Notes on the Language of the Bedford, Pennsylvania, Subarea
1953; Duke University Press; Volume: 28; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/453662
ISSN1527-2133
Autores Tópico(s)Linguistics and language evolution
ResumoONE OF the results of the detailed studies of American speech in recent years is a growing recognition of the inaccuracy of such time-honored phrases as 'New England vocabulary,' 'Southern accent,' or 'Western drawl.' The larger divisions are being replaced by smaller, scientifically established 'areas.' For example, there is, as Kurath says, 'an extensive Midland speech area that lies between the traditionally recognized and areas. This Midland area, which is linguistically distinct from the Northern and Southern areas and is in part set off by sharp boundaries, corresponds to the Pennsylvania settlement area.'1 Moreover, within these more restricted 'areas' it is frequently possible to distinguish still smaller 'subareas.' Thus, within the Midland area occur, among others, a Delaware Bay and a Pennsylvania German (hereafter, PaG) subarea. It is the purpose of this article to offer some observations on the language of a certain part of the Pennsylvania settlement area which I propose to call the 'Bedford subarea.'2 By 'Bedford subarea' I mean a large part of the territory contained in Bedford County as it was originally established. In I771 all of the province of Pennsylvania lying west of Tuscarora Mountain was separated from Cumberland County and set up as Bedford County. Almost immediately, large segments of this new district were cut away as Northumberland and Westmoreland counties. Further subdivision created the counties of Huntingdon (1787), Somerset (1795), Blair (1846), and Fulton (1850). My observations are restricted to these counties together with the parent county--the south-central
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