{"id":10399,"date":"2018-05-29T10:10:35","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T14:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/currents\/?p=10399"},"modified":"2024-05-21T15:54:08","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T19:54:08","slug":"ocracoke-brogue-for-dingbatters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/ocracoke-brogue-for-dingbatters\/","title":{"rendered":"Ocracoke Brogue for Dingbatters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Chester Lynn, left, is an\u00a0O\u2019cocker, or Ocracoke native. Sociolinguist Walt Wolfram, right, began studying the island\u2019s brogue 20 years ago. <\/em><\/p>\n

To sociolinguist Walt Wolfram, North Carolina is a \u201cdialect heaven<\/a>,\u201d potentially offering more dialect variation than any other state. While the brogue spoken on Ocracoke Island may sound similar to other Outer Banks dialects, certain features are distinctive to the island. You can learn more about the history and evolution of Ocracoke\u2019s brogue in this story from the Winter 2018 issue<\/a> of\u00a0Coastwatch<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Below is a brief guide to Ocracoke brogue vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. For a deeper dive, check out Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks: The Story of the Ocracoke Brogue<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(UNC Press), by Wolfram and Natalie Schilling-Estes.\u00a0For middle-school lesson plans developed by NC State faculty members Jeffrey Reaser and Walt Wolfram, visit\u00a0Voices of North Carolina Dialect Awareness Curriculum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"VOCABULARY 101<\/h3>\n

buck (n.):<\/strong> A good friend, usually male. A female friend may be a puck<\/em>.<\/p>\n

call the mail over (v. phrase):<\/strong> Distribute the mail.<\/p>\n

dingbatter (n.):<\/strong> A nonnative of Ocracoke or the Outer Banks.<\/p>\n

foreigner (n.):<\/strong> An off-islander.<\/p>\n

meehonkey (n.):<\/strong> A game of hide-and-seek played by earlier generations of children on Ocracoke Island, or a call used while playing this game.<\/p>\n

mommuck (v.):<\/strong> To harass or bother.<\/p>\n

O\u2019cocker (n.):<\/strong> A person born and raised on Ocracoke; a native as opposed to a nonnative resident.<\/p>\n

Ocracoke (n.):<\/strong> The name of the island, probably derived originally from the Algonquian word waxihikami<\/em>, meaning \u201cenclosed place or fort.\u201d Through misspelling and English-like pronunciation, the word became Wococon<\/em> and, eventually, Ocracoke<\/em>. In one popular island legend, Ocracoke comes from the phrase, \u201cOh, crow cock,\u201d which was spoken by the infamous pirate Blackbeard as he waited to do battle at sunrise with the governor\u2019s forces that had come to capture him.<\/p>\n

quamished (adj.):<\/strong> Sick to the stomach.<\/p>\n

slick cam (n.):<\/strong> A very calm water, typically used with reference to the sound waters, as in, \u201cIt was a slick cam out there today.\u201d Cam<\/em> is pronounced so that is rhymes with ram. Also slick calm<\/em>.<\/p>\n

water fire (n.\/v.):<\/strong> Light that appears on the surface of a body of swampy water at night, caused by gases released by decaying plant matter.<\/p>\n

In this this video<\/a>, O\u2019cockers offer examples of how to use these vocab words.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

GRAMMAR 101<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>A-<\/em> prefixing<\/strong>: An a-<\/em> prefix is sometimes attached to verbs that end in -ing<\/em>. For O\u2019cockers, this use is usually limited to emphasis when telling an animated story. Precise rules govern where the a-<\/em> can be added. The word that follows must be a verb, as in, \u201cHe was a-chasin\u2019<\/em> the cat.\u201d The prefix also cannot follow preposition. For instance, an O\u2018cocker might say, \u201cThey make money a-fishing<\/em>,\u201d but not, \u201cThey make money from a-fishin.\u2019<\/em>\u201d In addition, the a-<\/em> must be used with a verb whose accent is on the first syllable, as in, \u201cShe was a-hollering<\/em> at the dog,\u201d but not, \u201cShe was a-discovering<\/em> the cave.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Be ~ Weren\u2019t<\/em><\/strong>: For negative sentences in the past tense, the Ocracoke brogue uses weren\u2019t<\/em> for all subjects, as in, \u201cThe dog weren\u2019t<\/em> here.\u201d For affirmative sentences in the past tense, was<\/em> is used, as in, \u201cThe dog was<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

For O\u2019cockers, this use of weren\u2019t<\/em> is part of island identity, distinctively used to set an islander apart from someone from the mainland. This feature is still used by some younger speakers.<\/p>\n

Locative to<\/em>:<\/strong> The preposition to<\/em> is used on Ocracoke and the Outer Banks where other dialects use at<\/em> or on<\/em>, as in \u201cShe\u2019s to<\/em> the dock\u201d in response to the question, \u201cWhere is Rena Del?\u201d<\/p>\n

PRONUNCIATION 101<\/h3>\n

The ai<\/em> for ou<\/em>:<\/strong> The vowels in words like sound<\/em> and brown<\/em> may come across like saind<\/em> and brain<\/em>, respectively, and there are cases where outsiders have confused a brown<\/em> pocketbook with a brain<\/em> pocketbook. This pronunciation is unique to the islands of the Outer Banks and Chesapeake Bay in the United States.<\/p>\n

The pronunciation of ar<\/em> for ire<\/em>:<\/strong> An i<\/em> vowel followed by r<\/em>\u00a0sounds like ar<\/em>, as in far<\/em> for fire<\/em>, or tar<\/em> for tire<\/em>. This feature is shared by a number of Southern-based varieties of English.\u00a0Listen to the clip below for an example.\u00a0<\/em>Also watch\u00a0this video<\/a>, in which an O’Cocker shares an anecdote about miscommunication arising from this pronunciation.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\nhttp:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/currents\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/05\/19-_Fire_-Story-from-Ocracoke-Femal.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s a brief guide to vocab, grammar and pronunciation characteristic of the dialect you might hear on Ocracoke Island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":10436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[761],"tags":[],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-10399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-currents"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOcracoke Brogue for Dingbatters - Coastwatch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/ocracoke-brogue-for-dingbatters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ocracoke Brogue for Dingbatters - Coastwatch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s a brief guide to vocab, grammar and pronunciation characteristic of the dialect you might hear on Ocracoke Island.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/ocracoke-brogue-for-dingbatters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Coastwatch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-29T14:10:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-21T19:54:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2018\/12\/Union-City-OklahomaTornadoAlley1973_-_NOAA.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1804\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Shaw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Shaw\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/ocracoke-brogue-for-dingbatters\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/ocracoke-brogue-for-dingbatters\/\",\"name\":\"Ocracoke Brogue for Dingbatters - Coastwatch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/ocracoke-brogue-for-dingbatters\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/ocracoke-brogue-for-dingbatters\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2018\/12\/Union-City-OklahomaTornadoAlley1973_-_NOAA.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-29T14:10:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-21T19:54:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/#\/schema\/person\/9462183c95cb42509aed4d3346e43fe1\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/ocracoke-brogue-for-dingbatters\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/ocracoke-brogue-for-dingbatters\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2018\/12\/Union-City-OklahomaTornadoAlley1973_-_NOAA.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2018\/12\/Union-City-OklahomaTornadoAlley1973_-_NOAA.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":1804,\"caption\":\"Union City, Oklahoma tornado, 1973. 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The pronunciation of the i<\/em> vowel:<\/strong> This is probably one of the most noticeable and iconic pronunciation features. In early modern English, the i<\/em> vowel sounded like uh-ee<\/em> (\u201chigh tide\u201d = h-uh-ee<\/em> t-uh-ee-d<\/em>). Ocracoke English keeps this pronunciation; however, the modern pronunciation of time<\/em> sounds more like toim<\/em>, and side<\/em> more like soid<\/em>. The oy<\/em> sound can become more pronounced when O\u2019cockers perform their dialect for tourists. For an example,\u00a0listen<\/a> to brogue performer Rex O\u2019Neal.<\/em><\/p>\n