Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Appalachia Speak To Me, Darlin

 I have discussed and used and abused the old sayings from the south in my last two post. Imagine my surprise when I picked up my newest library book and was pleasantly surprised to find the story is about Appalachia Mountain district in Kentucky and the dialect they speak there.


The story is about a girl that is sent out of South Eastern Kentucky to learn how to talk properly. I am not sure who decides what is proper or not proper. I for one love the music of the voices in Kentucky.


It is rare for me to post without photos, but I have no photos of Kentucky since they are all in Georgia in my mothers hope chest, that now resides with our family historian, my niece Amanda. To see photos online click on Photos of Applachian Mountains

The author's notes says the dialect came from Scotland orginally. My mothers ancestors were from Scotland, which caused me to go to my google habit once again and proved we can find anything we want on YouTube. whooda thot it?



 This is music to my ears; I was born in Savannah, Georgian USA but raised in Southeastern Kentucky, in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. This is a little long but you can hear my accent of my childhood and how I sounded most of my life until 26 years in Florida with my Yankee husband. The header is my favorite photo of my Yankee Doodle Fishing Dandy  on his favorite beach in Florida.

The Thang is if you’ all lisn you’all will hear the musical voices of Kentucky and even a banjo now and then. Meander on through the video if you dare.

all this talkin' sounds pert neer natural to me! I am now singing Kentucky, how I love you.

10 comments:

Ginny Hartzler said...

Love how you did the header today! Phil and I both enjoyed watching the whole video together. He knew the word "jasper". It is almost sing-song. Keep up the good dialect and language posts! Now we need a nap as we're both plum tuckered out from watching that video. I hope we don't oversleep so much that it's pert near dawn! Then we'd be hard pressed to make it to our Deacons meeting down yonder at the church.

Sunny said...

Great post, Sandra. Ever since I was a little girl in England, I've been intrested in dialects.
I like your header, it reminds me of Neptune coming out of the sea.
Sunny :)

SquirrelQueen said...

I haven't spent much time in the Kentucky area of the Appalachians but I do see a lot of similarities with the hill folks of North Georgia. The dialect there has the same sing song lilt and many of the same words. I grew up a little further south and closer to Atlanta so there were even more variations.

Most of the words mentioned in the video I have heard at one time or another, except i-gogglin!

This is fun, more please.

Judy

Anonymous said...

What a lovely lilting accent/dialect and such wonderful people. I want to visit! This is such a fascinating subject Sandra - I love reading about your latest research. I'm going to check out the link to the photos now. Thank you :o)

tipper said...

I live farther south in the Appalachian Mtn chain-in western NC. So the video sounds like home to me : ) I feature a monthly Appalachian Vocabulary test on my site-if you ever have time please drop by.

Nice blog!

Judy said...

Your blog is so educational, Sandra. I love it!
I would just love to travel around our beautiful country in an RV and meet people, like those in the video.
I guess I'll have to put it on my wish list!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Well since I grew up in the Appalachian mountains in Southwest Virginia, I understand that video completely. AND-since I now live on the Cumberland Plateau in TN---I still hear this dialect constantly...

Like you, I have lived other places ---so my accent is not what it used to be... BUT--it's still there, deep inside of me...

Thanks, Sandra, and I LOVE your header.
Hugs,
Betsy

Marie said...

How sweet of your friends to take these pics for you. I know your heart is so full from their thoughtfulness. I've enjoyed learning more about my new friend. :)

Gail said...

Very interesting post.

Many similar phrases used here.

Karen said...

My granddaughter's Daddy and his family are from Kentucky. They sound a lot like this. I didn't know it was influenced by Scottish immigrants.