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Author ORCID Identifier
N/A
AccessType
Open Access Dissertation
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
English
Year Degree Awarded
2017
Month Degree Awarded
September
First Advisor
Emily J. Lordi
Subject Categories
Literature in English, North America
Abstract
This dissertation investigates the linguistic construction of race and place in turn-of-the-century American novels and short stories. Literary analyses of character speech continue to reinforce the old dichotomy of Standard versus nonstandard/dialectal English. I challenge the ideology of Standard English in my readings of works by Mark Twain, Charles Chesnutt, Sarah Orne Jewett, and little-known Cherokee author, Ora V. Eddleman Reed, among others. I argue that these texts create their own standards that interact with (and sometimes resist) the language ideology of their time. By analyzing all variation, rather than only what has been traditionally viewed as “dialect,” I reveal the nuanced ways in which texts construct race, region, class, and gender. I argue for the significance of spelling and punctuation—orthography—in character speech, a key technology for creating and sustaining language ideology in fiction.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/10691086.0
Recommended Citation
Overfelt, Carly, "Dialogue and "Dialect": Character Speech in American Fiction" (2017). Doctoral Dissertations. 1115.
https://doi.org/10.7275/10691086.0
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1115