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Archiver > NFLD-ROOTS > 2002-01 > 1012337309


From: Whelans <>
Subject: [NF-ROOTS] Newfoundland accents
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 13:48:29 -0700
References: <200201290749.g0T7nXV32228@lists2.rootsweb.com><3C5701A2.22F5C472@1constant.com>


Thanks George. I found that to be very interesting and a very good lesson
for many people out there who did not know that. I left Newfoundland a year
and a half ago and moved to Alberta. Many people here speak of the
Newfoundland accent in a derogatory way. People think no ill towards
someone who speaks with a French or other accent. However, it is assumed
that Newfoundlanders speak the way that we do because of lack of education
and never having been taught to speak correctly. When someone "corrects" my
speech or comments on the Newfie accent, I gently explain to them that
Newfoundlanders speak a purer English than people in other parts of North
America. I tell them that my ancestors brought their native English with
them when they settled Newfoundland 400-500 years ago. Through distance and
isolation for so long, our way of speaking was not influenced by other
languages and cultures. It has remained very true to the original. In
fact, it is probably purer than the English spoken now in Britain which has
had so many other influences on its language from nearby European countries.
If they have particularly annoyed me, I may tell them that there is nothing
wrong with English in Newfoundland, it just hasn't deteriorated from the
original like has happened in other places! Most people are fascinated to
hear this as they had never considered such a possibility before. Most are
then humbled that they ever thought there was something "wrong" with the way
that Newfoundlanders speak.

Valerie


----- Original Message -----
From: george j. coe <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2002 1:10 PM
Subject: [NF-ROOTS] Re: NFLD-ROOTS-D Digest V02 #107


> In recent 'mails dealing with 'The Shipping News' and 'Random Passage'
I've noticed several comments regarding the authenticity of the characters
accents. I am not a Newfoundlander nor have I visited the Island (hopefully
this will be rectified in 2003), although my Mother was born and bred in
Greens Harbor on Trinity Bay.
> My eldest son and I and are history buffs and are also interested in
Language and Linguistics. Here in the States PBS television ran a program
'The Story of English' by Messrs. R. McCrum, W. Cram and R. MacNeil that
traces the spread of English around the globe and its rise to dominance
amongst the multitude of languages spoken on 'Mother Earth'.
> There are several pages devoted to Newfoundland and to English as spoken
on the Island. A sense of the thrust of the their comments on Newfoundland
speech is summarized on page 176 "....it is sometimes easy to overlook the
extent of the Irish contribution to the story of English..... There is,
however, one exception, the island of Newfoundland, whose inhabitants
preserve a kind of Irish English that is
> almost indistinguishable from the real thing two-and-a-half thousand miles
away. A small selection of their comments on Newfoundland and Newfoundland
English:
> ...St. Johns... listening to the local people, would mistake for
Dublin or Waterford.
> ...quickly, Irish-English became the socially acceptable language in
St. Johns, not least because
> the English tended to absenteeism while the Irish stayed put.
> The scattering of the islanders along the craggy, inaccessible
shoreline has confirmed a
> number of strong local variants. As well as the Irish, who are based
on the South Avalon Peninsula,
> there are the West Country communities (with strong Dorset and
Devonshire accents) to the north
> of the island.
> The fur trade on the east of the island was dominated by the Scots,
who have left traces of their
> speech behind. Among the Irish there has been very little accent
leveling or mixing.
>
> Newfoundland is simply the earliest and best-preserved of all the
Irish communities scattered round the world.
>
> The book is an excellent read and I highly recommend it to all who are
interested in the English language and its dominance around the world. It is
also, although not primarily, a rather good history of the spread of British
power around the world.
>
> Hope I haven't bored too many of you.
>
> george
> (in southeast Michigan where Canada is South of the United States.)
>
>
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