Appalachian English is American English native to the Appalachian mountain region of the Eastern United States. Historically, the term Appalachian dialect refers to a local English variety of southern Appalachia, also known as Smoky Mountain English or Southern Mountain English in American linguistics.
This is a dialect that famously uses different vocabulary and meanings, some of which may be archaic, such as “britches” (trousers), “poke” (bag), “sallet” (salad, as in a poke-sallet, of pokeweed rather than bags!), “afeared” (afraid), “fixin” (getting ready, as in “I'm fixin to do something”), “allow” (suppose, as in ...
The Appalachian dialect, which is often referred to as “Smoky Mountain English,” uses many different words and meanings than traditional English. It also includes unique phonetics, arrangements, and pronunciations.
Southern mountain dialect (as the folk speech of Appalachia is called by linguists) is certainly archaic, but the general historical period it represents can be narrowed down to the days of the first Queen Elizabeth, and can be further particularized by saying that what is heard today is actually a sort of Scottish- ...
However, although both immigrant groups belong to the Irish diaspora, they differed greatly in their origins, their religious background, and their contributions to American culture. Much of what we consider to be “Appalachian culture” actually has its roots in 1600s Scotland.
Origin of the name
While exploring inland along the northern coast of Florida in 1528, the members of the Narváez expedition, including Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, found a Native American village near present-day Tallahassee, Florida whose name they transcribed as Apalchen or Apalachen [a.paˈla.tʃɛn].
A Brief Appalachian History. Native Americans first began to gather in the Appalachian Mountains some 16,000 years ago. Cherokee Indians were the main Native American group of the Southern Appalachian and Blue Ridge region, but there were also Iroquois, Powhatan, and Shawnee people.
There are many traditions that have come from Appalachia that started from the need for self-sufficiency in the mountains. The region is known for handmade quilts, pottery, wood carvings, poetry, writing, and music.
The Appalachian woman archetype is rough, hardened and traditional. Men are the head of the household; women mind the house. The labor of men brings money and professional prestige; women's accomplishments are brushed aside as familial expectations.
Southern American English or Southern U.S. English is a regional dialect or collection of dialects of American English spoken throughout the Southern United States, though concentrated increasingly in more rural areas, and spoken primarily by White Southerners.
Southern American English (SAE) is the most widely recognized regional dialect of American English, but as most of its speakers know, widespread recognition is a mixed blessing.
Documented studies prove that the majority of the Appalachian Mountain people here were about evenly mixed between English, Scots and Scots-Irish.
There is significant biodiversity within the mountain region, with a high number of plants and animal species making the mountains their home. The Appalachians are best known for being a mixed forest, containing a diverse selection of deciduous broadleaf trees.
The Appalachians are named after the Appalachee, a Native American tribe that lived at modern-day Tallahassee, Florida.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the term "Black Irish" referred to Irish people with black hair and dark features who were considered to be descended from Spanish sailors as depicted in Black Irish (folklore).
While Highland Scots are of Celtic (Gaelic) descent, Lowland Scots are descended from people of Germanic stock. During the seventh century C.E., settlers of Germanic tribes of Angles moved from Northumbria in present-day northern England and southeastern Scotland to the area around Edinburgh.
Who are the Scots-Irish? Many Americans of Celtic descent also mistakenly believe they are Irish when in fact they are Scots-Irish. Scots-Irish Americans are descendants of Scots who lived in Northern Ireland for two or three generations but retained their Scottish character and Protestant religion.
Some said it is called a 'hollow” but I disagree. It's always been called a holler. The most common answer was that it is a valley between two mountains. I say that it's too narrow to be a valley. I lived in Graveyard Holler for six years in the 1940s.
No, this doesn't mean to yell. “Holler” to a West Virginian means a remote road or area. Even if you don't “live up a holler,” you definitely know what one is. You folks probably just know it as a “hollow.” The Mountain State's combination of mountains and streams make for quite a few remote areas and lots of hollers!