WOLF008. Wolfram, Walt. “From the brickhouse to the swamp.” American Language Review July/August 2001: 34-38. Key source

8 photographs

Publication type: Magazine article

This brief, interestingly written article provides an up-to-date introduction to the origins, development, and characteristics of Lumbee English. Listed below are a few interesting points and features from the article:
* Robeson County residents listening to recorded speech samples could correctly identify Lumbee speakers over 80% of the time, confirming Lumbee English as an authentic marker of Lumbee identity;
* Lumbee English has a few distinctive terms (such as yerker, ellick, and juvember) and other terms (such as mommuck, headiness, and fatback) that are also found in other dialects of the Southern coastal plains;
* Lumbee English includes some pronunciations that are similar to Applachian English and Outer Banks (NC) English;
* Unusual grammatical features of Lumbee English include use of finite bes and use of weren't with past tense be;
* The distinct features of Lumbee English are still robust; some are increasing in use.

The article includes a 15-item Lumbee Vocabulary Quiz

This annotation was written on: May 31, 2002; last edited on June 22, 2002.

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