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Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE)

Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE). DARE. A reference tool. Not to prescribe or even describe how Americans speak. To record the varieties of English that are not found everywhere in the US.

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Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE)

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  1. Dictionary of American Regional English(DARE)

  2. DARE • A reference tool. • Not to prescribe or even describe how Americans speak. • To record the varieties of English that are not found everywhere in the US. • Words, pronunciations, and phrases that vary regionally, that we learn at home and not in school, and that are part of our oral culture. • First four volumes covering A- through Sk- have been published.

  3. History • Sponsored by the American Dialect Society (ADS) founded in 1889. • “…the investigation of the English Dialects of America with regard to pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, phraseology, and geographical distribution.” • Goal was to make a thorough dictionary of American English. • First publication of the ADS called Dialect Notes (1890). • Published mainly word lists.

  4. History • 1962: the project gained needed financial support and a plan was formed. • Frederic G. Cassidy (1907-2000): professor at University of Wisconsin. • Chief editor and promoter of DARE. • Preliminary work on the dialects of Wisconsin (Wisconsin English Language Survey WELS) proved that this type of project was possible. • 50 Wisconsin natives filled out a questionnaire that revealed differences in local dialects. • Questionnaire became the basis for DARE.

  5. The Project • Decided that one thousand communities were to be investigated. • Community: “any group of people living fairly close to each other and sharing the same commercial facilities, social organizations, and the like.” • 5 types of community categories: • Urban • Large city • Small city • Village • Rural

  6. The Project • Data gatherers sent to each community to find people and get them to answer the questionnaire. • Gathered between 1965 and 1970. • Each person given a personal identifying number and every response coded. • Biographical information collected on informants: name, address, social factors (sex, race, age, education), amount of travel, chief occupations, family background on both sides, and attitudes toward language.

  7. The Questionnaire • Questions try to establish the regional or local name for a single object/idea. • Ex: one question describes a dragonfly and asks for its name. • 79 different replies were given: snake feeder (N and S Midl) snake doctor (Midl, Sth) mosquito hawk (Sth) spindle (coastal NJ) ear-cutter (NH, WI)

  8. The Questionnaire • Ex: What different kinds of oak trees grow around here? • Pin, post, Spanish, chinquapin, overcup, shim, chair bark oak. Over 130 given. • Ex: To feel depressed or in a gloomy mood: He has the _____ today. • Ex: If a person’s lower jaw sticks out prominently, you say he’s _____.

  9. DARE Maps • Maps are included in the dictionary to show where specific words were found. • Based on settlement history and population density as of the 1960s. • States with low population like Nevada have only two interviews while states like New York have over 80. • Size of the states is skewed, location is maintained geographically.

  10. DARE Maps

  11. DARE Maps • Shows positions of the informants if they all gave the same answer.

  12. Some Entries • Above one’s bend also above one’s huckleberry: 1) beyond one’s abilities (esp Sth, Wst) • Boonie familiarized form of boondock: • The backwoods • An outdoor toilet: widely used in Tidewater Virginia for privy. • Something very good: “Say that’s a boonie!” (KY)

  13. Some Entries • Bundle also in Sth, S Midl bun’le: • A sheaf of grain, widespread except in wMD, sPA, WV. • A woman; one’s wife. Question: Joking names for a man’s wife…“I have to go down and pick up my _____.” (SC) 3) To share a bed with a person of the opposite sex while fully clothed (or with some other impediment to sexual intercourse); chiefly NEast. 4) To court, woo. 5) To make an err in judgment… “He usually handles things well, but this time he certainly _____.” (KY)

  14. Some Entries • Crispied: 1) slightly burnt around the edges. (cTX) • Pinkletink also pinkwink, tinky: only Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket MA 1) a spring peeper or young frog. • Pogonip: mainly NV, some say from the Paiute Indians. 1) a dense, icy fog; formerly also a snowstorm.

  15. Some Entries • Potlatch: Pacific NW, AK 1) to give or loan; rarely, to borrow. Question: “I need five dollars before Saturday, will you ____ it to me?” • Potluck meal: 1) Indiana: pitch-in 2) nILL: scramble • Hopscotch: 1) Manhattan: potsy 2) Chicago: sky blue

  16. DARE • In O’Neill Reference PE 2843.D52 1985 • http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/dare/dare.html

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