Dialects

The purpose of this blog is to summarize articles on teaching English/language arts, from kindergarten through college, published in English education journals from the past.

Topic: Dialect

Title: “A Learning Activity Package: Discovering Dialects.” Charles R. Duke. English Journal (March 1973), 432-440. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Technique: You will need a tape recorder for this activity. Ask a classmate or relative to pronounce the following words;

greasy………. car……… food
Mary………. pecan………. last
merry………. house………. lost
marry………. fire………. pan
tomato………. oil………. empty
dog………. barn………. sorry
hungry………. out………. door
water………. father………. dairy
aunt………. creek

Compare your pronunciation with the person’s who recorded the words. You may be amazed at the differences.

Comment: This activity really caught my attention. While I do not recognize how a word like “house’ could be pronounced all that differently, “Mary” and “merry” strike right in my family.

My wife is from the North Country, upper New York State, on the Canadian border. I’m from the Philadelphia area. For “merry” I say “murry.” My wife says “mary” for “merry.” She also says “fairy” for “ferry” and I say “furry.” North Country people “flatten their vowels in the first syllable. I once became embroiled in a confusing discussion with someone from whom I wanted to borrow a “cot.” She kept insisting that I was asking to borrow a “cat.”

And if you hear a peculiar pronunciation of “out,” I’ll bet that that person is from Canada. It sounds more like “oat.” As a Philadelphian, I also say “crick” for “creek.” We in Philadelphia say “bayad” for “bad” and “sayad” for “sad” and “beuateeful” for “beautiful” and “atteetude” for “attitude,” for which one of my principals who was from Scranton, Pennsylvania, criticized me severely.

Comparing pronunciations is a real conversation starter. Try that list at a party some time.

This activity was a small part of a larger “Learning Activities Packet” dealing with many characteristics of dialect. You will need to retrieve the entire article to find out how you could put together a complete unit on American dialects. RayS.