The Washingtonpost.com did an article about dialects in the United States. This was shared to my Facebook timeline. The title was, what English do you speak or something similar. A map of the United States showing the various regions where these dialects are spoken was included. Well, the old hometown made the list. Bonac is the dialect. The article stated the dialect was only spoken by a very few, and was dwindling. Yeah, I knew that. The thing about that article was, what does that say about me ? I speak that " dialect " as a natural and native thing. In my world everyone else speaks a little funny ! Reading this brought to mind a favorite story of my Dad. He would tell of going to the New York State fair and there they had a man that would talk to you. This man guaranteed he could tell you were you came from, just by listening to you talk. If he failed to identify the dialect and the area in the country that spoke it , you won a prize. My Dad won the prize !
This dialect has long been a subject of interest. Books have been written about it and recordings made. I have written about it before. It is still my opinion that the real speakers of this dialect have, for the most part, left us. A fine lady by the name of Marsha King has recently had a book published titled, " A fine day for Fishing." I have yet to obtain a copy of this book so I haven't read it. It is my understanding it tells the story of the end of the individual commercial fisherman on the east end of Long Island. It is from those hardy souls that this dialect emerged. They are the true speakers of Bonac. When they started to pass into history, so did the dialect. I can not claim to be included in their number. Yes, I speak the dialect, an accent we called it, and I had school teachers that attempted to correct my speech. I have been told I still carry that accent. It is a natural and normal thing to me. After reading this article I feel like I am now speaking a dying language. Guess that means I'm really getting old. Older than language !
I expect that there are those that are trying to " learn " this speech pattern in order to identify with the group that used to speak it. Those that will now claim to speak Bonac. I don't think that is possible. It would be like learning a Native American tongue from a book. You may come close to replicating the words and/or phrases but never the emotion used when the language was spoken. It is a difficult thing to explain but Bonac is spoken with the hands as much as the tongue. The inflections in the voice makes all the difference too.
Yes, I would have to say those that really spoke the dialect are gone now. As a child I heard my great grandparents speak in this fashion, and my own father would have trouble understanding them at times. Times change and outside influences do creep in. Was a time when speaking in this fashion labeled you.The label was not one you would be proud of either. Over time that aspect has been forgotten. I remember though. The scholars can write about it and speculate about its' origins. To those of us that spoke it, it was just speaking and nothing more. The article said, those that speak this dialect are dwindling in numbers. I didn't need that reminder, Bub !
This dialect has long been a subject of interest. Books have been written about it and recordings made. I have written about it before. It is still my opinion that the real speakers of this dialect have, for the most part, left us. A fine lady by the name of Marsha King has recently had a book published titled, " A fine day for Fishing." I have yet to obtain a copy of this book so I haven't read it. It is my understanding it tells the story of the end of the individual commercial fisherman on the east end of Long Island. It is from those hardy souls that this dialect emerged. They are the true speakers of Bonac. When they started to pass into history, so did the dialect. I can not claim to be included in their number. Yes, I speak the dialect, an accent we called it, and I had school teachers that attempted to correct my speech. I have been told I still carry that accent. It is a natural and normal thing to me. After reading this article I feel like I am now speaking a dying language. Guess that means I'm really getting old. Older than language !
I expect that there are those that are trying to " learn " this speech pattern in order to identify with the group that used to speak it. Those that will now claim to speak Bonac. I don't think that is possible. It would be like learning a Native American tongue from a book. You may come close to replicating the words and/or phrases but never the emotion used when the language was spoken. It is a difficult thing to explain but Bonac is spoken with the hands as much as the tongue. The inflections in the voice makes all the difference too.
Yes, I would have to say those that really spoke the dialect are gone now. As a child I heard my great grandparents speak in this fashion, and my own father would have trouble understanding them at times. Times change and outside influences do creep in. Was a time when speaking in this fashion labeled you.The label was not one you would be proud of either. Over time that aspect has been forgotten. I remember though. The scholars can write about it and speculate about its' origins. To those of us that spoke it, it was just speaking and nothing more. The article said, those that speak this dialect are dwindling in numbers. I didn't need that reminder, Bub !
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