Appalachian English in southern Indiana? The evidence from verbal -s

Abstract

In this article, the variable use of verbal -s with (especially, third-person) plural subjects is examined in extreme south-central Indiana. The patterns observed are compared to the same in several varieties of Appalachian English, and it is argued that the local language variety reflects the morphosyntactic stability of the linguistic system brought here by pioneer settlers from various Appalachian states some 200 years before. A very small pilot-study corpus of comparable data from the extreme northwestern corner of Indiana is called on to help refute a “universalist” explanation for the similarities found in southern Indiana and Appalachia. Finally, the conditions surrounding the transplantation of Appalachian English to Kentuckiana and to other places (i.e., the Ozarks, North Carolina's Outer Banks) are considered, and questions are raised about the degree of isolation believed to be necessary in the respective communities.

Super-leveling, fraying-out, internal restructuring: A century of presentbeconcord in Tristan da Cunha English

“…This is not uncommon when English varieties form in colonial contexts (under conditions of dialect contact). A direct input hypothesis has been reported for the formation of Appalachian English, where Montgomery (1997:137, quoted in José 2007:251) found a “remarkable retention of linguistic patterns and constraints across more than four centuries and two continents in the evolution of Scottish English into Scotch-Irish English into Appalachian English.” The possibility that the TdCE present be concord pattern can be directly traced to one of its St. Helenian or English donors might make for a likely explanation here too. Schreier (2008) reported present be leveling on St. Helena and Trudgill (1999:107) noted “a gap for the Lower North, which has I is , with I am resuming in the North (and on into Scotland) … as a Scandinavian form.” This seems to indicate a direct input legacy (two founders of the community came from that area or its immediate vicinity—Hull, Kelso).…”

“…The regularization of paradigmatic verb forms is among the best-studied processes in English variationist sociolinguistics (Chambers, 2009; Tagliamonte, 1998, 2012; Wolfram & Schilling-Estes, 2003). Leveling of past be to was represents a vernacular universal in English, also called “default singulars” (Chambers, 2004:128) that belong to “the grammatical processes [that] recur in vernaculars wherever they are spoken” (ibid., 127), and is documented quantitatively in synchronic and diachronic varieties (Anderwald, 2001; Britain, 2002; Dubois & Horvath, 2003; Hay & Schreier; 2004; Hazen, 2014; José, 2007; Schreier, 2002; Tagliamonte, 1998; Tagliamonte & Smith, 2000). Past be variation is context-sensitive and sociolinguistically diagnostic, occurring more frequently in rural and working-class varieties (e.g., Alabama: Feagin, 1979; Sydney: Horvath, 1985; North Carolina: Mallinson & Wolfram, 2002; or West Virginia: Hazen, 2014).…”

“…According to José (2007:260), is leveling exists in very restricted syntactic contexts in Kentuckiana English, former Appalachian English transplanted to southern Indiana, with the notable exception of there/they existential constructions. In his detailed case study, José (2007:272) reported “very little plural verbal – s outside of existential constructions” and found that “only 2 of the 127 tokens (1.6%) of plural verbs are – s forms … and both of these are instances of plural is with an NP subject, produced by a single speaker in a single utterance.” Variation and change with regard to present be is also discussed in Tagliamonte (2012), who looked into the historical development of English features in the British Isles and beyond, and it is reported in African American Vernacular English (AAVE): “AAVE is much like the vast majority of other vernacular varieties of English in its use of be leveling; in the present tense, are and am level to is , as in The folks is home or Y'all is here , while past tense be levels to was , as in The folks was there or Y'all was here ” (Wolfram, 2008:522). Similarly, Labov, Cohen, Robins, and Lewis (1968:221) reported very low overall leveling rates in AAVE (approximately 5% overall), noting that speakers “occasionally say they is , but almost never say he are —the disagreement is in one direction only.”…”