection to a
larger community)
• NOT snowboarder, NOT greys on trays
Cape Bretonisms
• Cape Bretonisms
– Caper
– mining terms
• tar paper boots, Pluck-me store, Yahies, Cape
Breton Silver, hanks
Atlantic Lexicon
– homographs (spelled the same)
• fiddler (small fish on PEI but accordion player in Nfld)
– shared meaning
• fishing: hangashore, bait box, stage
• lobster fishing:parlour, kitchen, kitchen parlour
• farming: stog (fill cracks of a log cabin), swinge, snig (haul a
log out of woods by horse [PEI] or by hand [Nfld])
• ice:field ice, lolly, running ice, shore ice, slob ice
• food: bakeapple, scoff (large meal), baker’s fog
(commercially produced bread)
• relics: the after-perfect, omadan (fool)
African Americans in NS
• Two major waves into the Maritimes
– Black loyalist immigration after American
Revolution (1783-5)
• majority from southern states (South Carolina,
Virginia)
– Refugee slave immigration after War of 1812
• escaped slaves accepted as free men
• Studied here:
– North Preston (near Halifax-Dartmouth)
– hamlets near Guysborough (NE of Halifax)
Black Communities in NS