LOCK001. Locklear, Hayes A.; Natalie Schilling-Estes, Walt Wolfram, and Clare J. Dannenberg. A dialect dictionary of Lumbee English. Raleigh, NC; The North Carolina Language and Life Project, North Carolina State U, June 1996. 18 pages.

Publication type: Unpublished report

Gives a sampling of vocabulary words from Lumbee English. The choices are a mixture of words found only among the Lumbee, words found in other isolated areas, and words commonly used in the South. For each word, provides part of speech, a definition, and a sentence illustrating its use. Some examples include a- (prefix for verbs or adverbs ending in -ing), buddy row, conjure, cuz, ellick, I'm (used as a contructed form of I have), jubous, juvember, kiver (older pronunciation of cover), lighterd, Lum, malahack, mommuck (up), pocosin, pure arnt, pyert, shet (of), and toten.

In the introduction, the authors point out that although the Lumbee do not use only words that no other group uses, their dialect does include some words, pronunciations, and ways of combining words that are not used by whites or African Americans in Robeson County. The authors add that “Lumbee English shares the vast majority of its dialect features with other Southern English dialects, particularly Appalachian. In many ways, it is the distinct set of features rather than unique features that distinguishes this dialect from other dialects of English.”

Includes “The Official Lumbee Vocabulary Test.” 

This annotation was edited on: June 5, 2002

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