Slave dialect comparison/ Re: Official Philip Nel Question #9: House Elves

[ladjables]

No: HPFGUIDX 39192

Hi Gwen
Fascinating fanfic/theory!  Just one thing:
--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "gwendolyngrace" <gwendolyngrace at y...> 
wrote: 
> On a slightly different note, some folks pointed out the similarity 
> between house-elf speech and the slave dialect used in 19th century 
> period pieces. I find that really interesting, because I never even 
> considered that was a possible parallel. 
> (snipped examples from Mitchell and Thane)

> I can see that the house-elves have a dialect of their own, but I 
> guess I'm missing something when it comes to a side-by-side 
> comparison of Black American speech as represented in novels about 
> the 19th Century, specifically the Civil War period. I never 
> thought of it as a pidgin, per se, but simply as an attempt to make 
> the house-elves seem childlike, to go along with their diminutive 
> appearance.
 
Zora Neale Hurston wrote "Their Eyes Were Watching God" in 1937, and 
her characters were former slaves and descendants of slaves living in 
Florida.  Here are some examples:

"We'se [we is] goin' back tuh Miami where folks is civilized."(Their 
Eyes, p. 153, 1st Perennial Classics Edition)

"Oh, if you'se [you is] treatin' me tuh it, Ah[I] b'lieve Ah'll take 
de passenger train." (p. 101)

"You's noble!  You'se du most gentlemanfied man Ah ever did see.  
You'se uh king!"  (p. 73)

"Lawd, some folks is got everything and they's so gripin' and 
mean!...They's willin' tuh see uh po' woman and her helpless chillun 
starve tuh death." (p. 74)

"How much time is you willin' tuh make fuh Daisy?" (p. 68) 

"Youse just as crazy as you ever was."  (p. 5)

"You looks like youse you' own daughter." (p. 4)



Now Dobby and Winky in GoF:

"You is not insulting my master, miss!  You is not insulting Mr. 
Crouch!  Mr. Crouch is a good wizard, miss!" 

"He said we is free to call him a- a barmy old codger if we likes, 
sir!"  (GoF, p. 380, US Edition) 

"They isn't my masters anymore, Winky!"
"Oh, you is a bad elf, Dobby!"
"...oh what is they saying if they knew Winky was freed?"
"You is seeing my master?  You is seeing him here at Hogwarts?"
(p. 381)

"You is killed him!  You is killed him!  You is killed master's son!"
(p. 683)

"You isn't ought to tell them, we is getting in trouble...." (p. 685)

"Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you saying?" (p. 690)


Read aloud, they are quite similar.  Also, how significant is it that 
Mitchell was white and Neale Hurston black?  Neale Hurston probably 
spoke the dialect she used in her novel.  Let me know what you think.
Ama, who knows she would make a total mess out of transcribing her 
grandmother's patois.