Ocracoke, NC

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Ocracoke, NC

• And Hoi Toide Brogue

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http//www.infoplease.com/atlas/state/northcarolin
a.html
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Detailed Map of the Outer Banks
http//www.outerbanks.org/location_maps/attraction
s_map/
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The North Carolina Coast
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Dialectal Ties Where does Hoi Toide come from?

• Aspects shared with Appalachian dialects
• Both locations were isolated
• Both were settled in part Pennsylvania migrants
• Aspects shared with British dialects (strongest
  relationship is oi vowel sound which replaces
  i)
• Map
• Research Fifteen native speakers of British
  English unanimously claimed that, after hearing
  Ocracokers speech recordings, the Ocracokers must
  be English.
• Aspects possessing Chesapeake/Tidewater origin
  due to migration

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Is Ocracokes brogue really an older version of
English?

• Old English (c. 950 AD) Fader urer du bist in
  heofnas, sie gehalgad noma din vs. the Early
  Modern English Our Father which art in heaven,
  hallowed be thy name. (1500-1800)
• Shakespearean English-
• Was NOT preserved on Ocracoke,
• Hoi Toide did inherit and adapt some words from
  Shakespeare which standard English has forgotten-
  for example, to mommuck (Coriolanus I, iii, 71)
  and nary.
• The reverse side standard English has
  inherited/adapted other aspects ealier forms-
  i.e., a relatively traditional conjugation of the
  past tense to be, where as Ocracokers have
  adapted this to It werent me/you and/or They
  was.

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Hoi Toides distinctions from Southern Mainland
pronunciation

• Standard English
• Not really standard, but widespread r-dropping in
  Boston, New York, the South, and British Received
  Pronunciation.
• Southern English i vowel sound goes to ah,
  like in Carolahna Standard English i is i.
• ou or ow usually sound like ou in Ouch.
• Ocracoke English
• r pronunciation (northern dialectal tendency)
• i sound goes to oi or uh-ee, like t-uh-ee-d.
• ou or ow sounds like eh-ee, so that you get
  saind and tain (between tone and tune) for
  sound and town

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Hoi Toides Distinct Structures, I

• Standard English
• He/You/They is/are AT X location
• It wasnt me they were
• Hunting, coming, etc.
• Not any

• Hoi Toide
• Theyre TO X location
• It werent me They was
• a-prefixing and g dropping a-comin, a-huntin
• Haint for aint, which is already a non-standard
  contraction
• Nary

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Structural distinctions, II

• Standard English
• Single negatives
• I could go to the store (single modal)
• people go and women work- the collective noun
  is treated as a plural, even though there is no s
  ending.

• Ocracoke
• Double negatives
• I might could go to the store I might oughta
  (double modals)
• people goes women works- the collective
  noun is treated as singular

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Structural Distinctions, III

• Standard English
• anymore is used only in interrogatives and
  negative declaratives.
• Intensifiers- occasional usage of right or
  just to intensify the meaning of a statement
  That meal was just perfect!
• Yours and his as possessives

• Ocracoke
• Anymore can be used in the following manner
  Mary likes playing dolls anymore.
• Frequent usage of right- right many, right
  smart, etc. Also, peculiar good-some, nasty-some,
  etc. intensifiers.
• Yourn and Hisn at the ends of sentences.

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Conclusions

• Hoi Toide is not an older form of English
  preserved on an unchanging and isolated island.
  Rather, it has inherited different aspects of
  Early Modern English than Standard English has,
  which causes it to sound archaic to us.
• Hoi Toide, though it uses some linguistic
  characteristics of the Southern United States and
  Appalachian regions, is very distinct from both.
  In fact, Hoi Toiders have historically sought
  to distinguish themselves from the South. It is
  the unique vocabulary, pronunciations, and
  grammatical structure of this dialect that
  distinguishes Hoi Toide from its neighbors.

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Hoi Toide Vocab Quiz

• Which word or phrase best describes the term?

• 1. Dingbatter
• A) a baseball player
• B) custard filled fried island pastry
• C) a wife
• D) an outsider

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• 2. meehonkey
• A) a call used in hide-and-seek
• B) a call made to attract ducks
• C) the call of an angry person
• D) an island marsh plant

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• 3. quamish
• A) an upset stomach
• B) a fearful feeling
• C) hazardous soft sand
• D) an excited feeling

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• 4. mommuck
• A) to imitate someone
• B) to bother someone
• C) to make fun of someone
• D) to become close friends with someone

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• 5. Shes TO the restaurant.
• A) She ate at the restaurant twice
• B) Shes been to the restaurant
• C) Shes at the restaurant
• D) Shes going to the restaurant

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• 6. Russian Rat
• A) a unique island rodent
• B) an island gossip
• C) a vodka drinking narc
• D) a mink

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• 7. Scud
• A) a dirty person
• B) a tire mark in the sand
• C) a ride in a car or boat
• D) a missile

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• 8. slick cam
• A) a well-oiled engine part
• B) greased down hair
• C) a glossy picture
• D) very still water

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• 9. fladget
• A) a bottle of wine
• B) extremely exhausted
• C) a piece of something
• D) the flat area after high tide has receded

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• 10. goodsome
• A) supplies in grocery store
• B) very good
• C) a benevolent island fairy
• D) a word to describe a hot surfer guy

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Works Cited

• Balance, Alton. Ocracokers. Chapel Hill
  University of North Carolina Press, 1989.
• Wolfram, Walt and Natalie Schilling-Estes. Hoi
  Toide on the Outer Banks The Story of the
  Ocracoke Brogue. Chapel Hill University of
  North Carolina Press, 1997.
• The Ocracoke Brogue. Dir. Phyllis Blanton,
  Natalie Schilling and Karen Waters.
  Videocassette. 1997.