NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
... how he establishes this unconventional dialect. Primarily, Faulkner utilizes the technique of intentional variation of words from standard English orthography or, to be more specific, he purposefully spells words incorrectly. The examples of this in his works occur on a page by page basis.
Some of the more common and peculiar, occurring in more than just one of his stories, are Ferginny for Virginia, rick lick for recollect or remember, and gwine or gay for going to (Brown 19 - 222). Another similar pronunciation feature of Faulkner's work is the combining of two like words to create a new word with a new spelling. Two examples of this action are aggravate, a blend of aggravate and provoke, and agent, used as a combination of agony and torment (Brown 19). In addition to these, Faulkner also plays on language variation by exhibiting words or expressions to which the average English speaker cannot possibly know the meaning. Words like jumper for denim jacket and pants or dragon for a Ku Klux Klansman, and expressions such as struck and jumped to signify picking up the scent of and then killing a deer, fall into this category (Brown 19 - 222). Finally, to establish his literary dialect, Faulkner ensures that grammatical forms are used that do not appear in the textbooks - except as awful warnings (Ives 147).
Many of these have already been discussed above, but several others appear in the writing as in the multiple cases of double negatives, eliminating the /g/ from words ending in -ing, and placing the word like at the end of adjectives for emphasis (as in proper-like, and quick-like). In short, most of these features, and the local dialect as a whole, can be seen in such passages as the following from As I Lay Dying: I know that Old Marster will care for me as for ere a sparrow that falls ( (1) Faulkner 440). This quotation is grammatically unsound, it contains unusual word spelling and pronunciation, and it also makes use of a seemingly foreign phrase or saying. From the start, what almost all of these characteristics have in common is that they are chiefly reflections of the Southern Lowland dialect, and therefore they make Faulkner's literature a symbol of that geographical region and culture as a whole. Some important questions arise when examining the language of Faulkner or any similarly dialect-oriented author. These questions surround the actual nature of a dialect, and the way in which it is manifested by the writer on to the page.
Dialects are patterns of communication by which all people in an exclusive region recognize. People, even without a written language, understand these speech conventions, or patterns to which actual noises conform even though they may not be systematically analyzed and recorded in a grammar (Ives 150). A group of people who speaks a dialect will commonly have uniform variations from other dialects that are noticeable by people outside their speaking class, as in the differences between black and white Southern English. A writer like Faulkner, then, presents a very special affinity with his own dialect because he writes in it without having to rely on research or background study. His storytelling language is pure, when he needs something, he searches the lumber room of his head for something to serve his purpose (Brown 4). The literary dialect in the works of William Faulkner is almost a carbon-copy of the Southern dialect he truly speaks.
Moreover, although Faulkner is not commonly regarded as a great historian, his writing reveals a great deal of Southern history and culture. Though probably not all of these accounts are entirely accurate, it is quite possible that Faulkner's descriptions of historical events alight directly from his own experience with the Southern tradition of oral storytelling. Faulkner's representation of Southern speech in his writing, follows the actual linguistic parameters of the Southern Lowland dialect very closely, or Southern Proper by Raven Mc Davids classification. Faulkner makes a strong effort to display the various facets of this dialect even though many of them cannot really be sensed through writing alone. For instance, the only true aspects of language that are excluded in writing are facial and bodily expressions accompanying speech, pauses and changes in pitch or volume, and speed of articulation. Generally speaking, however, these features are secondary in comparison with pronunciation, grammar, and word usage.
Faulkner's literary dialect is consistent with several of the prevailing trends of Southern speech. For one, it supports the theory of Southern language diversity due to the fact that Faulkner's is a distinctly Southern dialect, yet has many differences from other Southern dialects, including the use of phrases like trade days (days set aside for auctioning) only used in the immediate area (Brown 202). Also, Faulkner's writing presents the large quantity of archaic and folk utterances in the Negro dialect, which are the result of years of insufficient educational opportunity. One other trait of Faulkner's language that is common to the popular conception of Southern dialects is the occasional loss of post vocalic /r/, as in the words but for born, and based for bastard. These words, along with dozens of others appearing in many of Faulkner's stories. Faulkner, quite simply, delineates a place rich in the tradition and pride of the average Southerner.
Consequently, the speech in his text also carries some of the stigmas attached to Southern life itself. First and foremost of these blemishes is the pervading tone of racism, automated by the appearance of the word nigger in practically all of Faulkner's works. Although the word does represent the authenticity of Faulkner's dialect, it will always carry with it an arresting level of shame and disgrace. The feeling of racism is perpetuated by the fact that most of the Negro speech in Faulkner is slightly less standard than white speech, giving it a hint of inferiority.
Although Faulkner explores the issue of racism with an open mind and even attempts to repudiate some of the negative connotations associated with blacks, his genuine Southern tongue cannot completely detach from the very real evils of racial injustice in Southern American history. Finally, the dialect in these stories, in all of its originality, continues to uphold the popular belief that Southern English is, in many instances, bad English employed by less intelligent speakers. This setback is mainly attributable in Faulkner's writing to the double negatives, use of aint, and use of third person dont. Contrary to these negative opinions however, most of the cases of bad grammar here are actually remnants of archaic proper English rather than unintelligent corruptions of modern English. Thus Faulkner's storytelling dialect creates a lasting impression of his Southern world, encompassing both the common and unique, the positive and the negative. In demonstrating his ability to author such a realistic, yet original world, drawing on his own natural dialect, Faulkner insists that life is narrative, based on the preeminence of language in our lives (Lockyer xii).
By: AdamVanDeVeire For: Mrs. Mackey ENGH 250 November 27, 2002 Works Cited Brown, Calvin S. A Glossary of Faulkner's South. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976.
Burkett, Eva M. American English Dialects in Literature. London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. , 1978. (1) Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury. New York: The Modern Library, 1966. (2) Faulkner, William. The River.
New York: Random House, 1982. Fagin, Crawford. Competing Norms in the White Speech of Anniston, Alabama. Montgomery and Bailey, 1986. 216 - 234. Ives, Sumner. A Theory of Literary Dialect.
A Various Language. Ed. Williamson and Burke. New York: Hold, Rhinehart, Winston, 1971. 145 - 177. Lockyer, Judith. Ordered By Words: Language and Narration in the Novels of William Faulkner.
Southern Illinois University Press, 1991. (1) McDavid, Raven I. , Jr. Dialectology: Where Linguistics Meets the People. The Emory University Quarterly XXIII (Winter, 1967), 219. (2) McDavid, Raven I. , Jr. Go Slow in Ethnic Attribution: Geographic Mobility and Dialect Prejudices. Varieties of Present-Day English. Ed.
Richard W. Bailey and Jay L. Robinson. New York: Macmillan Company, 1973. 258 - 270. (3) McDavid, Raven I. , Jr. , and Virginia McDavid. Kentucky Verb Forms. Montgomery and Bailey, 1986. 264 - 293.
Smith, Alphonso. Cambridge History of American Literature. New York: Macmillan Company, 1951. Stewart, William A. Observations on the Problem of Defining Negro Dialect.
The Florida FL Reporter IX, Nos. 1 and 2 (Spring/Fall, 1971), 47 - 57.
Free research essays on topics related to: lay dying, southern dialect, negro dialect, faulkner william, william faulkner
Research essay sample on Negro Dialect Lay Dying
