Mapping Regional Dialects during the Civil War
University of Georgia Professor Stephen Berry discussed his work on the digital history project, “Private Voices,” which gathers, transcribes, and digitizes letters written during the Civil War. He used specific examples from these letters to discuss the regional dialects at that time.
Description
University of Georgia Professor Stephen Berry discussed his work on the digital history project, “Private Voices,” which gathers, transcribes, and digitizes letters written during the Civil War. He used specific examples from these letters to discuss the regional dialects at that time.
Bell Ringer Assignment
- What is meant by phonetic writing? How does this help Professor Berry "hear what a Civil War soldier sounds like?"
- According to Professor Berry, how does the lack of migration from regional communities relate to the language that they use?
- Using an example from the clip, explain the geographic distribution of a word used in a specific region.
- From the examples discussed by Professor Berry, how do the meanings of specific words during the Civil War compare to their meanings now.
Additional Resource
Participants
Vocabulary
- Civil War
- Confederate Army
- Dixie
- Linguistic
- Phonetic
- Prefix
- Pronunciation
- Regional Dialect
- Transitionally Literate
- Union Army