One of America’s pioneering filmmakers had nothing to do with Hollywood but nevertheless left his mark on the emerging industry. Oscar Micheaux was a homesteader, who then turned his attention to making movies in the early 1900s. He was a Black man who made movies for Black audiences at a time when they weren’t allowed into mainstream, white-only theaters. And for several pivotal years in the 1920s, he operated out of Roanoke, Virginia.
Home » Inside Appalachia: Do We Talk Funny? "Ap-pal-atch-un" vs "Ap-pal-ay-shun"
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Inside Appalachia: Do We Talk Funny? "Ap-pal-atch-un" vs "Ap-pal-ay-shun"
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Despite stereotypes, Appalachians don’t have a homogenous way of speaking. This week, we’re excited to share lots of Appalachian voices as we explore the complex aspects of the way we talk.
We reached out on twitter to see what you have to say about Appalachian accents, and we were overwhelmed by so many voices that we dedicated nearly half of this week’s show to your responses.
Appalachian accents often come with a negative stereotype from some folks. Because of that stigma, many of us Appalachians ‘code switch’. Bluefield, Virginia native Chelyen Davis recently wrote about this on The Revivalist: Word from the Appalachian South. She talked about Appalachian accents and how sometimes our accent changes when we speak to mountain friends and when we talk in other settings. Davis lives in Richmond, Virginia now, but Inside Appalachia’s host Jessica Lilly caught up with her during a visit back home at her mother’s house in Bluefield, Virginia. Davis also writes her own blog called The Homesick Appalachian.
A professor of linguistics and English at WVU is working to map West Virginia’s dialects and accents. Kirk Hazen was in Wyoming County earlier this week, collecting interviews from natives. Hazen and his students are working to map West Virginia’s dialects and accents, and he’s finding that just within West Virginia alone there’s a cornucopia of different ways of speaking.
Credit Jessica Lilly
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Chelyan Davis lives in Richmond, Va. but grew up in Bluefield, Va. She often misses the Appalachian Mountains and writes about in her blog, The Homesick Appalachian.
What’s in a Name?
Can you name the town in Virginia that has been referred to as ‘The magic city of Wise County? We asked our intern, Jade Artherhults to do a little digging. She spoke with Anneke Ever, from Wise County, Virginia.
How do you Pronounce Appalachia?
A few years ago on NPR’s A Way With Words, a woman from California called to ask the hosts of the show, “which is the real way to pronounce Appalachia?” According to Martha Barnette and Grant Barret, the hosts of A Way With Words, there are many ways to pronounce “Appalachia”, each of them correct, depending on where you are.
Credit David Tarasevich/ Appalachian Trail Conservancy
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Sign at the Appalachian Trail Visitor’s Center, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
There are at least six known pronunciations of the word Appalachia. Yes, that’s right, six different ways to say it so there’s. Listen to the show to hear host Jessica Lilly share them with you.
You’ll also hear from:
Robert Ward:Valley Crucis, North Carolina
Josh Howard: Grew up in Sharon, Virginia
Kisa Griffin and Pamela V. Lee: Wheeling, West Virginia
Jeremy Horner: Jefferson County, West Virginia
Robert Gillette: Jefferson County, West Virginia
Scott Deaner: Logan, West Virginia, now lives in Ohio
Plenty of people make a conscious effort to lose their accent. But what would happen to our region, do you think, if we all lost our local language and dialect? Paula Moore is a Sociologist at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, KY.
You Sound Like You’re Not From Around Here
Next, we head back over to Virginia for a bit, where linguistics professor Steven Weinberger at George Mason University explains how and when we develop accents and how they affect our identity. From With Good Reason, reporter Allison Quantz talked with Weinberger, who believes most people learn their accent from their peers, and before they even hit first grade.
Music in this episode was provided by the late Jean Ritchie, singing one of her signature songs, “Cool of the Day”, with some of her friends up in New York City about eight years ago. Alan ‘CatHead’ Johnston, Ben Townsend, John Wyatt, Andy Agnew Jr., Dog and Gun and Jeff Bosley of The Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbor Show. Our What’s in a Name theme music is by Marteka and William with “Johnson Ridge Special” from their Album Songs of a Tradition.
West Virginians gathered at the capitol last week to urge lawmakers to take action on rising electric bills. Also, state leaders have been quick to respond to news of the U.S.-led attack on Iran. And, Larry Kump, a Republican member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, died over the weekend.
On this West Virginia Week, residents demand action on energy bills, the Hope Scholarship bill moves forward and changes to homeschooling requirements meets resistance.
This week, in the 1920s, Oscar Micheaux was an entrepreneur filmmaker in western Virginia. He became a world-renowned director and producer. Also, Kentucky’s poet laureate lives down the road from what has been called the country’s most lethal cryptid. Attempts to spot it have led to deaths. And, we talk soul food with Xavier Oglesby, who’s passing on generations of kitchen wisdom to his niece.
