Speech Patterns in Northern WV

In early December, I got a letter from a Meghan Chiampa, of the Island of Somerbridge/Camberville, MA, asking: "Do people talk differently there?"


Well, yes Meghan, there is a dialect.


I am not going to do this justice, but it's something I've been wanting to write about for several months (my first attempt to blog about it was on 9/25/07, a little more than a month after moving, however, I felt that I didn't have enough to work with and banked it for another time). I had a big plan to collect data and evidence, but it's hard to stop someone mid-conversation so that I can jot down their unusual way of speaking so that I can point it out later on in a public forum.

But, there is a specific dialect and vernacular here in WV that deserves a bit of attention. Wikipedia calls it Pittsburghese. However, I think what people speak here is just a little set apart from Pittsburgh English, simply because here most people speak with a pretty distinct southern accent. However, the specifics are nearly identical.

I would say that the most common bit of creative phrase-work around here is need/want/like + past-tense, dropping the "to be." I hear this combination every single day and everyone originally from here uses it. Here are some examples I've heard: "My coffee needs warmed," "my oil needs changed," "Mike said he wants picked up at three," the best one: "I said, if he has anything that needs biopsy-ed, he should just buck up and get it done."

I hear stuff like this every day, and have jokingly let it into our home, most commonly with: "Aaron, the dang dog needs walked!" However, we tread a bit lightly here, because we both know that things like this can become a bit habit forming.

Another, less common, dialectical trait is the use of "anymore." I've only heard this a handful of times. It goes something like this: "He always takes his lunch early anymore." Meaning, lately he's been taking his lunch early. (Can you tell I do most of my linguistic analysis at work?)

I am going to try to be more diligent about taking notes when I hear something interesting and I'll report back.

ps - people also seem to use the word "choosy" here a lot, but I can't tell if that is a regional thing. They say things like: "I'm choosy when it comes to ..." or "she's real choosy about how she wants that."