The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-06-01
A Study TN SOUTHERN DIAIBCT.

The first was an unconscious effort to
render 1t as much as possible purely
! vowel language Many OF the African
tongues are rich In vocals. There is a
constant recurrence OF vocal sounds, par
tcuiarly, a, o. and u. I'm connection with
l and m. I am sure that this use of
vowels affected the negro's English as
he learned it from the whites among
whom he lived and worked. All tho Eng
lish ever known by Tho negro was learned
In state OF slavery. When he had
learned enough to understand and obey.
little or no attention was paid thereafter
to his language. There is one fact con-
corning the negros English which seems
to have escaped the notice OF most peo-
pie, namely, the use of words which have
long been discarded by the whites. One.
..squench.'' have already given in these
papers. This can be accounted for from
the fact that having in the beginning
learned enough to understand and be
understood, no effort was made to adj
vance him. hence his language remained
about the same from generation to gen
grafton The language first learned by
tho slaves at Jamestown was much the
same which their descendants used Six
generations after. While the African
slave traders were pouring into the colony
these blacks and selling them to the
planters the jails Of the mother country
was also filling the colony with whito
slaves from her shores. These slaves
sold into penal servitude were of the
lower classes of the English people hence
would use an older English than the Gull
tured classes. In this way he came into
possession or words older than Shakes
oeare and making no advance until free
doom came to him his tongue. even at
that late day contained many terms which
were pre-Elizabethan. Now If 1t be kept
~, Ind hot he cfar'S children
constantly attended by the negroes it
can readily be seen how the speech Of
the whites was affected by that of the
negro.
The negro had a decided dislike to the
sound of tn and never used 1t when 1t
could be avoided. His usual substitute
for it was d. Consequently, such words
as there, these and they became dere.
desc and dey. The letter he rejected
when it was possible to DO so. So far
as have observed, the negro never uses
in combination with tn. In such wor.s
as throat and through the was dropped
and they became 'thote'' and ''thu." He
also had an aversion to the sound Of v
and often turned 1t into b. Being nll-
steal by nature. his English Is OF gen
tie flowing kind, as it comes from his
lips. smootl1ed and softened to suit him
self without any reference to anything
except his own fancy.
A second way in which the negro modi-
fies the language is in his pronouncia-
tons and contractions In most instances
no rule but caprice governs him in this
matter. He calls watermelon and musk
melon ''watahmillyun" and "mushmill-
yum" Master with him was always
.marstah,' with softened. If he used
a proper name it became MARS john or
whatever the name ''Mistis' or Miss
the first used alone. the last with prop
err name was his way Of addressing his
mistress. In her absence. II an old lady.
he might use the term "Ole Miss Mas
sa'' and '.NIissus'' are words the real ne
gro never uses. I have never heard
negro use these terms in all my inter-
course with the race. They are the coin
age of latitude where the negro did not
formerly live. He calls the opussnm
."pawsuln and persimmon "simmon
and omits the W from woman. He sees
chooses hears .nants" and teiss for
tunes ..fon cavity grouns. His mis-
tress was quality" and lived "in de big
house, Tho "cor7n'n fel' hans staid
at ode qua tabs. sah." negro
will complain of having "a m1s'ry
in meh haid an thu meh chiste.