Blue Ridge Folklife

3. Verbal Folklore

C H A P T E R Verbal Folklore For the purpose of analysis, folklorists often separate the various modes of folk expression in a given culture into three categories: verbal, customary, and material. Of these three, it is the Blue Ridge region's verbal folklore that has most fascinated mainstream America. Indeed, American popular and elite cultures have borrowed heavily from the traditional verbal folklore of the Blue Ridge people, a situation which has proven far more beneficialto the borrowers than to the providers. This usurpation of traditional Blue Ridge culture, especially of verbal folklore, by outsiders has led to considerable discussion about the ethical considerations of such "commodification ." An overview of this ongoing discussion is presented later in the chapter. Speech For well over a century, the people of Southern Appalachia have been stigmatized by outsiders as being culturally archaic, even primitive. Much of this condescension can be traced to stereotyped portrayals of these people by the media. Such negative attitudes have also resulted from encounters in the lowland South and in northern cities between local populations and displaced Appalachian people; speech was the cultural trait which most often prevented effective communication, and therefore understanding , between the two groups. Mountain speech differed from lowland southern dialects of American English because of a greater influencewithin Appalachia of Scots-Irish settlement and a lesser influence of AfricanAmerican settlement, and because of the region's geographical isolation and its remoteness from political and social centers of power. Thus, South3 - /o Verbal Folklore ji ern Appalachian speech developed distinctive attributes (in terms of grammar , pronunciation, and vocabulary), which led linguists to categorize it as Appalachian English. Whatever their Old World background, early settlers in the Blue Ridge, forced to adapt to the dominant culture in the British colonies, had to speak English; yet, the high concentration of Scots-Irish settlers in the region, and the considerable presence of non-English groups like Germans, African Americans, and Cherokees, affected the way the language was spoken . Accents, expressions, and vocabulary in the Blue Ridge stemmed as much from Scottish-English, Irish-English, and Gaelic sources as from purely English ones. In those sections of the region where German settlement was heaviest (such as in the foothill counties just west of WinstonSalem , North Carolina, where many Moravians settled), translated German expressions filtered into local speech. Where groups of former slaves relocated after the Civil War, as in foothill towns like Morganton, North Carolina , the creativity which characterized African-American dialects of English invigorated local Blue Ridge speech as well. And though Native Americans were physically removed from the region, their legacy endures in many Blue Ridge place names. S H O R T E R F O R M S O F V E R B A L F O L K L O R E The most common shorter form of traditional verbal folklore in the Blue Ridge, proverbs have historically been utilized in everyday situations. Memorable verbal expressions conveyed through simple, familiar metaphors , these sayings clarified the moral implications of situations and instructed people in proper courses of conduct. Thus, with a proverb, a person could, directly and unambiguously, communicate to others a moral perspective or nugget of wisdom. Most of the proverbs which have circulated in the Blue Ridge since the eighteenth century can be traced to English sources, reflecting the overwhelming influence of that culture in the evolution of American English. Some proverbs, though, were brought to the Blue Ridge by other groups from the British Isles (specifically, by Scots-Irish and Highland Scots settlers), or were introduced into the region by various groups of Germans and African Americans. The proverbs of these non-English cultures sustained considerable alteration in the New World. One Blue Ridge proverb traceable to lowland Scotland, for example, can serve to illustrate the process of cultural decay. Employing a metaphor borrowed from that once-commonplace domestic activity, spinning, to make an observation about the nature of love, this Blue Ridge proverb asserted that "True love is the weft of life." Interestingly, the proverb was dramatically reduced from its original form as expressed in a Scottish dia- j2 Blue Ridge Folklife Baptist churches have long been common landmarks in the Blue Ridge, ashave handmade signs with verbal pronouncements regarding the location of the nearest church and the reasons people should go there. (Photo by Hugh Morton) lect of English: "True love is the weft of...