This thesis describes a study conducted by Kerns to
determine whether there are variations in the use of twenty lexical
items (words and phrases chosen from A Dialect Dictionary of Lumbee
English, 1999, and collected from native speakers) by a sample of
older adult, middle-aged, and young Lumbee speakers in Pembroke and
Prospect. The Lumbee Lexical Item Assessment Survey was given
to 120 subjects, divided evenly by gender and among the three age groups.
For each age group, half were from Pembroke and half from Prospect.
Demographic information (age, gender, educational level, occupation,
and number of years residing in the community) was collected. The survey
information was tape-recorded and was also noted on a survey form.
For each of the twenty Lumbee lexical items, participants
were asked to give a definition of the word or phrase. If they were
unable to do so, they were then asked to select the meaning from 3 multiple-choice
definitions. If still unsure of the meaning, the participant was asked
to use the word in a sentence.
The lexical items are as follows: Lum, toten, on the
swamp, yerker, juvember, ellick, mommuck, sorry in the world, jubious,
pow wow, ceiver up, big meeting, reckon, gyarb, orta notta, hope-m-clare,
frock, sweetnins, middlin’ meat, and doast.
Analysis of the results revealed that middle-aged and
older adults used more of the survey items than younger people; use
of the items did not differ among Prospect vs. Pembroke residents; there
were no gender differences; and middle-aged speakers did not differ
from older speakers.
Suggestions for future research include use of lexical
items specific to the communities and inclusion of speakers from other
Robeson County communities.
