Talk:Appalachian English

While I am not personally a speaker of any of the varieties of English found in Appalachia, this is a topic that I find fascinating. Reading through this talk page as well as looking into some of the existing linguistic research, I have realized that there is a fair amount of controversy over how the boundaries for this variety should be drawn. There are even some linguists who believe that the whole variation of Appalachian English might not exist at all given the huge variety of dialects spoken in this area of the country. There are many sources about this topic, but I will link a couple down below that I found interesting.

Is There an "Appalachian English"?- http://www.jstor.org/stable/40932575?seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents

Yet Again: The Midland Dialect - http://www.jstor.org/stable/455860 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mbooneroberts (talk • contribs) 18:26, 27 February 2018 (UTC)

Hi Mbooneroberts. I am your fellow ANTH 383 classmate and chose your article to peer review. I have a few suggestions for the article and thought it would be nice to have them on the article's talk page.

Overall, the article was very strong. It had comprehensive coverage of different aspects of this language variety (grammar, lexicon, phonology, etc.), and seemed to give fairly balanced and neutral coverage. Here are my suggestions/comments going through the article:

• The first sentence was a good definition sentence to start out the lead section.
• The second sentence of the lead section was a run-on and hard to follow--you might consider breaking this up or not including so much material.
• In all, the lead section was a bit too detailed for an opening. The types of Appalachian English and its relatives could have its own section in the body, but the lead section might be better used to go over the main points of the rest of the article. This, I think, will help the reader better follow what's going on.
• In that regard, the second paragraph of the lead section would be great for the beginning of the "Origins" section.
• The third paragraph of the lead section seems to belong in its own section, perhaps on the social role and realities of Appalachian English (now we're getting into sociolinguistics territory).

Now on to the "Phonology" section ...

• This section has some great details, but the "Phonetics" subsection would benefit from an introductory sentence that clues the reader in to what follows.
• Both subsections have material that is not cited. Most of the time, the uncited content is not imperative to the article, and can be easily deleted.
• The 4th bullet of the "Phonetics" subsection is referring to the PIN/PEN merger--it would be good to make this explicit.
• As a reader I am not immediately certain about how the content of the "Phonetics" and "Phonemic Incidence" subsections is different--maybe you could clarify this with introductory sentences or merge the two subsections?

Now on to "Grammar" ...

• This section might also benefit from a very brief introductory sentence.
• Maybe you could add an example sentence for the "To Be" subsection?
• The "Other Verb Forms" subsection has a lot of missing citations.
• The "Liketa" subsection might fit slightly better in the "Lexicon" section--however, this might not be ideal since there is much more detail about this particular word than the other words included. Maybe you could reprise the word in the "Lexicon" section?
• The "Pronouns and Demonstratives" subsection doesn't have any citations.
• Finally, the "Origins" and "Ozarks" sections are well-done, but I feel like they would fit better at the beginning.

In all, this article presents a good summary of Appalachian English and is fairly Encyclopedia-like. The biggest themes for change are adding introductory sentences where necessary and making sure things are properly cited. I hope this helped, and I look forward to seeing the final product! Sparks9714 (talk) 00:35, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

...Why... thank you? Wolfdog (talk) 02:01, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

The Appalachian (and Scottish Standard) dialects use the past participle following some verbs (need, e.g.).

https://ygdp.yale.edu/phenomena/needs-washed GrammarBroad (talk) 03:09, 9 March 2024 (UTC)

Is "and"/"an'" as a conjunction introducing a conditional, equivalent to "if", a feature preserved in Appalachian English? I know that it is extinct in almost all dialects, but I have a vague memory of learning that it could still be found in Appalachian English. On the other hand, I might be misremembering, and it is difficult to search for sources on this topic. Anyway, if it is preserved, the article should mention that, and I would be willing to help with the addition; if not, please disregard this comment. 166.181.83.59 (talk) 19:12, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Appalachian dialect region of United States.png

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 01:21, 14 June 2025 (UTC)

This article has a good variety of sources with working links/clear directions to get to those articles. However, there seems to be a lack of sources from the 2000's onwards, with most being from the late 20th century. Although they still have relevant information, I believe with the constant state of change dialect is in, it is important to include some input from newer sources that may have insight about changing ideals within Appalachian English. Krang05 (talk) 22:47, 6 February 2026 (UTC)