The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1884-07-11
SPEECH In AMERICA.

Language in America.
What have been the forces working to Gre
ate American speech /? The Pilgrims brought
the English tongue with them to New England
in the seventeenth century. The Dutch
brought their language to New York; the
Swedes theirs to New Jersey. The other
colonies were peoped by Englishmen, among
whom were distributed few Huguenots and
Germans The Spaniards had occupied Flor
ida some time before. The French at an
early date peopled Louisiana. These were
the stems on which were grated later changes
and additions. The Dutch speech gradually
blended with the English, conveying to the
latter some of its corrupted words and
phrases The Swedish, never an important
element, was absorbed, leaving few traces.
The Spanish disappeared from Florida be-
queathing not great many localisms. Lou
isiana was a recent acquisition of the Union.
The French language is still spoken there,
but many words and phrases have been trans
ferred from it to the common tongue. There
are two distinct tendencies in colonial speech
an inclination to retain forms after they
have become obsolete in the mother country,
and a rapid coinage of terms suggested by new
4 circumstances or borrowed from native tribes
and given civilized impress. The last cause
was powerful in the American colonies.
The construction of New England dialect
began with the modification of English pro-
vincialisms, the adoption of Indian words
and such verbal forms as the new life on sea-
shore and in forests and the ascetic religious
practices of the people made necessary. The
evolution of the new dialect was greatly aid
ed by vivid imagination and a quick sense
of humor, the last quality scarcely to be ex-
pected in people SO gloomily devout. Long
before the revolution it had taken definite col
loquial form, though it lacked modes of liter
airy expression Elsewhere in the colonies,
with the exception of the district in and about
New York, there was no form of speech that
had any characteristic of patois. The Ian
guage of Virginia and the Carolinas had be-
come somewhat corrupted by the jargon
of the negroes, but we have no means of
knowing exactly the speech of the common
people, If we can trust the dialogue in
Thackaray's 'Virginians, the chivalry of the
state spoke the English language with re-
fnement of expression scarcely equaled by
Addison
After the revolution new causes and infu-
ences came into operation. immigration
from several European countries began and
continued steadily. More Germans came to
Pennsylvania and some scattered through the
different states. Irish Presbyterians came in
large numbers into Western Pennsylvania,
and in the course of time broad areas were
settled by Scandinavians Welsh, Germans,
Irish, Scotch and Italians. The annexation
of Texas New Mexico Arizona and Califor-
words before unknown. The west added it's
novelty of phrase and the mining districts of
California joined with the Spanish in the ere.
alton of new speech, that united with much
that was pathetic and picturesque, furnished
suitable material to the apt story teller.
AS the result of all these causes and infiu-
ences we have the several dialects which
American and English novelists have used ac-
cording to their knowledge and ability.
Properly speaking there are but two, that of
New England and the south The first is
heard in absolute purity only in the most re-
tired towns of New England, the other only
in the mountainous region that runs from
Virginia down through the Carolinas Tonnes
see, Georgia and Alabama. Texas and Ar
kansas may, perhaps, be added to this list,
for their population is composed in great
measure of emigrants from them, and in parts
of Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, the speech
of the Cumberland mountains and Blue Ridge
is still heard with some of it's original flavor
The mining paths SO freely used by Bret
Harte is really the dialect of the south, from
which the greater number of emigrants came
when gold was discovered, with an admixture
of Spanish and the pregnant terms that the
rough occupation and wild life originated
The New England dialect has shown the
greatest powers of survival 1t is still heard
with notifications in New York, Michigan,
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and
Minnesota, along the lines where its civiliza-
ton flowed westward It's ancient features
are found fairly embalmed in the 4" Widow
Bedott Papers" and occasional tales in the
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