The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-10-22
Negro Dialect.
Z The TImes-Disnatch.

Editor Of The Tlmes-Dispatch:
Sir,-The discussions in your columns
concerning Negro Dialect" have been ex-
ceedingly, interesting to me. For the, past
two decades have given much atten
ton to the speech Of the South and
series of articles in the Richmond Times
was a partial result of these studies. In
my Judgment it is mistake to speak
of NEGRO Dialects, There is only one
general form of speech which belongs to
the race and which may properly be call
cd "Dialect'' in the, sense in which the
word is used in such discussions. The
speech of the negro does not differ very
materially from the speech of the white
race by which he is surrounded This
difference is In his mode Of speaking or
his manner of using the words. rather
than In the words themselves The he
gro's speech is made up of definite ela-
ments which can easily be separated
from each other. In the main they are
as follows:.
]. Tho elimination OF certain harsh
sounds. such as those formed by th".
SKIS, nds. in words like through. asks,
bands This elimination may occur at
any place in the word where such COM
binations are.
.. Mangled words or words jumblea
together The word used in the sentence
which produced the discussion. Episco-
pal. is an example ] am certain that an
old-time negro would mnngle this word
by leaving off e, emitting and give a
the sound ofu He would further change
it by so modifying the SC sound that it
would be hardly distinguished from 8.
3. Mis-pronunciations and what may
be termed mis-apprehension of what
words really are I give "Substif'kit" as
illustrating this had negro use this
several times In one conversation with
me. when lie meant certificate.
4. The retention of old English verb
and noun forms. Tho negro will say
"suushed" for crushed; ''squenched" for
quenched: hope" Nlolp> for helped. TIe
will also use many nouns which are not
found in present-day English. 1t may
be interesting to some to note that
squenched, spushed, holp,. cfaw. and
many others which are used BY the no.
groes. are good old English words and
can be found In our classic literature.
g. The peculiar use of the letter r.
This is sometimes a total suppression.
at others only partial suppression. I
have heard negroes say flo" for floor.
without hint of the r, I have heard
the same negro suppress this letter In SIR,
until It was so nearly lost that one
could hardly distinguish 1t, but it was
not quite lost.
g. An indehnable something which the
negro has In his speaking that does not
belong to the white race. 1t Is what
our fathers used to call "the niger OF
It," We know It is there but It is too
elusive to be caught and put into type.
Nay we cannot even get our tongues TO
speak 1t, try we ever SO hard. 1t Is to
the negro race what the burr" of thu
BRAID Scotch" is to the Scotchman, It
simply cannot be reproduced by one not
to the manner born" A Southern white
man can almost reach 1t but North.
erner, never. 1t is positively painful to
me to hear him try It,
T. Abreviations and faulty use OF
tense and personal forms of verbs. The
latter consists of using singular for
plural forms and the reverse. never
heard a negro say am In the place Of the
third person form, nor do I think any
body else ever did,
Take the sentence under discussion,
dat am de 'Pisc'pal church" am
confident that no one ever heard negro
"Dat's de Piscpul chuch.' abbrevior-
Ing the verb managing the descriptive
adjective and suppressing + In the last
word. These are the principal charac-
teristics OF the negro dialect ! can cons
fdently affirm that they are found in all
sections Of The South to-day. To say
THAT Campbell county negro does not
talk like a Norfolk county negro, Is, In
my Judgment, a mistake. hive studied
this negro speech in every State In the
South east of the Mssissipni, and I have
not found such differences as the ed,
tor of the Lynchburg News speaks Of
All the English the negro has he learned
from the white race and It cannot he 40
different after all, went to Charleston
s. c.. with the expectation of finding nm
entirely different speech from virginia
,,t1