The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-10-25
AGAIN NEGRO DIALECT.

AGAIN NEuRO DIALESI.
1t is manifest from the contributions
which we have received that negro dia-
lect" Is an interesting topic. Yesterday
we published n communication from Rev.
S. II. Thompson, who Is an authority,
and he agrees with The Times dispatch
that the negro lingo In all parts OF the
South is much the same. lie has Travelled
extensively through the Southern States,
taking note Of the form Of speech, and
he says that all the difference that he
could detect in various sections consisted
In what may be termed "localsms' and
in the modulations and tones of the voice.
Mr.. Thompson proceeds:
have seen in the Richmond daiies
ma" put into the mouth OF ~ negro by
scme writer's for my. Did POLK Miller
ever hear negro say 1t? If he did.
will give 1t up. l certainly never did.
and | have been for twenty years and
more talking with them and trying TO
catch their slightest difference of pro-
nunciatons. Such terms as ma" for
ny, "massa" for marster or mars, of tho
negro, "mssus" for his mistis, should DO
cassed with ''husking bee, which Il -..ch-
mond writer used short time ago 10
describe an ld-fashioned Henrico county
corn ''shuckin'." Were ] a betting man,
| would bet "a bushel o tatcrs an de
fattes' pawsu,m'' In Chesterfield that no
man ever heard that term used naturally
by a native of Henrico. ] have talked TO
thousands of negroes In all the Southern
States, and / never heardJa negro say
massa or missus l have heard botn
blacks and whites use the term 'massy.
but they used 1t to mean mercy. the
sentence, Lord, have mercy would DC
turned into "Lo'd "a massy
On the other hand, we have letter
from Mr.. Norman D. Sampson, of Brook
lyn, whose home was formerly IN Rich
mond, In which he says that 'mnssa
was in slavery days in use among negroes
In Georgia, and that he had heard 1t
employed in Macon, Augusta and other
places.
His impression is that it was originally
the form used by West India negroes
and adds that Marryatt, in particular, in
his sea stor es, used 1t rs the sound
struck on his cars, mot being familiar
with our Virginia terms and accent
The Times-Dispatch is very glad to
have introduced the topic, for mitch m
teresting information has come out ~
the discussion. At the outset we con-
fessed to ignorance as to the origin OF
the word ''massa,' and expressed doubt
as to whether such word was ever use'i
bv a negro slave. 1t Is now very clear,
however, that in some sections the word,
or something very like it. was in use,
And now a word concerning another
aspect of the subject. 1t needed not to
no said. as some of our correspondents
have explained, that the negro slave I'M
itated the language of the whites with
whom he was thrown, and that his lingo
varied here and there accordingly. lmita-
ton is q strong characteristic OF the ne
gro. But 1t is quite as true that the
whites also Initiated to greater or less
extent the lingo Of the negroes. White
children who grew up with negroes and
no were intma tely associated wi'sl
"mammy,' always beloved and respected,
naturally fen into "mammy's" way of
talking, This was to be noticed, and Is
noticed to some extent to-day, for most
White chldrenpin the South are nursed
by negro women, not SO much In the
misuse of words, as in the slurrins habit
Some time ago we CHANGED to near Il
conversation between n Philadelphia girl
and a Richmond girl. The former rolled
her RS, made broad her as, and clearly
pronounced each and every word, almost
"staccato" fashion. to use musical
term. But the Richmond girl talked like
a running brook 1t was hard to tell
where one word left off and another be-
gan. II her sentences had been photo
graphed" 10 spaces would have been
found between the words, and the rs and
t's would have been almost undstinguish-
able.
The negroes undoubtedly corrupted the
sreech of the Southern whites Yet,
strangely enough. the Southern negro
who lives for few years at the North
learns to talk yankee" fashion