Dialects

In Across Five Aprils, the author tries to give the reader an idea of how the characters in the novel speak by the way in which she writes the dialogue. The dialogue reflects the dialect of the characters in the novel.

A dialect is a variety of language that is specific to a group of people in a certain area. The Creighton family dialect is a mixture of the midwest and southern United States dialects of the mid-19th century.

Activities

Translate the following dialogue from Chapter 2 into the standard English of today.

1. “Will Kaintuck go secesh, Wilse?”
2. “I can’t help but believe that some of ‘em must not ha’ been comf’table with them words
3. “why, we danged near fergit the difference in the colors of our skins because we air so almighty full of brotherly love”
4. “there ain’t a white man, lean-bellied and hopeless as so many of them are, that would change lots with a slave belongin’ to the kindest master in the South”
5. “It’s been days that I’ve looked for’ard to hevin’ a meal with you, and here I’ve lost myself in talk that gits me worked up and loud of voice”

Rewrite the following lines of text into the dialect spoken by the Creighton family.

1. It will be hard for the river states if Missouri and Kentucky joins the Confederacy.
2. That’s true, Wilse. That’s what a lot of us have been thinking.
3. Or does slavery throw a shadow over greed, preventing that greed from looking quite so ugly and bare?
4. And for every evil that you can attribute to slavery, I can match it with one in the name of industrialism.
5. I’m going to get into this war as quickly as I can.