Dialect- a way of speaking characteristic of a particular region or a particular group of people. It is used to differentiate one person from another. It includes the sounds, grammar, and diction specifically used by the group being portrayed by the author in the novel . For example, characteristics of how a higher class would speak would be different from people in a lower class. Writers would do this to compare both classes and/or ethnicity, therefore showing the contrast in their behaviors, decisions etc. Dialect is an important element in a novel because it can be used as a tool to distinguish between characters and their dialect allows their personality to come through. In addition, dialect can tell you many things about the setting of the novel. Such the ethnicity of the characters, the time period, and what type of person the author is trying to portray. An example of the importance of dialect in the summer reading is in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston uses language that was commonly used during her time among African-Americans. This type of dialect allows us to distinguish and imagine what type of characters are talking. For example, she replaces "you" with "yuh" and "that" with "dat". This change in dialect, allows us the readers to see who is talking and what social class they come from by the way they are talking. This picture I found may help you out:
For me, the amount of detail you went into really helped my understanding of dialect. Also, the components of dialect are good to know. Dialect definitely plays a huge roll in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Also, dialect was important in To Kill a Mockingbird too.
ReplyDeleteWell done!
I liked how much detail you went into it helped my understanding of dialect. I agree that dialect played a VERY important part in There Eyes Were Watching God. I also liked your comic.
ReplyDeleteYour explanation of why dialects are used was very thoughtful. For another example of dialect, there was a big contrast in how the different social groups talked in the novel 1984. The highest social group was even making a new language by eliminating and combining words together. Maybe that can't be exactly classified as a different dialect but its close.
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