Week 7 Essay: Didactic Dialect

This week, I read about the adventures of Brer Rabbit. From the description in the Un-Textbook, I knew that the story maintained the original dialect, but I did not fully understand what that meant until I actually began reading. I was certainly in for a challenging surprise as I delved into the content.

The interesting thing is to understand where the dialect comes from. This story was in the African folktales section of the Un-Textbook, but these were adapted by a journalist from Atlanta, Georgia. It was fascinating to read the eye dialect that represented a Deep Southern accent--certainly, the unique spelling of some words was hard to comprehend at first, but as I began to read aloud, it made the assignment much less difficult (especially useful because I could then actually understand the plots and morals being taught by the stories).

It is intriguing to me how much a single language can differ, even within a country. I have always wondered about the nuances of accents--why is it that certain regions in, say, the United States have different ways of saying particular words as compared to other areas of the country? Where did the Southern drawl come from, and why is it so different from the Midwestern form of speech? It would be enlightening to trace the history of immigrants who settled in the distinct areas of the country and investigate their native tongues to compare them with how they would interpret and learn to vocalize sounds in English.

Although the language might be confusing, Brer Rabbit's experiences are 

meant to teach readers morals. Source: Wren's Nest.