In orthography, eye dialect is the use of non-standard spellings (spellings considered incorrect) to create the effect of a dialectal, foreign, or uneducated speaker. The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of writing in that language. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language characteristic of a particular group of the languages speakers. ...

Uses

In some cases, eye dialect is intended as a relatively faithful representation of a non-standard pronunciation. For example, where Standard English has word-initial [ð], African American Vernacular English (AAVE) has word-initial [d] instead; therefore, an author might respell that as dat in utterances by a speaker of AAVE. (Some such respellings are well standardized, to the point that they might no longer be considered respellings.) Similarly, eye dialect may be used as a sort of ad hoc phonetic alphabet, to convey the standard pronunciation of a word that a reader might not recognize. These uses are relatively uncontroversial (but see below), and as a result, many linguists prefer to avoid the often negatively-charged term eye dialect for this use, and instead use a neutral term, such as pronunciation respelling. Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... A pronunciation spelling of a word is a spelling intentionally different from the standard spelling, used to emphasize a particular pronunciation of the word. ...

In other, more controversial cases, words may be respelled even when their pronunciations do not differ significantly from their standard pronunciations. For example, an author trying to convey the effect of an uneducated speaker might respell says as sez, reflecting its (perfectly standard) pronunciation as [sɛz]. The line here may sometimes be blurry; for example, going to (in the sense of "he's going to do it") may be pronounced either as ['goʊiŋ tu] or as ['gʌnə]. Respelling it as gonna does unambiguously identify the latter pronunciation; but since this is already the more common pronunciation in colloquial American English, doing so might be seen as comparable with re-spelling says as sez.

Examples

From Joel Chandler Harris's tales of Uncle Remus, set in the U.S. in the post–Civil War South: Joel Chandler Harris Joel Chandler Harris Joel Chandler Harris (December 8, 1848 - July 3, 1908) was an American journalist from Georgia, best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories: Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings (1881), Nights with Uncle Remus (1883), Uncle Remus and His Friends (1892), and Uncle... Uncle Remus was a fictional character, the title character and fictional narrator of a collection of African American folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, published in book form from 1881. ... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total... Historic Southern United States. ...

"'You er stuck up, dat's w'at you is,' says Brer Rabbit, sezee, 'en I'm gwine ter kyore you, dat's w'at I'm a gwine ter do," sezee.

— "The Wonderful Tar Baby Story"

Eye dialect is also found in representations of the speech of various Londoners in Sherlock Holmes stories. Some of Mark Twain's books are also full of eye dialect, as Simon Wheeler's narrative in "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", which begins: A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from the Strand Magazine, 1891 Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. ... Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1] better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer. ... The Front page of booklet for The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County... Can A CON CON a CON? The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is an 1867 short story by Mark Twain. ...

There was a feller here once by the name of Jim Smiley…

Other literary uses of eye dialect are to represent foreign accents, such as in Charles Godfrey Leland's Hans Breitmann's Ballads: Charles Godfrey Leland (1824–1903) was an American humorist and folklorist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and educated at Princeton University, and in Europe. ...

D’VAS near de state of Nashfille,
   In de town of Tennessee,
Der Breitmann vonce vas quarderd
   Mit all his cavallrie.
Der Sheneral kept him glose in gamp,
   He vouldn’t let dem go;
Dey couldn’t shdeal de first plack hen,
   Or make de red cock crow.

— Breitmann Goes to Church

Zora Neale Hurston is also a writer well known for the use of eye dialect in her stories about the life of African Americans in the rural southern United States, a fact that has caused some controversy about her stories: Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American folklorist and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, best known for the 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Historic Southern United States. ...

"Looka theah, folkses!" cried Elijah Mosley, slapping his leg gleefully, "Theah they go, big as life an' brassy as tacks."

— "Spunk"

One of the most famous instances of eye dialect in literature is in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion: George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856–2 November 1950) was an Irish dramatist, literary critic, and socialist. ... Play cover, depicting Mrs Campbell as Eliza Pygmalion (1913) is a play by George Bernard Shaw based on Ovids tale of Pygmalion. ...

THE FLOWER GIRL: Ow, eez ye-ooa san, is e? Wal, fewd dan y' de-ooty bawmz a mather should, eed now bettern to spawl a pore gel's flahrzn than ran awy atbaht pyin. Will ye-oo py me f'them?

An excellent example of the use of eye dialect in the representation of Australian English, for which the eye dialect spelling Strine is sometimes used, is in the book Let Stalk Strine, by Afferbeck Lauder (a pseudonym of Alastair Ardoch Morrison), itself eye dialect for alphabetical order. Australian English (AuE, AusE, en-AU) is the form of the English language used in Australia. ... Australian English is the form of the English language used in Australia. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Alastair Ardoch Morrison. ... A. A. Murdoch (born 1911 died ?) was an Australian author who, inter alia, in the 1960s documented Strine in a series of books which were published under the pseudonym of Afferbeck Lauder. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

Eye dialect can occur with fictional dialects as well, as in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien CBE (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English philologist, writer and university professor, best known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. ... This article or section contains a plot summary that is overly long or excessively detailed compared to the rest of the article. ...

Troll's Pocketbook: 'Ere, 'oo are you?

Trolls with an abducted princess (John Bauer, 1915). ... Purses, such as this one by Burberry, are fashion accessories with a function. ...

Criticism

The use of eye dialect is often criticized on the grounds that the definition of standard speech is subjective and regionally biased, and that it is often overused or misused to represent what is actually quite standard speech. Further, many people feel that even when phonetically accurate, drawing attention to perceived non-standard pronunciation supports or implies a value judgement of such speakers as poorly educated or less articulate, that the assumption that the reader shares the same standard of pronunciation as the writer is inherently inappropriate, or that the use of eye dialect is simply mockery.

Speakers of non-standard dialect may take offense to intentional misspellings as a misrepresentation of their educational status. Further criticism surrounds the assumption that the person who speaks the dialect is uneducated and cannot spell properly — that speech and spelling would match the outsider's point of view.^[1]

References

• Vivian Cook's page of common eye dialect
• Bowdre, Paul H., Jr. (1971). Eye dialect as a literary device. In J. V. Williamson & V. M. Burke (Eds.), A various language (pp. 178-179). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
• Fine, Elizabeth. (1983). In defense of literary dialect: A response to Dennis R. Preston. The Journal of American Folklore, 96 (381), 323-330.
• Ives, Sumner. (1950). A theory of literary dialect. Tulane Studies in English, 2, 137-182.
• Ives, Sumner. (1971). A theory of literary dialect. In J. V. Williamson & V. M. Burke (Eds.), A various language (pp. 145-177). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
• Krapp, George P. (1926). The psychology of dialect writing. The Bookman, 6, 522-527.
• Preston, Dennis R. (1982). Ritin' fowklower daun 'rong: Folklorists' failures in phonology. The Journal of American Folklore, 95 (377), 304-326.
• Preston, Dennis R. (1983). Mowr bayud spellin': A reply to Fine. The Journal of American Folklore, 96 (381), 330-339.
• Preston, Dennis R. (1985). The Li'l Abner syndrome: Written representations of speech. American Speech, 60 (4), 328-336.

Notes

1. ^ Kephart, Horace: "Our Southern Highlanders.", page 350. The University of Tennessee Press, 1913.