Talking Appalachian: Voice, Identity, and Community

by Amy D. Clark (Editor), Nancy M. Hayward (Editor)

Tradition, community, and pride are fundamental aspects of the history of Appalachia, and the language of the region is a living testament to its rich heritage. Despite the persistence of unflattering stereotypes and cultural discrimination associated with their style of speech, Appalachians have organized to preserve regional dialects―complex forms of English peppered with words, phrases, and pronunciations unique to the area and its people. Talking Appalachian examines these distinctive speech varieties and emphasizes their role in expressing local history and promoting a shared identity.

Beginning with a historical and geographical overview of the region that analyzes the origins of its dialects, this volume features detailed research and local case studies investigating their use. The contributors explore a variety of subjects, including the success of African American Appalachian English and southern Appalachian English speakers in professional and corporate positions. In addition, editors Amy D. Clark and Nancy M. Hayward provide excerpts from essays, poetry, short fiction, and novels to illustrate usage. With contributions from well-known authors such as George Ella Lyon and Silas House, this balanced collection is the most comprehensive, accessible study of Appalachian language available today.

Genres: Nonfiction

274 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Amy the book-bat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be interesting. I will confess that I did not like linguistics in college and that I had a hard time understanding what was going on. This book was a much easier to understand look at a specific area of linguistics, namely that of Appalachian Englishes. The problem is, the amount of research appears to be somewhat limited because the essays all seemed to cite the same handful of studies. It started to become somewhat repetitious and a little boring. Part 2 of the book was much more fun and illustrated the points made in part 1 very well. My favorite item in the entire book was the poem "Spell Check" by Anne Shelby. The poem summed everything up beautifully.

[Jim Kitzmiller · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Academic Study of Appalachian English

I could tell that by the use of so many six and seven syllable words like dialectologist, linguistic, lexicographers, sociolinguists , etc.

The Appalachian English languages are the melodic reflections of a culture maligned by bigotry and the uninformed elite. This book explores the origins (when they can be determined) and the difficulties of those who speak the languages in preserving their culture, while dealing with a Standard American English (SAE) norm.

I found some of the articles disheartening in that they seemed to espoused the use of local English in the classroom over SAE, because teaching SAE made the southern students at the same time feeling embarrassed, angry, and defiant that their heritage was being attacked. One article accused SAE as being the privileged white male language and therefore bad. Local dialect and the lives of the people who speak it have a place in the classroom, but not at the expense of being able to communicate with everybody else.

Although code-switching was mentioned a lot, I may have missed it, but I could not find the word "communication" in any of the articles. Regardless of the dialect that a person speaks, and all dialects have a place in the culture they support, SAE provides an essential, common language from which all Americans can communicate. Not teaching SAE in Appalachia is adding more harm to the bigotry these sterling people already suffer from.

On the other hand, teachers who belittle the dialect and the students for speaking it, need to change, or be removed. I am sensitive to the bigotry and hatred that the ignorant employ when they hear a Southern dialect, and the people that should change are not the Appalachian English speaking people, but the small-minded bigots, but they won't.

I taught English in a southern high school. I did not find it difficult to respect the culture and its language while teaching the merits of being able to communicate with a common set of accepted rules.

While some of the authors berated SAE, I noticed that all the articles where written in it.

[Rita Quillen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is challenging in that it's a hybrid--designed for an academic audience AND a popular one, with its mix of scholarly articles with literary selections, but it pulses it off as well as could be. An important discussion of an important topic!

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is divided into two parts. In the first part, people explain the Appalachian dialect. The second part gives samples of Appalachian prose. The first part got a little tedious, but the second part got me buying books by the various authors.

[Elizabeth Kral · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accurate analysis and depiction of Appalachian culture--especially worthwhile for authors wishing to develop characters without being cartoonish.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a varied look at opinions or research. Repetitious. Suspect use of statistics (drawing conclusions from tiny samples...using quantitative approach on something that should not and cannot be analyzed this way effectively). Like another reviewer said...SAE indicted, yet it is the primary "language variation" of the book. Read for a class.

[Wendy]

Nonfiction book about the voice and identity of Appalachians including some poetry, essays, and excerpts from novels to illustrate its points. Includes such authors as Ron Rash, Silas House, and Lee Smith.

[Rece Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

**4.5/5.0