Questions tagged [eye-dialect]
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26 questions
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How is the contraction for "one of" spelled?
What is the contraction spelled out for one of?
One-a the girls said no.
Onea the girls said no.
One-ah?
I'm writing a dialogue.
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Southern contraction for "let him", spelling
*I know there is no grammatically correct contraction for "let him", I'm looking for an informed guess on how "let him", contracted in a deep southern dialect might be spelled?
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What is the meaning of '"It's nart'ral" in "Pollyanna" by Eleanor H. Porter?
From a part of "Pollyanna" written by Eleanor H. Porter:
Old Tom shook his head.
"I know. I've felt it. It's nart'ral – but 'tain't best, child; 'tain't best. Take my word for it, '...
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Is “not’ve” a valid [𝒔𝒊𝒄] contraction in either of spoken English or written English – or both or neither?
My English teacher has recently explained to me that not’ve is an accepted way to write the two spoken words not have, and he gave me this example of using it:
Why that machine is not working? Oh, ...
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Is there a distinction between “victuals” and “vittles” that exists in writing but not in speech?
As I set out on this project I noticed that there are already several questions at EL&U referring to the words here in question. But what can I do?
In Merriam-Webster’s entry for victuals, it is ...
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Where does "Whatcha" & "Didja" come from?
Does anyone know where "Whatcha" and/or "Didja" originate from?
Watcha: What did you?
Didja: Did you?
Edit:
I cannot find these words in my English Grammar books and they are ...
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What do "Sech" and "Vich" mean in this sentence?
I am reading a book on life lessons, and the author quotes one of Charles Dickens's characters, Sarah Gamp, from his novel, Martin Chuzzlewit:
Sech is life. Vich likeways is the hend of all things.
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'Gwine': How accurate is the African-American dialect in early 20th c writing?
A recent question here about "fo' sho'" produced answers with a number of quotes of Southern US or AAE (African American English) varieties. To my ear, these quotes sounded awful and I question their ...
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SNL's Black Jeopardy: What does "fid'na" mean?
In perhaps one of the funniest SNL's Black Jeopardy! sketches ever, the expression Fid’na was one of the six categories along with; Grown Ass, Aw Hell Naw, Girl Bye, I Ain’t Got It, and White People
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Why are expressions like “gonna”, “wanna” and “shoulda” American English?
As Etymonline suggests, the use of “a” meaning “have” in expressions like “should have” (shoulda), “could have” (coulda) and “would have” (woulda) were almost standard usage until the 17th century:
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user66974
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Is it all right to use “usen’t” instead of “didn’t use to”?
I know usen’t isn’t used in everyday English, but how about using it in an exam, an essay, or a formal letter?
Is it right to use usen’t instead of didn’t use to?
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Word for when a writer uses alternate spelling and grammar to immitate a dialect
What is the word for when a writer spells words of a character's dialogue differently for a character in order to express an accent or dialect? I think it starts with a 'd'.
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“kinda”, “sorta”, “coulda”, “shoulda”, “lotta”, “oughta”, “betcha”, "tseasy", etc. What are these?
In linguistics, is there a term describing this phenomenon, i.e., when the syllables of two words are slurred together in the spoken language? They are not contractions. While contractions are ...
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What is "thars" in Dr. Seuss poetry "The Sneetches"?
The Sneetches, by Dr. Seuss:
Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches had bellies with stars.
The Plain-Belly Sneetches had none upon thars.
Those stars weren’t so big. They were really so small.
...
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How do you denote written slang?
I want to use a slang term to make a sentence rhyme, but I want it known that I know how to spell it correctly.
For example:
Tennessee is where I wanna be.
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