Different Dialects Directions: Read the four speech bubbles aloud. Then, complete the compare and contrast organizer. Think about: “What do these statements have in common, and what makes each one unique?”
Howdythere y’all!
Sup? Hi!
G’day mate!
Definition of “Dialect”
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Howdythere y’all!
The Cay, Chapter 3: Dialect StudyDialect is a form of language that is spoken in a region by a specific group of people. Authors use dialect to let characters speak in ways that are faithful to the way they would sound in real life. Often, the use of dialect involves misspellings, mispronunciations, strange vocabulary, and grammar mistakes.
In The Cay, author Theodore Taylor uses dialect when the character Timothy speaks. Just as it may be in real life, at first a new dialect may be difficult to understand. As you read, check the page numbers for examples of Timothy’s dialogue that are written in dialect. As you read Chapter 3, stop to provide a “translation” for each word or phrase in dialect into standard English. Determine your translation based on the way the word is used in the sentence.
Page
Dialect Standard English Pg Dialect Standard English
30 Bahss Boss 31 mebbe
31 You ‘ad a mos’ terrible crack
on d’ead.
32 I ‘ad no heart to trow ‘im off
31 I harl you board dis raff
32 E got oi-ll all ovah hisself
from d’wattah.31 I true believe
your mut-thur is safe an’
soun’ on a raff like dis.
32 Do not look direct at d’sun.
‘Tis too powerful.
Passage Standard English
D’wattah kag did not bus’ when d’raff was launch, an’ we ‘ave a few bisquit. Some chocolade, an’ d’ matches
in d’ tin is dry. (p. 33.)
“Do not be despair, young bahss. Someone will fin’ us. Many schooner go by dis way, an’ dis also be d’ship
track to Jamaica, an ‘on.”(pp. 33-34)
