Y

1
Yall Talk Real Funny

• Twain Dialect Activity

2
Yall talk real funny

• Read the following article on a Dialect Survey
  that appeared in the Houston Chronicle on Sunday,
  Jan. 12, 2003
• http//www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id2
  003_3617331

3
Class Survey

• Take a class survey on how everyone pronounces
  certain words

4
Dialect Survey

• Check out the current dialect survey at
  http//www.ling.cam.ac.uk/survey/

5
Key Terms

• Dialect
• the form of spoken language peculiar to a region
  or social group
• Colloquialisms
• the words or phrases of informal speech or
  writing

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Mark Twain

• In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and many of
  his other works, Mark Twain wrote in the regional
  dialect of several different groups of people. He
  used inventive spelling to make these words sound
  the way someone would actually pronounce them
  with the accent of the region and used colloquial
  phrases of the time and place.

7
Dialect Activity

• In groups of 3 or 4, choose 2 quotes from
  Huckleberry Finn that contain heavy dialect
• Quote the lines from the book as Twain wrote
  them
• en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de
  head er dey frens en makes em ashamed.

8
Dialect Activity

• Translate the lines literally by spelling
  correctly, writing out shortened/abbreviated
  words, etc.
• and trash is what people is that puts dirt on
  the head of their friends and makes them ashamed.

9
Dialect Activity

• Rewrite the line as it would be spoken today in
  proper modern English, including generic American
  expressions
• and trash is what people are that puts down
  their friends and makes them feel ashamed.

10
Dialect Activity

• Then recreate the lines in another dialect in
  English. Any will do Cajun, Bronx, Valley girl,
  island, Hip/hop urban, Spanglish, Shakespearean,
  Redneck, etc. Be creative!
• , like OMG, youre like totally trash if you
  like put down you friends and like make them feel
  like totally bad.

11
Dialect Activity

• You will place all of the above on poster paper
  and present to the class.
• Be sure all writing is visible and presentable to
  the audience
• Everyone in the group must present something
• Read the lines as Twain wrote it
• Read the translated words and modern version
• Read the lines in the other dialects.

12
Dialect Activity

• Quote the line directly
• Correct the spelling/abbreviations
• Translate into modern English
• Translate into a dialect of your choice