From Terry: <<This brings to mind another question I have. It's on islands. I read somewhere that people who live on islands hang onto old accents longer. For instance in the Aran Isles in Ireland, people spoke Gaelic long after the rest of Ireland started speaking English. Also there's an island off the coast of the US, I think Virginia, where as recently as the 1970's or 1980's people spoke with Scottish accents.>>
From Kirk: <<I haven't heard about that one. I wonder if anyone else knows more about that...>>
Hi Terry and Kirk! Sorry for my late response. =-)
Terry: You're probably referring to the islands around the Chesapeake Bay area where the inhabitants have lived in relative isolation for hundreds of years until fairly recently, with the tourism and real estate industries opening up regular ferry routes to and from the islands. The older inhabitants still speak with true-blue "Tidewater" accents little changed from the days when their West Country forebears settled on the islands over 300 years ago. (The Tidewater accents of coastal mainlanders have largely been displaced or diluted by contact with other dialect groups).
The two most well-known islands in the bay where authentic "Hoigh-Toider" (High-Tider) accents can still be found are on Smith Island, MD and Tangier Island, VA.
Articles:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002185296_dialect20.html
http://www.americanprofile.com/issues/20010617/20010617ne_969.asp
http://www.travelintelligence.com/wsd/articles/art_37.html
Further south off the coast of North Carolina is Ocracoke Island, another isolated Tidewater dialect region.
http://www.hatterasrealty.com/ocracoke.html
Ocracoke dialect audio:
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/linguistics/ocracoke_audio/1track.rm
Transcript:
"High tide on the sound side, last night the water fire, tonight the moon shine, no fish. What do you suppose the matter, Uncle Woods?"
From Kirk: <<I haven't heard about that one. I wonder if anyone else knows more about that...>>
Hi Terry and Kirk! Sorry for my late response. =-)
Terry: You're probably referring to the islands around the Chesapeake Bay area where the inhabitants have lived in relative isolation for hundreds of years until fairly recently, with the tourism and real estate industries opening up regular ferry routes to and from the islands. The older inhabitants still speak with true-blue "Tidewater" accents little changed from the days when their West Country forebears settled on the islands over 300 years ago. (The Tidewater accents of coastal mainlanders have largely been displaced or diluted by contact with other dialect groups).
The two most well-known islands in the bay where authentic "Hoigh-Toider" (High-Tider) accents can still be found are on Smith Island, MD and Tangier Island, VA.
Articles:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002185296_dialect20.html
http://www.americanprofile.com/issues/20010617/20010617ne_969.asp
http://www.travelintelligence.com/wsd/articles/art_37.html
Further south off the coast of North Carolina is Ocracoke Island, another isolated Tidewater dialect region.
http://www.hatterasrealty.com/ocracoke.html
Ocracoke dialect audio:
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/linguistics/ocracoke_audio/1track.rm
Transcript:
"High tide on the sound side, last night the water fire, tonight the moon shine, no fish. What do you suppose the matter, Uncle Woods?"