Do They Really Speak Elizabethan English on Smith Island?
Back to the question of the Islanders dialect. First, everyone has a dialect, whether it’s regional or social. If you don’t think you have a dialect, it’s probably because you have been educated to use Standard English, the prestige dialect of our language!
Dialects result from a number of factors that include settlement patterns (history) and geographical and social isolation. Dialects are often referred to as “accents” in popular parlance.
As a result of being settled almost entirely by English immigrants, and joined by enslaved people from Africa, and being geographically isolated as a peninsula until the construction of the Bay Bridge, and with little mobility, the Eastern Shore of Maryland itself is a specific dialect area, quite apart from Smith Island.
When I was in college, my linguistics professor recognized my Eastern Shore accent although I didn’t think I had one. Since then, my further education and experiences have, I think, eliminated my “accent.” But, perhaps not! Regional and social dialectal differences tend to disappear as a result of standardized education, shared media, and increased mobility.
Smith Island fulfills all the requirements for the formation of a dialect. Settled in the 17th Century by immigrants from the same area of England and isolated by the Bay with little interaction with outsiders until recently, their way of speaking (their dialect) is different even from that of other Eastern Shore speakers.
The primary differences involve vowel sounds. Most simple vowels are lengthened, for example, “down” becomes “done” (long “o”). Other examples of change in vowel sounds: “there” vs. “thar”; “Holland’s Island” vs. “Hallan’s Ahlan.” Sometimes there is an intrusive “r,” as in “cork” for “caulk.” This probably dates back to settlement days, since the Caulktown in Kent County was long referred to locally as Corktown.
Professor Natalie Schilling, a linguistics professor at Georgetown University, has researched the Smith Island dialect and believes it evolved on the island itself. One odd characteristic of the dialect is so-called “talking backwards.” If a man says of his wife, “She ain’t purty none,” it’s not an insult. It means that she is pretty! For some examples spoken by native speakers of the dialect, go to the following websites:
Smith Island Accent: Irony with an Elizabethan Twist
Neither modern nor Shakespearean, Smith Island's English is unique
Sources:
Maryland’s Smith Island, Home to a Vanishing Dialect and Rising Sea Levels
A native of Wicomico County, George Shivers holds a doctorate from the University of Maryland and taught in the Foreign Language Dept. of Washington College for 38 years before retiring in 2007. He is also very interested in the history and culture of the Eastern Shore, African American history in particular.
Common Sense for the Eastern Shore
