Canadian English

LING 202, Fall 2007

Dr. Tony Pi

Week 9 - Dialects: Newfoundland

Dictionary

• G. Story, W. Kirwin and J. Widdowson 1982 A Dictionary of Newfoundland English. University of Toronto Press.– 2nd edition 1990

History of Nfld and Labrador

– Aboriginal languages• NFLD: Mi’kmaq (gone after 1970s), Beothuk (gone)• Labrador (see map on p.70)

– Labrador Innu (Montagnais and Naskapi)– Inuit

– 15th-16th century• Basque, Spanish, Portuguese fishermen

– 17th century• (southern) Irish, but also first half of 19th c.

– SOUTHEAST (near St. John’s)– fast attrition of monolingual Irish Gaelic

– mid 19th century• Acadian French, Scots

– SOUTHWEST

Reasons For Distinctiveness

1. Different Settler Origins• unaffected by United Empire Loyalists• mainly SW England (Dorset & Devon)• SE Ireland (near Waterford)

2. Period of Settlement• roots in early 17th century• reflects earlier stage in development of English

3. Geographic Isolation• high degree of isolation means insulation from influence

of other dialects• linguistic relic area: language reflects West Country

English and Irish

Examples of Nfld Vocabulary

• A jinker might scravel out of a desperate devil’s racket, tumble face-down onto a horse’s fart, and end up in an Irish sulk.

– Any guesses what these mean?

Some NVE Phonology

• h-dropping (West Country English)– He hit Harry in the head > ‘e ‘it ‘arry in the ‘ead

• h-insertion (West Country English)– h’apple, h’up she goes

• Interdentals (spelling: th) -> [t] and [d]– month > mont’; the > de

• /oI/ > [aI] boy > ‘bye’• /I/ and /E/

– bed > ‘bid’; kettle > ‘kiddie’

• simplification of final consonant-clusters– work > ‘wor’, gets > ‘giz’

• (Irish) fricative-like postvocalic/word-final /t/• (Irish) “light” or “clear” articulation of /l/ (pill, pull)

NVE Syntax

• Pronoun Exchange– object pronouns take

subject-like pronominal forms when in a phonetically stressed position

• I gave the money to she, not they.

• Present-tense marking (Clarke 1997: 218-19):

• They does it well.• I think they looks funny.• I hates it down there.• They have/ haves their

dinner in the kitchen.

• He have/haves his dinner in the kitchen.

• Do Mary work here?• Yes, she do.• No, she don’t.• She haven’t worked

here at all, have she?• Yes, she have, but she

don’t now.

Habitual Marking

• Present-tense habitual marking:

• I bees sick. ≠ I’m sick.

• He bees sick. ≠ He’s sick.

• They bees sick. ≠ They’re sick.

• are often

Similarities With AAVE

Feature NVE Example

habitual do be They do be sick a lot; he don’t be here very often

Habitual bees It bees some cold here in the winter.

Perfect auxiliary been They been done it.

For...to complementizer She came for to talk to us.

Stative preposition to (rather than at) Can we stay to the table?

(H)e used as a 3rd sg. inanimate pronoun ‘E’s (=it’s) an old fork.

AAVE: African American Vernacular English

NVE Dialect Attitudes

• Considerable in-group identity– However, cognizant of negative stereotyping

by other Canadians• stereotypes echoed by schools

• Upwardly mobile young rural Nflders:– to become higher class, they must master the

standard– but they risk alienating themselves from

others in their communities• major dialect shift seen as sign of disloyalty

Status Scales

• p. 76: scale of 0-6– status (confidence, intelligence, wealth)– solidarity (friendliness, kindness, honesty)

• Figure 3– status is inversely correlated with solidarity

• Figure 4– Some rural youths may not harbour positive feelings

towards own dialects• Rural Nfld high schoolers rate standard varieties of English

higher on the Solidarity scale (friendliness) than urban high schoolers

– rapid language change towards standardization expected

Track 1

My friend Sarah who works for me believes in all of that stuff - Tarot cards, palm reading - and she went to Don Belvin and had her fortune told and he told her she was getting married in the fall...do you believe it? No she doesn’t even know anybody, she just broke up with her boyfriend. And by the way, he told her that the guy she had just broken up with was a real nasty piece of business and she was well rid of him, which is true.

Don Belvin is about 57...58. He’s an organist from the Anglican Cathedral maybe? Paul? the kirk. A few years ago I met him into the mall. I was very pregnant at the time and I asked him what was new and he put his hand on my stomach and told me that I was carrying a very lovely healthy child and everything was going to be hunky dory. So I said “Why are you telling me this?” and he said “Well, I’m clairvoyant now you know. It’s true...I just found out.” So he said “I’ve always been kind of weird” and I agreed with him of course...and he is...and now for 20 bucks a shot you too can have your fortune told by Don Belvin.

Track 3My name is Lucy Collins...I belong to Dover. I was born in 1942 and I left in 1958. When I left it, it was

on the old gravel road and one church was the Salvation Army. The people went out for a living. Some was fishermen, some was carpenters, some was plumbers and everything like that.

What else? My father’s name was Sylvester Collins. He was a fisherman, he was a cook and he was a carpenter - all trades. My mother Susanna Collins, my mom came from (Bréjon), that’s down Bonavista Bay. My dad belong to Dover, which was called - before I was born - it was called (Sauvé) and when I was born it was called Wellington and they renamed it Dover. That’s when I left in 1958.

Well, it’s like that, my Dad was sick. Right, it was me and my sister and three brothers. We used to work like dogs...and we used to go down over the hill and bring up kelp on our back, one hill, then we come across the street, then we go up over another hill and we were to help my father sit the potatoes and that and put the kelp on the potatoes, right? Then after that we get that done, we used to go in the wood an cut down wood and limb it out of course. Load it on our backs then over the hill again to the door. Then me and my sister and 2...3 brother, we used to saw it up, saw it up and plane it up and load it in. We worked like dogs. Now I was about 12-13 years old - if you recall it and the school bell used to come. The school used to be along side of us and when we heard the school bell we used to take off over two fences you know, jumped two fences on our way to school it was across the street. So we come home we would get dinner. Mama would have dinner ready for us and we’d take off back to school. In the evening we used to do the same old things over. We worked like dogs.

Dialect in Newfoundland Songs

Bully Brown LyricsOur captain he did carkle

late, sir,He was not fit to be his

mate, sir;He kicked him out of the

cabin like a dog,Because he could not write

his log.Saying, tow row row, lay

long now,Be handy-o, brave boys be

handy.

Then he went forward in a funk, sir,

He asked the sailors for a bunk, sir;

The sailors told him flat all 'round,

That he'd have to go back to Bully Brown.

Then to the cabin he went back, sir,

He worked his favor in a crack, sir;

The very next thing came in his head,

Was to cheat us out of a pound of bread.

As true to say I am a sinner,The murphies there you'll get

for dinner;The bread as hard as any

brass,And the beef's as salt as

Lot's wife's ass.

Bully Brown - Notes

• This is a live audience recording from the 2006 Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival. The band is A Crowd of Bold Sharemen, the singer is Daniel Payne. He's from the Great Northern Peninsula, which is also where the song was collected.

• In verse two 'carkle' is probably derived from the archaic Middle English word 'cark,' meaning to work anxiously or to fret." Also "murphies" are potatoes.

The River Driver’s Lament

Now I'm old and feeble and in my sickness lie,

Just wrap me up in my shanty blanket and lay me down to die

Just get one little bluebird to sing for me alone,

Sure I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.

I'll eat when I am hungry and I'll drink when I am dry,

Get drunk whenever I'm ready, get sober by and by,

But if this river don't drown me, it's down I'll mean to roam,

Sure I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.

River Driver’s Lament Notes

• "The River Driver's Lament" (sometimes just "The River Driver") is a lumbering song recorded sometime around 1960 in the town of Searston in Newfoundland's Codroy Valley (western tip).

• Sung by John T. O'Quinn, recorded as part of the Peacock collection

• well known - recorded recently by both Great Big Sea and Jim Payne

The Sealers’ Ball Intro

• This is back to the Peacock Collection recordings again; this is Tom Morry of Ferryland (which is on the coast a bit south of St John's, firmly in Irish territory).

• The song starts with them selling their seal pelts, using the proceeds to order away for rum, and then rounding up some girls after the rum arrives. What you've got here is what happens after that.

The Sealers’ Ball (2nd half)Now a little disturbance then arose,

When everyone was picking their beaux;

When everyone had picked his own,

John Barke he had ne'er a one.

Be ye much of a hand aboard a vessel,

Aboard a vessel, aboard a vessel;

Be ye much of a hand aboard a vessel,

A-peltin' the puppy swiles, sir.

Jack Barke goes up to Jim McGee,

"Now what's ye doin along wi' she?

She used to go along wi' me,

And she'll do the same this marnin'."

So Jack and Jim get in a clinch,

And ne'er o' them would budge an inch;

And when the clinch broke up they found,

The lady she'd a-gone, sir.

Now all young men take lesson o' this,

And never go fightin' about a miss;

'Cause all that you'll do is start a big laugh,

And the lady she'll be gone. sir.

The Sealers’ Ball Notes

• "Puppy swiles" are baby seals

• Kenneth Peacock noted that Tom Morry said he learned this song from a man on the south coast, although it probably originated in the northeast where 'swiling' is more common.

The Badger Drive

Bill Dorothey he is the manager, and he's a good man at the trade;

And when he's around seeking drivers, he's like a train going down grade,

But still he is a man that's kindhearted, on his word you can always depend.

And there's never a man that works with him but likes to go with him again.

Chorus: With their pike poles and peavies and bateaus and all

They're sure to drive out in the spring, that's the time

With the caulks on their boots as they get on the logs,

And it's hard to get over their time.

Badger Drive Notes– Logging song from central Newfoundland. Badger is a

little west of Grand Falls-Windsor.– sung by Jim Payne who is from Notre Dame Bay– the song was written by a logger in an effort to get

back into the good graces of the management of this logging company.

• pike poles: http://www.oshkoshtools.com/products/pikepoles/pike_poles2.htm

• peavies: http://www.oshkoshtools.com/products/peavies/peavies.htm

• bateaus: shallow river boats• caulks: http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/cb.html

Old Brown's DaughterThere is an ancient party at the other end of town, He keeps a little grocery store; the ancient's name

is Brown; He has an only daughter, such a beaut I never

saw, I only wish someday to be the old man's son-in-

law.

Old Brown sells from off his shelves most anything you please,

Jew's harps for the little boys, lollipops, and cheese;

His daughter minds the store, and it's a treat to see her serve,

I'd like to run away with her, but I don't have the nerve.

(Chorus) And it's Old Brown's daughter is a proper sort of

girl,Old Brown's daughter is as fair as any pearl; I wish I was a Lord Mayor, Marquis, or an Earl,

And blow me if I wouldn't marry Old Brown's girl.

Poor Old Brown now has trouble with the gout, He grumbles in the little parlour when he can't get

out;

And when I make a purchase and she hands me the change,

That girl makes me pulverised, I feel so very strange.

Miss Brown she smiles so sweetly when I say a tender word,

But Old Brown said that she must wed a Marquis or a Lord;

Well, I don't suppose there's ever one of those things I will be,

But, by jingo, next election I will run for Trinity.

(Chorus)

Blow me if I wouldn't marry Old Brown's girl.

Old Brown’s Daughter Notesa song from St John's

This song was written by John Burke (1851-1930). He was a very prolific St John's songwriter, known as "The Bard of Prescott Street".

old song written in St John's, and sung by three people -- one an old-timer from St John's, one a younger guy from St John's, and one from Notre Dame Bay.

Ron Hynes is a well-known Newfoundland singer-songwriter. He was born in St John's, grew up in Ferryland (a bit south but still on the Avalon peninsula) and has lived in St John's most of his adult life,

Jim Payne is another singer-songwriter who performs a lot of traditional material. He's from Notre Dame Bay, and these days splits his time between there and St. John's.

John White was a famous St. John's singer ("The Voice of Newfoundland") who died sometime in the 1990s. This would have been one of his last recordings.

"run for Trinity" -- refers to the lovelylittle town of that name?