How To Speak Appalachian
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What Is The Appalachian Dialect?
There isn't one particular Appalachian dialect. Many versions of "Appalachian" are spoken across the geographical area known as Appalachia. The speech of those living in the northern Appalachian region differs greatly from that of central and southern Appalachia, although there is some overlap between regions.
In the part of Ohio where I live, most people speak in the "Midwestern Dialect", which lacks the southern "twang". However, a percentage of the population here--perhaps as many as one in three--speak in the "West Virginia" style of our neighbor state. This is characterized by a slightly more southern inflection, and noted for such colloquialisms as "over yonder", "I reckon", and "He done went". People with this speech often pronounce words such as flour and shower with one syllable e.g. "flar"and "shar".Think of the way the Clampetts sounded in "The Beverly Hillbillies". Farther south in Ohio, and in our neighboring state of Kentucky, the southern dialect is much more pronounced.
Dialects vary within regions and even in southern parts of Appalachia, the drawl can seem less pronounced in urban areas than in rural regions.
This lens will provide examples of different types of Appalachian speech, and explain a little about Appalachia and its several regions and dialects.
Photo: Public Domain image by aviator 31
Contents at a Glance
Where Is Appalachia?
Why Can't I Find It On The Map?
Appalachia is a region of the Eastern United States, stretching from lower New York State and running southwest all the way to northern Mississippi.The area includes parts of 12 states: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, and the entire state of West Virginia. Since Appalachia encompasses parts of so many states, its boundaries are not shown on most standard maps, but this special map shows the area designated as Appalachia in white.
Appalachia is named for the Appalachian Mountains, a huge mountain chain stretching over the entire Appalachian region of the United States, and into Canada as well. The Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains, The Green Mountains in New England and other smaller mountain ranges are all part of the Appalachian mountain chain.
Map: U.S. government image Public Domain
Two Appalachian Dialects
(and one that's not)
Kentuckians speak with a definite southern drawl, while Appalachians from Ohio speak with a more midwestern, or "typical American" speech pattern.
Examples Of Some Different Appalachian Dialects
The other three are good examples of different types of Southern Appalachian dialects. The North Carolina video features what we think of as the "classic" Southern drawl.The man in the Tennessee video has a very heavy and exaggerated version of the southern dialect. The Alabama English video shows yet another example of the Southern way of speech.
I was unable to locate a video representing the West Virginian dialect, but it follows the example I mentioned before. Less of a southern drawl than the others, using many colloquial phrases, and pronouncing words such as wash and rinse as "worsh" and "rench". Fish would be "feesh", and bush is pronounced "boosh". If you've ever seen "The Beverly Hillbillies", you've heard West Virginian. The exception is found in more northerly West Virginia cities, such as Wheeling, where speech is in the midwestern dialect of Appalachian Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Then, there's Pittsburgh. Sometimes called "The Paris of Appalachia", the beautiful city of Pittsburgh does feature a language distinctly its own--but it doesn't resemble the language of Paris. Some Pittsburghers speak "Pittsburghese"--not what comes to mind when one thinks of typical Appalachian speech. Still, Pittsburgh is part of Appalachia, and is therefore home to one of its dialects.
Pittsburghese has several distinctions. One is the pronunciation of vowels. Downtown, in Pittsburghese sounds more like "dahn-tahn". Pittsburgh's iconic football team, The Steelers, are known in Pittsburghese as " dem Stillers". Speakers of this dialect are sometimes called "Yinzers", due to their habit of saying "yinz". Yinz is thought to be a variation of "you-uns". This would be used as "Ahr yinz gahn ta da game?" This and just about any other phrase may well have the ubiquitous "and that" (pronounced n'at) tacked on at the end.
The following audios will give an idea of Pittsburghese. The one with a view of downtown Pittsburgh, features a radio announcer explaining how people speak in his native Pittsburgh. The one showing the WDVE rocks logo is actually a parody, but it does provide a good, if slightly exaggerated example of the dialect.
What Is Appalachia?
Appalachia is a place in a country, it's a place in the hearts of its people. It's a region, a culture, a way of life. Appalachia is breathtaking beauty and stunning poverty. Appalachia is its music, its people. Most of all, Appalachia is.
Most people think of Appalachia as "the mountains", and a lot of it is; but a lot of us are 'flatlanders', too. In Ohio, we're part of the Appalachian Plateau. This means no mountains at all, but lots of gently rolling, tree covered hills. Eastward in Pennsylvania, there are peaks reaching 2000 to just over 3000 feet.Travel Southeast into West Virginia, and you'll find summits of well over 4000 feet. From there, the farther south and west you go, into the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains you'll see mountains as high as 6,684 feet. Driving through the Great Smokies is an unforgettable experience. You will see black bears--often in the roadways stopping traffic.
One of the best-known features of the Appalachian region is the Appalachian Trail. This famed hiking trail, nearly 2,200 miles long, stretches from Maine to Georgia, and involves passing through parts of 14 states. A reported 10,000 people have hiked The Appalachian trail from beginning to end.
Appalachia is poor coal mining towns, dirt roads and ramshackle homesteads. It's also superhighways and cities with high rise buildings. Coal miners, and moonshiners, blue collar workers and professionals, city dwellers and country folk live in Appalachia. Feuding Hatfields and McCoys, heroes like Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, astronaut John Glenn, legendary people like Johnny Appleseed all spring from Appalachian roots.
Appalachians play the fiddle, the banjo, and the dulcimer. They play the violin, the piano and the rock and roll guitar. Their music, their culture, their history is as diverse as the terrain that makes up their home....Appalachia.
Photo of New River Gorge Bridge:http://www.google.com/images/srpr/nav_logo39
My Part of Appalachia
The hilly countryside of Ohio
I'm a city dweller, but here's a typical view of the countryside where I live in Ohio--no mountains, just hills, covered with trees whose leaves here are just starting to change to their autumn colors.
Photo:www.marietta.edu
Just as there's no one Appalachian dialect, there's also no one way to say the name itself!
People in Northern Appalachia (including me) say Appa-lay-shia or Appa-lay-chia.
People in Southern Appalachia are adamant that it's pronounced Appa-latch-ia.
Who's right? I suppose that depends on where you live.
Which dialect do you think is the "true" Appalachian speech?
Now you've had a chance to sample some of the many types of "Appalachian". Which one do you think is most typically perceived as the Appalachian dialect?
Photo:www.gpb.org/files/national/appalachia_main
Tour The Appalachia Museum Online
Here's the link
- Click to visit The Appalachia Museum--Beautiful!
- Views of the wonderful displays and re-creations of Appalachian life in days gone by. Beautiful large photos.
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Read About Appalachia
Appalachia: A History by John Alexander Williams
One Editorial Review calls Williams's explanations "The best presently available from any publication."
Appalachia: A History
Amazon Price: $14.18 (as of 05/31/2012)
Amazon customers who bought this book overwhelmingly rated it 4 to 5 stars.
Watch "The Appalachians" on DVD
Appalachians
Amazon Price: $29.82 (as of 05/31/2012)
Most Amazon customers give this documentary a resounding 5 stars!
Available--The Soundtrack From The Amazing Documentary
The Appalachians
Amazon Price: $9.99 (as of 05/31/2012)
5 Star Reviews from more than 70% of Amazon customers
About MaxReily
What Do You Think? Did You Learn Something About Appalachia?
What dialect do YOU speak?
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poutine
Oct 31, 2011 @ 8:41 am | delete
- We also have the Appalachian mountains in Quebec.
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MaxReily
Nov 3, 2011 @ 4:40 pm | delete
- Yes, I saw that while researching this lens. That's quite a mountain range! So, I guess that "Appalachian" speech could also include French! Thanks for visiting.
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mountainstevo
Sep 28, 2011 @ 5:32 pm | delete
- Interesting - I didn't know there were so many different dialects.
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ohcaroline
Sep 8, 2011 @ 6:34 am | delete
- I lived in Tennessee for a few years and know quite a bit of the dialect. Great lens on the subject!
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MaxReily
Nov 3, 2011 @ 4:40 pm | delete
- Thanks!
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DavidDove
Aug 31, 2011 @ 7:14 am | delete
- Thank you for a great lens, loved Pittsburgh when there, didn't notice the accent, will now
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sousababy
Aug 26, 2011 @ 9:55 am | delete
- Fabulous lens . . I hold a fondness for those from Kentucky and Tennessee and I LOVE to hear their accents (or perhaps it is the rest of us who have accents). I speak Torontonian - ha!
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pheonix76
Aug 24, 2011 @ 10:13 pm | delete
- This is fascinating! It's like an American cultural anthropology lesson. Thanks for creating this wonderful page. :)
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karmicchristian
Jul 6, 2011 @ 5:55 am | delete
- Thanks or the introduction to Appalachia and the Appalachian language. Always nice to learn something new! (esp. about the variants of the 'English' language)
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scarlettohairy Jun 15, 2011 @ 5:46 pm | delete
- More Ohio than the others, I think!
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by MaxReily
Hi! I'm a recently retired nurse who lives in Ohio. Until I started this lens, I never thought much about being an Appalachian as well. I don't live... more »
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