Word: dialectolalia
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...wondered, as we drove South last December, when we would notice dialectolalia. It happened in Tennessee, when the gas-station attendant responded to my "Fill 'er up" by saying, "Hahtaste?" In a Florida state park the ranger said, "Ahmtored. Hadahordnot...
Regional speech patterns vary, but many Negroes-and whites living in similar circumstances of cultural isolation-speak a nonstandard English (linguists call it "dialectolalia") with common characteristics. They may slur words as in "sawrat" (it's all right), "sisfirshear" (it's his first year) and "smothertam" (some other time). The sounds of f and r may be dropped as "hep yo sef" or "sistah." The th sound turns to f: "bofe" for both. Errant grammar includes "he be absent," "he do," "my mother, she done gone...
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