{"id":7116,"date":"2023-05-24T11:47:40","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T15:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/planetwordmuseum.org\/?p=7116"},"modified":"2024-05-21T17:38:52","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T21:38:52","slug":"the-d-c-dialect-and-linguistic-diversity-in-d-c-q-a-with-natalie-schilling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwordmuseum.org\/the-d-c-dialect-and-linguistic-diversity-in-d-c-q-a-with-natalie-schilling\/","title":{"rendered":"Linguistic Diversity in the District and the \u201cD.C. Dialect\u201d: Q&A with Natalie Schilling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is the word \u201cmoe\u201d in your vocabulary? How about \u201cjhi\u201d? If so, you\u2019re likely a D.C. local! Like go-go and mambo sauce, these words are part of the lifeblood of Washington, D.C., culture, which most visitors only get a taste of in between excursions to the city\u2019s many historic landmarks and museums. Since 2006, Georgetown University\u2019s Language and Communication in Washington, D.C.<\/a>, (LCDC) project, co-founded by Natalie Schilling, has been dedicated to learning more about the \u201cD.C. dialect\u201d and language used in and around D.C. By speaking with local communities and conducting surveys and interviews, they hope to better understand the region\u2019s cultural and linguistic diversity and give focus to historically understudied communities and language varieties.<\/p>\n

Q: What makes Washington, D.C., such an interesting place to study linguistic diversity?<\/h4>\n

A:<\/strong> D.C. is located at the intersection of several large dialect areas identified in the definitive Atlas of North American English<\/em><\/a> \u2014 the North, Mid-Atlantic, and South \u2014 and our researchers explore the extent to which D.C.-area speech exhibits characteristics of these different varieties. It\u2019s also interesting to study in terms of language and dialect contact: D.C. isn\u2019t just for temporary residents who come and go with changing political tides. It\u2019s also home to longstanding populations with different languages and dialects, for example of African Americans, as well as newer groups from an array of US areas and other countries. Two populations of note in that regard are immigrants from El Salvador and Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

Researchers on the LCDC project are also keenly interested in issues of language and identity: How does language reflect and shape people\u2019s senses of community belonging, including communities based on factors like ethnicity and socioeconomic status as well as practice-based identities like religious congregations and issues-based activist groups? We\u2019re also concerned with how language and dialect change intersect with sociocultural and socioeconomic change in D.C., especially the interrelation between language variation and the gentrification that has increasingly transformed the city over the past several decades. Finally, we explore how D.C. residents talk about language and identity: What do they think of local dialects, what do they see as important features of \u2018D.C. Speak,\u2019 and what do they think constitutes an authentic identity as a D.C. native?<\/p>\n

Q: How do you define the \u201cD.C. dialect,\u201d and what are some of its main characteristics?<\/h4>\n

A:<\/strong> As with any large urban area, it\u2019s difficult to talk about THE dialect, since there\u2019s so much linguistic diversity within D.C. Given the importance of African Americans in the D.C. linguistic and cultural landscape, many people equate the D.C. dialect with D.C. African American Language (AAL). Even if we focus in on this variety, our research has revealed a rich array of variation within D.C. AAL. For example, people from different D.C. neighborhoods and in different types of professions use language in different ways. And, as with all of us, D.C. residents vary the ways they talk from situation to situation, for example, in a professional business setting vs. at a casual weekend gathering with family and friends.<\/p>\n

Q: We feature several local words like \u201cmoe\u201d and \u201cjhi\u201d in the museum. What are some other words that originated in or are unique to the D.C. area?<\/h4>\n

A:<\/strong> Below is a list of a few D.C. words. It\u2019s important to remember that dialect features can be found not only in vocabulary (or lexicon) but also in terms of pronunciations (accent features) and grammar. For example, a feature of D.C. AAL that people often comment on is the pronunciation of words like \u2018Maryland\u2019 and \u2018carry-out\u2019 as something like \u2018Murraland\u2019 and \u2018curry-out.\u2019 It\u2019s also important to understand that while all dialects are unique, they can still share some features with other dialects: You\u2019re likely to hear \u2018Murraland\u2019 in Baltimore, not just D.C.; and the word \u2018jont\u2019 has a Philadelphia variant, \u2018jawn.\u2019<\/p>\n

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  • Bama<\/strong>\/bamma <\/strong>\u2014\u00a0noun<\/em>. Someone who doesn\u2019t know how to dress or act; country; out of style; someone who can\u2019t dress or is uncool<\/li>\n
  • Jont <\/strong>\u2014\u00a0noun<\/em>. A place; a word used to describe something (ex. referring to a car: \u201cThat jont is fast\u201d; a thing\/ anything<\/li>\n
  • Lunchin <\/strong>\u2014 \u00a0<\/em>Tripping; Off one\u2019s rocker; Something crazy; Acting a fool<\/li>\n
  • Siced <\/strong>\u2014 adj<\/em>. Hyped up; Instigating; Excited\/ pumped\/ ready to go; Happy<\/li>\n
  • Vicious <\/strong>\u2014 adj<\/em>. Bad in a good way, referring to looks, food, experience of any kind; good; cool<\/li>\n
  • Wellin\u2019\u00a0<\/strong>\u00ad<\/em>\u2014 Telling a lie<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Q: How is the D.C. dialect being impacted by changing city demographics and gentrification?<\/h4>\n

    A:<\/strong> As just noted, there\u2019s really no such thing as THE D.C. dialect, since there\u2019s so much variation within D.C., by ethnicity, social class, neighborhood, gender, age, speech situation, etc., etc. However, our research team has found that as D.C. is increasingly impacted by the speech of gentrifiers coming in from outside areas, some groups of D.C. residents are using fewer features of local \u2018D.C. Speak\u2019 such as \u2018r-less\u2019 pronunciations (as in \u2018sistuh\u2019 for \u2018sister\u2019) and the pronunciation of words like \u2018time\u2019 and \u2018tide\u2019 as \u2018tam\u2019 and \u2018tad.\u2019 It tends to be more common for women than men to move away from using local D.C. features toward other language norms; in addition, people in certain D.C. neighborhoods like the iconic Southeast tend to hold onto local features more so than people in other parts of the city.<\/p>\n

    Q: Washington, D.C., has a large Deaf community thanks in part to the presence of Gallaudet University. Can you say anything about the impact or presence of signed languages like American Sign Language (ASL) in the district?<\/h4>\n

    A:<\/strong> The linguistic and sociolinguistic study of Washington, D.C., is greatly enriched by Gallaudet University researchers, and the linguistic landscape of the city is made much richer through incorporation of signed as well as spoken languages and dialects. Sociolinguistic study of signed languages shows that the same types of social factors that influence spoken dialects also impact variation in signed languages. For example, just as African Americans have developed a linguistically distinctive and culturally important dialect of spoken English, so too is there a distinctive Black American Sign Language that serves as an important signal of community belonging for Deaf African Americans. We highly recommend the book The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL<\/em><\/a>, by Carolyn McCaskill, Ceil Lucas, Robert Bayley, and Joseph Hill, as well as the film Signing Black in America: The Story of Black ASL<\/em><\/a>, produced by the Language and Life Project at North Carolina State University, for more on this vibrant language variety and its rich history.<\/p>\n