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The Oklahoma dialect, also known as the Okie dialect is the subdialect of American English of the English language spoken by residents of the state of Oklahoma.

It is a byproduct of historic migration of settlers to the state from the Southeastern United States such as Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas with its "country-western" sound in the late 19th century.

There's a known Native American influence in the dialect by the state's over 50 federally recognized tribal groups, some of them maintained or revived its own native languages to this day.

Variants found in the Tulsa area reflect the influences of Northeastern (i.e. New York, New England and Ohio) oilmen, while those in the northwestern part of the state have some more Midwestern (i.e. Kansas, Missouri and Illinois) loanwords and pronunciations.

In Oklahoma City, the arrival of families whose grandparents left in the dust bowl, are "returning" Okies from the West Coast (California) introduced some California English words and phrases in the dialect.

History

The dialect of Oklahoma is a mixture of Midland American English and Southern American English.

Originally the state of Oklahoma was formerly two separate territories, the Oklahoma Territory and the Indian Territory. As the Oklahoma territory was opened to white settlement in the late 19th century settlers came primarily from the Midwest and upper Midwest, bringing a more Midland flavor to their language.

The Indian Territory initially had few white settlers. The Native Americans had adopted a more southern culture, and with it a more Southern dialect.

Twang

The Okie Accent is largely characterized by a twang which is the pronunciation of a word with elongated vowels and adding of extra syllables to increase the length of the sound of the words which serve to create a drawl. i.e., the word "get" would be stretched out in a complex but subtle pronunciation of "gee-ut-ah", someone unfamiliar with the dialect or not listening closely would hear simply "git".

Lexicon

Some words used in rural Oklahoma but not in many other American English dialects (or with different meanings) are:

• tump or tip over a container to empty the contents, (tah-uum-pah)
• wallered-out or , increase of a circumference (wah'-lurd-ah a-yo-tah)
• pertneer or , almost, (purt-neer)
• dasent or , dare not

In Culture

John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath using an Okie dialect for the main characters. He consulted Farm Security Administration reports written by Tom Collins as a source for the dialect. The musical Lady in the Dark used a spoken Okie dialect.

Recordings of the Okie accent

• Characters: Will Parker, Ado Annie, in the Movie Oklahoma
• Songs: Okie from Muskogee by Merle Haggard, a country single in the 1960s.

Notes

1. ^ Southard, Bruce. "Speech Patterns". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
2. (Benson, p. 81)
3. (Steinbeck, Woolenburg p. ix)
4. (Davis, p. 139)
5. (McClung, p. 160)

References

• Benson, Jackson (2002). Looking for Steinbeck's Ghost. University of Nevada Press. p. 248. ISBN 9780874174977.
• Davis, Clark (2002). The Human Tradition in California. Rowman and Littlefield. p. 253. ISBN 9780842050272. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• McClung, Bruce (2007). Lady in the Dark: Biography of a Musical. Oxford University Press US. p. 274. ISBN 9780195120127.
• Southard, Bruce. "Speech Patterns". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
• Steinbeck, John (2002). The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath. Heyday Books. p. 64. ISBN 9781890771614. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

Further reading

• Okie Dictionary, ISBN 0965387410, Authors: Stoney Hardcastle. Publisher: Indian Nations Pub, 1995
• Tillery, J.(1992). The Locus of Linguistic Innovation in Oklahoma Ph.D. Dissertation, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. pp. 125
• Wikle, Thomas (1997). "Oklahomy Folks Says 'em Different": Axes of Linguistic Variation in Oklahoma". Chronicles of Oklahoma. 75 (1). Oklahoma Historical Society. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

External links

• International Dialects of English Archive: Dialects Of Oklahoma
• Dialect Survey Results: OKLAHOMA
• The Spatial Diffusion of Linguistic Features in Oklahoma (PDF)
• The Perception of Oklahoma Speech (PDF)

• American English
• Oklahoma culture