jtm@syteka.UUCP (Jim T. McCrae) (08/11/84)
Saying that the language patterns of the entire continental U.S. bear some one-to-one diversity relationship with those of England is a bit extreme, methinks. Those of you who were raised in the North or West and have spent some time in the South may have noticed the striking similarities between Southern pronunciation tendencies and those of the mother country. Consider that the North was deluged with European immigrants over the last two centuries while the South had predominately black African immigrants. The language of the demographically "average" Southerner of the past two hundred years has been less influenced by continental European language patterns than by the African language patterns, if we consider exposure alone. (The added influence of Northerners moving South cannot be overlooked.) The most interesting language group to be considered is the African-English dialect which has evolved. This dialect, or group of dialects, integrates two very different syntactical systems, with different rules on subject-verb relationships, tense, predicate action, etc. This dialect is gradually, or rapidly, being adopted into the "mainstream" American dialects (i.e. Johnny Carson TV English). All of this is my own conjecture and is in no way meant to indicate that I know what I'm talking about. Flames anyone? Jim McCrae - Sytek - Mountain View CA - ...!hplabs!sytek!jtm
jsq@ut-sally.UUCP (John Quarterman) (08/13/84)
On the subject of origins of American English dialects, I recommend
three books by J.L. Dillard, all published by Vintage Books in softcover
and Random House in hardcover:
Black English, Its History and Usage in the United States, 1972.
All-American English, A History of the English Language in America, 1975.
American Talk, Where Our Words Came From, 1976.
I have no idea what the man's academic standing is, but he has some
interesting things to say on the effects of pidgin, Dutch, and other
languages on English, not to mention some criticisms of geographical
linguistics, and a believable account of why English is a world language.
``A children's play song from Surinam, on the coast of South America, goes
Mama Nanni go to town
Buy a little pony.
Stick a feather in a ring,
Calling Masra Ranni.
Ink, pink, rotten beaf,
Toss!''
--
John Quarterman, CS Dept., University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712 USA
jsq@ut-sally.ARPA, jsq@ut-sally.UUCP, {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!jsq