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MA'AM CAN YOU SEND SOME EXAMPLES OF DIALECTS ?

There are plenty of dialect examples in literature that show the best usage of dialect as a literary device. One of them is Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn where he used exaggerated dialect to distinguish between the characters:

Example #1

Jim: “We’s safe, Huck, we’s safe! Jump up and crack yo’ heels. Dat’s de good ole Cairo at las’, I jis knows it.”
Huck: “I’ll take the canoe and go see, Jim. It mightn’t be, you know.”

Example #2

The characters that are less educated and less sophisticated usually are shown to be speaking with a much stronger dialect. At certain points you might even need translations. Such as:

Walter: Reckon I have. Almost died first year I come to school and et them pecans — folks say he pizened ‘em and put ‘em over on the school side of the fence.

(To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee)

Translation: I suppose I have. The first year I came to school and ate those pecans, I almost died. Some people accuse him [Mr. Radley] of poisoning them and keeping them over on the school side of the fence.

Example #3

Lula: I wants to know why you bringing’ white chillun to nigger church.

(To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee)

Translation: I want to know why you are bringing white children to a church for Negroes.

Dialect Examples from Poetry

Example #4

Will no one say hush! to thee,
poor lass, poor bit of a wench?
Will never a man say: Come, my pigeon,
come an’ be still wi’ me, my own bit of a wench!

(Poor Bit of a Wench by D.H. Lawrence)

Example #5

I, the man with the red scarf,
Will give thee what I have, this last week’s earnings.
Take them and buy thee a silver ring
And wed me, to ease my yearnings.


 For the rest when thou art wedded
I’ll wet my brow for thee
With sweat, I’ll enter a house for thy sake,
Thou shalt shut doors on me.

(Gipsy by D.H. Lawrence)

You can also find great examples of dialect usage in two of George Eliot’s novels named Silas Mariner and Middlemarch. Another method of using dialect is to knowingly misspell a word to build an artistic aura around a character, which is termed as Metaplasmus.


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