Old, Early and Elizabethan English in the Southern Mountains

Old, Early and Elizabethan English in the Southern Mountains by Josiah H. Combs The Southern mountaineers are the conservators of Old, Early and Elizabethan English in the New World. These four million mountaineers of the South from West Virginia to northern Alabama from the body of what is perhaps the purest Old English blood to be found among English-speaking peoples. Isolated from the outside world, and shut in by natural barriers, they have for more than two centuries preserved much of the language of Elizabethan England. The Elizabethan English of these highlanders varies but little. In other respects their language varies greatly, most noticeably in the substitution of one vowel for another. This divergence in the use of the vowel does not confine itself necessarily to the different State. For example, the hillsman of the Cumberlands in Kentucky says whut and gut, while the pronunciation further west in the same State, but still in the hills, is what and got. The difference in consonantal change is not so marked. But in eastern Tennessee one hears eent (end), while the usual pronunciation is eend. One of the most marked peculiarities of the Elizabethans was the use of almost any part of speech for another part of speech. The Southern mountaineer, if possible , even goes the Elizabethan one better. When Halley's Comet appeared on schedule time a few years ago, many of the mountaineers looked upon the celestial 27 TIIIi FAMILY IHNMiK wonder as a bad omen. One of them called it "the comic"; for which he was accosted by a youngster one day, who said to him, "Uncle John, what makes you call it the comic?" Said the old gentlemen, "I believe in callin' things what I want to; I'll let ye know, I ain't no grammatical! " One may hear "Who daddied that kid?" for "Who -is the father of that kid?" Or, still more strikingly, "That kid daddies itself (resembles its father)." In the use of an adjective for a noun we have, "The room was tidied (made clean) this morning." As among the Elizabethans, there is every variety of grammatical inaccuracy. The double negative has stoutly maintained its raison d'etre among the Southern hillsmen, and we find a more extensive use of the negative with them than with the Elizabethans. Here is a bit of "juggling" with the negative: "I done it the unthoughtless of anything I ever done in my life." "I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't rain," (meaning "I wouldn't be surprised if it should rain"). 1 "Ranee , he ain't got nary none." "Fotch-on (educated) preachers ain't never a-goin' to do nothin' nohow. " "I hain 't never seen no men-folks of no kind do no washin' (of clothes)." Various other syntactical anomalies and irregularities appear. The use of the pronouns is very similar to that of the transitional Elizabethan period. We find her and him for she and he; them for they; but not often theirselves. Relatives are omitted where they are now necessary; e. g., on a rude tombstone this inscription is found: "God bless those sleeps here." And, "Them's the only men is men!" It is quite common to find the insertion of an unnecessary pronoun, e. g., a pupil in history will begin to answer a question with "The British, they," etc. Comparatives and superlatives are still in the transitional stage. We find resteder for more rested, e. g., "I feel resteder, now, since I've blowed a spell." As with the Elizabethans, the double comparative and the double superlative are common; e. g., "He's a more 28 fightin'er man than people thinks." And, "That Boatright woman (Mrs. Boatright) is the most knittin'est person I ever seen." Singular verb forms are used with plural nouns, and singular nons are used with plural verb forms. E. g., "These horses is well groomed"; "I aren't a goin' "; "I weren't there at the time." Shall, should, will and would are hopelessly confused, and are used interchangeably. The mountaineer has no idea that all these syntactical irregularities were once very common among the higher classes of English society...