The Vermont Dialect of American English

1
Language of the Green Mountains
Vermontese
By Dan Tifft
2
The Vermont Dialect of American English

• Little known dialect of English
• Influenced by, but distinct from the more famous
  Bostonian English pak ya ca in Havad Yad
• Protected for years by Vermonts relative
  isolation, has only been the subject of serious
  scholarship in last five years

3
Characteristics

• Broad a and e sounds
• Calf Caaf
• There Thair
• Glottal stop
• Bottle Bah-ul
• Cow Key-ow
• Mountains Mao-uns

4
More Characteristics

• Variation within state
• Southern Vermont
• Dropping of the post vocalic r Vermontuh
• Influenced by closeness to Massachusetts
• Found in areas of Northern London
• Northern Vermont
• Removal of the t Vermoner
• Attributed to Scotch-Irish immigrants and
  closeness to French Quebec.

5
Vermont Words Phrases

• Eastern Vermont
• Clim, clum climb, climbed
• Bonnyclabber- sour milk
• nawn- none
• Canadian Border
• Clat- rough job of cleaning
• Stodge- make a batch of bread, donuts, etc
• He couldnt whittle a plug to fit his own
  asshole- incompetent

6
More Vermont Words

• Jeezum Crow- like gee whiz
• Jesus H. Christ! or Christ Almighty
  exclamations, usually in frustration
• Flatlander- (flaatlaner, or flatlanduh)
• It doesnt sound funny to us!

7
(No Transcript)
8
Language and Nationalism

• The Flatlander Revolt
• Flatlander non-native Vermonter
• Estimated that 40-60 of Vermont residents were
  not born in Vermont
• First flatlanders migration began in 1967 with
  the hippy movement. City-sick northeasterners
  began moving to Vermont because of its pristine
  nature

9
Language and Nationalism Cont.

• Flatlanders take office
• Past two governors, US Representative, and most
  administration officials born in either New York
  or Massachusetts
• Native-born Vermonters suffer from job
  discrimination, social exclusion. Begin to trade
  native dialect for the prestige SAE

10
Take Back Vermont!

• Anti-flatlander feeling comes to a head with
  Civil Union law passed under NYC-born Howard Dean
• Take Back Vermont campaign emphasizes rural
  values, economic progress, and pride in Vermont
  roots. Vermont dialect and folkways begin to
  gain prestige

11
The Death of Vermontese?

• The old Vermont farm-uhs dialect is dying out,
  spoken by few people outside Northeast Kingdom
• Natives Revenge?
• Dialect is evolving. Recent research has shown
  children of flatlanders adopting the glottal stop
  and other aspects of the dialect

12
Works Cited

• Carver, Craig M. American Regional Dialects A
  Word Geography. Ann Arbor The University of
  Michigan Press. 1987.
• Lindblad, Karl-Erik. Noah Websters
  Pronunciation and Modern New England Speech.
  Cambridge Harvard University Press. 1954.
• MacQuarrie, Brian. Talking bah-k in Vermont
  Boston Globe. Feb 2, 2004. www.boston.com/news/l
  ocal/vermont/articles/2004/02/12/talking _bah_k_in
  _vermont/
• Mahoney, John. Talking Country 1996.
  www.tomifobia.com/mahoney/nwtalk.html
• OConner, Kevin. Linguist Studies Vermont
  Accent Maine Today. Jan 23, 2004.
  news.mainetoday.com/apwire/D807A8V80-22.shtml
• Roberts, Julie. Interview.
• Telsur Project. Linguistic Atlas New York to
  New England www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/maps/
  MapsNE/Map1NE.html
• Walsh, Molly. Vermont Accent Endangered
  Species? Burlington Free Press. Feb 28, 1995.
  www.virtualvermont.com/happiness/talking.html