Dialects in the United States

Name______Date______

Arthur the Rat

1. Listen to “Arthur the Rat” without looking place the correct readers in order

1st: ___ / a. a. Older white woman from Brooklyn w/ college education
2nd: ___ / b. Young black woman from Boston w/ high school education
3rd: ___ / c. Old black man from Memphis w/ college education
4th: ___ / d. Older white male from Washington State w/ high-school education
5th: ___ / e. Older white man from Maine w/ high-school education
6th: ___ / f. White woman from Wisconsin w/ college education
7th: ___ / g. Middle-aged white woman from Georgia w/ college education
8th: ___ / h. White male from Texas w/ high school education
9th: ___ / i. Middle-aged white male from Virginia w/ high school education

2. How many were you able to accurately guess the regional dialect?_____ What factor about the dialect “gave it away”? ______

3. Which person sounded most like someone you know? ______Explain.______

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4. Other than geography, what other characteristics do you think affect language dialects? ______Why?______

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5. Choose one of the above characters and tell me something distinctive about their voice.______

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Dialects: American Regional (http://accent.gmu.edu/ )

Region / Description of Reader / Pronunciation of One Word / Pace

Once you are finished listen to other English speakers read from around the world. List the countries you listen to.

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Whose accent do you like most? ______

Gullah (http://www.knowitall.org/gullahnet/main/index.html, http://www.pbs.org/now/arts/gullah.html,)

1. Where is the Gullah culture?______

2. What is the difference in Gullah and Geechee?______

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3. Which area of Africa are most of the Gullah from? ______

4. What were the major crops grown in the Gullah area of South Carolina before the Civil War? ______

5. After the Civil War, what situation provided an opportunity for the Gullah culture to be preserved? ______

6. After 1950, how did life on the Sea Islands change?______

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7. Describe the roots of the Gullah language.______

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8. Which languages influenced Gullah?______

9. In which language family would you place Gullah? ______

10. Can you understand Auntie Pearl Sue’s whole story?______If not, could you follow part of the story? ______Which part was harder to follow? ______

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11. Did Auntie Pearl Sue’s story differ from the traditional English story? _____How? ______

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12. How has the language and dialect of Gullah people had the opportunity to be preserved historically?______

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13. How many Gullah people are there, and on what islands do they live?______

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14. Why were the ancestors of the Gullah people, slaves, more isolated than other slaves in the South? ______

15. How has their physical and cultural landscape impacted the maintenance of their culture (ex. Language, lifestyle, food)? ______

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16. Why is the Gullah culture in jeopardy? ______

17. How has the value of the land changed? ______

18. How has this culture turned into a commodity?______

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Adapted from Akwete McAlister’s lesson on Dialects in the United States