Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Living in Clay County
In Monday's night class, the dialect of people from Clay County was brought up. So, considering I am from Clay County, I thought I would add on to that. Clay County is a big county but it is not an advanced one. We have a handful of dollar stores, two IGA's, and a Walmart. Although that is more than some have. It is a very limited area. It's full of farms, ponds, tobacco fields, and plenty of love. No matter where you go, you always see a friendly face. Clay County is loving community. However, it does have downfalls. All in all, the people mean well. One thing that is most common with Clay County folk is our dialect. It's quite different from the surrounding counties and especially from up north. We combine words that shouldn't be together, we use the wrong verb tense, we add extra sounds, and change the meaning of a word to whatever we want it to be. No matter where I go, I always hear a comment about how I speak followed by "where are you from?". Some find it unique and other think we're just uneducated. Clay County's vocabulary and dialect may sound pretty crazy to most, but it sounds like home to me.
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Isn't it amazing how "comfortable" and almost "secure" dialect can make you feel. As soon as you walk into a room and hear that - it's like there's a feeling you get in your stomach or heart. There's places into which I can walk . . . and as soon as I hear a tone, the language, a cadence to the voices I immediately have a sense of where I am. For some of us it gives us a sense of "belonging."
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing feeling and a sense of pride for many. When children come to school it's important that the educational system understand this and as we present "standard English" we teach as just that - the language of books and the grammatically correct way to speak in formal settings - academic language.