American Language Supplement 2 (39 page)
Read American Language Supplement 2 Online
Authors: H.L. Mencken
Most of the published studies of the speech of Tennessee deal with that of the Appalachian region, and need not be considered in detail here.
3
So far as I know, there are only three devoted to the
speech of the lowlands, and all are short. The first, based on observations of J. Douglas Bruce and others, was published in
Dialect Notes
in 1913.
1
It included
change
, dessert;
to die out
, to die;
hunkle
, haunch, and
Lord’s bread-wagon
, thunder. The second, published by T. J. Farr in 1936,
2
listed
bed-buddies
, bed-bugs;
black spot
, a shady place;
bug-dust
, cheap smoking-tobacco;
bush-house
, a brush arbor used for religious services;
cat’s uncle
, a criminal;
cawked
, exhausted;
to chip out
, to have a misunderstanding;
cow-paste
, butter;
flinch
, coward;
goot
, a lunatic;
long-faced
, bald-headed;
mullock
, state of disorder;
to pad
, to seek work from house to house, and
triddler
, a woman gossip. The third, by Alfred Mynders,
3
added
on the drop edge of yonder
, at the point of death;
heart-burning
, consumed by love, and
miring-branch
, a stream with quicksand.
4
In 1934 Rebecca W. Smith undertook an examination of the diary of William Donaldson, a young Tennesseean who set out from Jefferson county for Springfield, Mo., in 1841. Its misspellings revealed pronunciations that still prevail in the mountains,
e.g., attackted, crep, tremendious, patridge
(partridge) and
famly
.
The speech of Texas as a whole still awaits scientific study, but that of the northeastern corner of the State has been admirably described by Oma Stanley.
5
Stanley’s material was mainly gathered in Smith county, the chief town of which is Tyler,
6
but he also sought it in fourteen additional counties, and so covered an area larger than many States. It is a farming region lying to the east of Dallas, and its speech shows the influence of both Appalachian and Lowland Southern.
7
Most of its original settlers apparently came from either
the Ozark region or the lowlands to the eastward, and there is little evidence in the dialect of the present inhabitants of any influence by General American or by such speech-pockets as that of the Germans of New Braunfels area, more than 250 miles to the southwest. “Education,” says Stanley,
has had virtually no influence on pronunciation among the vast majority of my subjects. Many people whose training, knowledge, profession, experience, and social position place them as distinguished members of the community use the same sounds as the dwellers on the farms or in the deep backwoods. Their grammar is more “correct,” their vocabulary is larger, their competence in handling the language is greater, and their mental range is immeasurably wider than that of the illiterate white speakers. But phonetically they all belong to the same group.
1
The Appalachian influence seems to be rather greater in the area studied than the Lowland Southern influence. The
r
is sounded before consonants, “with distinct quality, as generally in America,” though not so emphatically as in the Middle West; the flat
a
is heard in
aunt, bath, dance, glass, laugh
and
path
, usually somewhat lengthened; and the mispronunciations and “bad grammar” that bristle in the dialect are mainly those of the highlands. The general American tendency to move the stress forward is exaggerated, and such forms as
pólice, ínsurance, víolin, éxpress
and
súpreme
are not uncommon. “
Governor
,” says Stanley, “is always
guvner, perspiration
is
prespiration, adenoid
is universally
adnoid, turpentine
is
turpmtine
.” The medial
t
is lost in
breastpin, costly, exactly, mostly, roast beef
and
strictly
, and the first
t
in
frostbite. Fifth
is usually
fith
, and
evening
is
e’nin’
. Final
d
after
n
is usually lost, “even when the following word begins with a vowel.” Final
t
is lost after
k, p
and
s
, as in
correc’, kep’
and
Methodis’
, and sometimes after
f
, as in
draf’
(draft). In careless or illiterate speech
v
changes to
b
, as in
lebm
(eleven). Sometimes
gl
changes to
dl
and
cl
to
tl
. The
th
of
these
, after
n
, becomes another
n
, as in “In
nese
days.” Before vowels and diphthongs
g
and
k
are often followed by the glide
y
, as in
gyate
(gate) and
cyamel
(camel).
Texas
is
teksiz
. Stanley is chiefly interested in phonology, but he adds an appendix on East Texas grammar. In the main the conjugation of
to be
is in accord with the books, and
I be
is never used for
I am
or
I’m
. In the third person plural
are
is used with
they
but
is
with
them. Ain’t
appears in all persons of the singular.
In the past tense
was
is often used in the second person singular and in all persons of the plural, though not invariably. The other verbs show the common peculiarities of vulgar American. Some of Stanley’s examples:
They oughta get somebody else to
brung
it.
He oughtn to
done
it.
I like to
froze
on that job.
I told him he ought not to
et
it.
I’d a
went
with him if he’d a-come by.
I
done done
it.
The earliest report on the speech of Texas that I have been able to unearth was contributed to
Dialect Notes
in 1915 by Hyder E. Rollins, a native of Abilene, in the west central part, who had been instructor in English at the University of Texas in 1912–14.
1
His list was confined to such words and phrases as he had himself heard in use; it showed a great deal less Appalachian influence than the eastern dialect studied by Stanley. The argot of the cattlemen supplied a number of terms,
e.g., maverick
, an unbranded calf;
locoed
, crazy;
son-of-a-bitch
, a meat and vegetable stew;
2
chuck
, food; and
surface-coal
, cow dung. Rollins noted a curious pronunciation of
against
, as in “He fell
again
the door.” He found that
back East
referred to any part of Texas east of the speaker, or any of the Southern States, but never to what is generally called the East. The Appalachian
poke
, a bag, was in use, and also
to grunt
, to complain, but the Appalachian
antigodlin
, out of plumb, askew, was transformed into
anti-goslin
. Some apparently indigenous forms were
Christmas
, whiskey;
Dutchman
, a contemptuous name applied to any foreigner or even to a disliked native;
spasm
, a stanza of a song, and
tank
, an artificial lake. Rollins listed
to goose
as meaning to tickle, with no reference to the special American meaning. He said that every lawyer in the area he surveyed was a brevet
judge
(pro.
jedge
), that syrup or molasses was
lick
, and that
molasses, mumps
and
measles
were always treated as plural nouns.
Other Texas word-lists were published during the years following
by C. L. Crow,
1
Artemisia Baer Bryson,
2
Wilmer R. Park,
3
Charles H. Hogan,
4
and Carmelita Klipple,
5
and in 1944 John T. Krumpelmann contributed to
American Speech
a small group of early Texanisms unearthed from a German travel-book of 1848.
6
Crow’s list was confined to terms picked up in Parker county, just west of Forth Worth, in 1896. It included
beyonst
for
beyond; hayseeder
for
hayseed;
7
library
, a bookcase;
to office with
, to share an office with, and
ransation
, spiritual libido at a revival. He added a few from other Texas counties,
e.g., thunder-hole
, a storm-cellar;
to perdure
, to remain true to the faith,
e.g.
, Methodism; and
to cattle-mill
, to go round in a circle. Miss Bryson added
larrapin
, an adjective signifying superior;
8
inland
, used of a town without a railroad, and
hissy
, a fit of anger, and also a few curious pronunciations,
e.g., whelp
for
welt, poarched egg
for
poached
, and
pararie
for
prairie
. Park, writing from Lampasas, in the center of the State, not far from Austin and Waco, reported that he found “an appalling use of double auxiliaries, even among educated people,” and cited
I might can, I might could, I used to could, it might would, he ought to could and she may can
. Hogan, a Northerner, noted
how that
, as in “It came to me
how that
we might get a new roof on the church”;
a-woofin
, lying or jessing;
flat-out
, bluntly, as in “
I flat-out
told him”;
come in this house
, an exclamation of greeting, and
bud
, a brother. Miss Klipple operated in a region a little to the south of that investigated by Park. She found a good many traces of Appalachian influence, with the flat
a
in
aunt, hit
for
it
in emphasized situations, and the loss of
d
in unstressed and intervocalic positions. “Although Spicewood people,” she said, “say
krais
for
Christ
, when they come to form the possessive they know that
kraisiz
is wrong, so they say
kraistiz
.… When they use
taken
in
the preterite they often go on to pattern it after weak verbs and say
takened
.… For
Mrs
. neither General American
misiz
nor formal Southern
miziz
is heard: it is pronounced
miz
or more frequently
mizriz
.… In the sentence, ‘I hear Martin,’ both
r
’s are strongly articulated.”
1
Spanish is widely spoken along the Rio Grande, and is taught in the elementary schools there, beginning with the third grade and running to the eighth, but its use is by no means as prevalent as in New Mexico, nor has it left so heavy a deposit of loans.
2
The speech of Utah is General American, but it has been influenced in vocabulary by the argot of the Mormons, and by those of miners and cattlemen. Miss Dorothy N. Lindsay
3
says that the Mormon terminology “has wide currency” in an area comprising all of the State, southern Idaho, northern Arizona, western Wyoming, and parts of Texas, New Mexico and California. Most of its words and phrases are ecclesiastical. A boy of twelve, aspiring to social security post-mortem, may sign for the
Aaronic priesthood
as a
deacon
, and thereafter win promotion to the ranks of
teacher
and
priest
. After that follows the
Melchisedek priesthood
, with the ranks of
elder, seventy
and
high priest
. Still higher are those of
bishop, patriarch
and
apostle
. The church is organized into
wards
, and several
wards
form a
stake
, whose head is a
bishop
or
stake president
. A non-Mormon is a
gentile
or
outsider
, and a Mormon who is expelled from the communion is said to be
cut off
. When a high church dignitary is seized with an idea and desires to propagate it he announces that he has had a
revelation
. Says Miss Lindsay:
A person may be
sealed
to another to whom he is not married, and may be married without being
sealed
. The two ceremonies are distinct, though they may occur simultaneously if both parties are Mormons, and they must occur if they
go through the Temple
for the marriage. Frequently a couple will defer the
sealing
for several years after marriage, possibly on the theory that since it endures for eternity it is not to be entered upon as lightly as a mere life contract. If husband and wife die without having been
sealed
their children often have the rite performed for them, so that the marriage may be perpetuated in the
spirit world
. Children may also be
sealed
to their parents, and … the living may be
sealed
to the dead.
Brother
and
Sister
are used in place of
Mr
. and
Mrs.
, adds Miss Lindsay, “not occasionally or among the very pious, but constantly and among people of all types and ages.… The word
Mr
. does not enter the vocabulary of a child until he learns that there is a distinction between
saint
and
outsider
.”
