Date:  Wed, 8 Oct 1997 14:10:43 EDT
From:  Michael Montgomery <N270053[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]VM.SC.EDU>
Subject: Dialect in Literature

With regard to the use of dialect in literature, I don't believe anyone
has mentioned the following very useful book-length work:

   Burkett, Eva M. 1978. American English dialects in literature.
   Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow.

also I might refer to the lengthy chapter of 149 items in my _Annotated
Bibliography of Southern American English_. This includes unpublished
dissertations and theses.

Graham Shorrocks has a very useful recent essay on the distinction
between "dialect in literature" and "literary dialect" in the memorial
volume for Ossi Ihalainen, edited by Matti Rissanen et al. in the
Bamberg monograph series on English linguistics.

Sali, don't be so shocked that Twain and Faulkner and authors of
similar stature were so heavily dependent on stereotyping. They
knew that this is what their audiences expected. However, a case
can be made that they were more successful in differentiating
characters and styles through representing dialect; for references,
see a number of works in the aforementioned bibliographies.

Michael Montgomery
Dept of English
Univ of South Carolina
Columbia SC 29208