Luận văn linguistic features of american english in the adventures of tom sawyer by mark twain

1 |[TaMel | Phonological features related to consonants of Southwestem |16 American English 2 ‘Table 2 Phonological features related to vowels of Southwestern 34 American English in the

ĐỖ THỊ PHƯƠNG MAT

LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF AMERICAN-ENGLISH

IN "THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER" BY

MARK TWAIN

(Đặc điểm ngôn ngữ của tiếng Anh Mỹ trong "Những cuộc

phiêu lưu cia Tom Sawyer" cia Mark Twain)

M.A THESIS:

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15

Hanoi — 2010

NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIKS

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

ĐÔ THỊ PHƯƠNG MAI

LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF AMERICAN-ENGLISH

IN "THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER" BY

MARK TWAIN

(Dặc điểm ngôn ngữ của tiếng Anh Mỹ trong "Những cuộc

phiêu lưu của Tom Sawyer" cia Mark Twain)

MLA THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 60.22.15 Supervisor: M.A., Van Thi Thanh Binh

Hanoi - 2010

1 |[TaMel | Phonological features related to consonants of Southwestem |16

American English

2 ‘Table 2 Phonological features related to vowels of Southwestern 34

American English in the novel

3 |Table 3 | Phonological features related to consonants of Southwestern | 35

American English in the novel

4 | Tabled | Phonological features related fo connected speech of 36

Southwestem American Lnglish in the novel

3 |Table S | Grarnmatical features of American Timglish im Mark Twain's |38

Tom Sawyer

6 | Tableé | Slang words in utterances of characters belonging to different | 43

social classes

7 |Yable7 | Distribution of colloquial features in the novel 44

8 — [Tabe8 | Colloquial features in the novel displayed by a variety of a7

ll Table 11 Tixample 1: because vs becuz SI

12 Table 12 Tixample 2: Afaid vs Afeard s3

13 Table 13 Txample 3 > Knowed vs Knew 54

Figures

1 |Figmel | The Southwestem American English vowel shift 17

2 — |Eigwe2 | Colloquial features in Twain's characters’ speech 5

1 Rationale ese 1

2 Aims of the sludy 2

3 Scope of the study 13

1 2, Features of standard language

1.2 Dialect

1.2.1 Definition of dialzel

1 2 2 Levels of dialects 7

1 3 American English H 1.1.1 AnErican English - a dialect of British English e.e 11

1 2 Features of American English dialect 12

1 4, Southwestern American English 14

1 4 1 Phonological features of Southwastern American English 4

1 4, 2, Grammatical features of Southwestern American English .LỂ

1 5 2 The novel “The adventures af Torn Sawyer"

Ceara 2: P^SCU3STOVS AitD PTMDTHOS

2 1 Linguistic features of American Lnglish in characters’ utterences

2.1.1, Phonological features of Arneriean English -

2.1.2, Grammatical features of American English

2.1.3, Lexical features of American English

2 2 Linguistic peculiarities of American English in characters! utterences

3.3.1 Linguistic peculiarities of American English in characters’ utterences

2.2.2 Linguistic peculiarities of American English as a means of characterisation

PART 3: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION

1 Issucs addressed in the study

2.Issues not addressed in the study

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Language is a communicative means and also a social phenomenon 1Juman beings use language to communicate among themselves as well as to construct the world around them

The study of language, therefore, should be the study of language in usc A language,

however, is not realized in only one but in a variety of forms among which one form can be considered the standard one while others are the non-standard or dialects of the slandard one

(Wolftam, 1991) The study of one language, therefore, should include not only the so-called

standard but also other variations of this language

Nowadays, English, ant international language uscd in many paris of the world and

almost every aspect of lite, exists in more than ten big group variations, among which

Anerican English is particularly influential due to the U.S.'s dominant in the world economy The study of American Enghsh is, therefore, of interest of many people and also the author of

this thesis

Additionally, literature is "a body of written works related by subject-matter, by

language or place of origin, or hy prevailing cultural standards of meret." (Peler Widlowsen,

1998) Laterature is an art that adopts language as its form and its means Language of literature

works, hence, has been the subject of many studies by linguists because it presents particularly

the relation of language and culture It is not only the language of art but also the language of

life The author hopes to reveal all these relations through this thesis, consequently

It is also essential to provide an explanation why Mark ‘I'wain and his work, "The

adventures wf Tam Sawyer" are chosen Firstly, Mark Twain is considered the "first ‘rudy!

American writer." (Howell, 1967) Early 19° century American writers tend to be too flowery, sentimental or ostentatious, partial because they were irying to prove that they could write as clegantly as the English Nevertheless, together with the country development in almost every aspect of life and the national self-confidence spirit, American writers sooner or later realized thal they rust have their own American Hileralure which is quite separated ftom the one of English And Mark Twain is regarded as "she Lincoln of our Iiteratwe" (Howells), the one that revolutionaries American literature Additionally, Van Spanckeren (1994: 78) argues that

their national voice" Tn facl, many critics comment on the high level of accuracy of Mark

Twain m recording various dialeels making i possibl: "to present his characters im a truthful

Fight to the reader in a language that is both vivid and clear at the same time" Furthermore, Twain is considered a realistic writer (Iligh, 1986, Gerber, 1993; Van Spanckren, 1994 and

Wonham, 1996) whe has the ability to give an accurate description of the nation's cxpcricncc

“its soul, its life, its speech, its thought” Clwain 1895 cited in Wonham, 1996: 1) Following

the realistic dimension, Twain claims in the preface to "The Adventures af Tom Sawyer"

(p 1) that almost all the events in the novel really occurred and that characters are inspired by

people he knew In fact, if events and characters are drawn ‘fom life, it is likely that the

language spoken by eharact:

2 Aims of the study

‘This study aims to investigate the linguistic features of American Linglish in characters’ uflcrances in Mark Twain's Tor Sawyer,

To realize this aim, the answers for the two following research questions are sought

out:

1 What are the linguistic features of American Englivh in characters’ utterances in

Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer?

2 To what extent the characters in the novel share these linguistic features?

3 Scope of the study

For the limitation of the time, reference books and other constraints faced by the

author, this thesis canmot cover all linguistic features of American English in Mark ‘lwain's

Tom Sawyer This study, tharefore, will focus on analyzing and idontifying cerlain linguistic fEaunes of Soullweslern American-Fnglish presented in the novel inchiding phonological, grammatical and lexical features of Southwestem American- English

Additionally, within this M.A thesis, only characters' utterances are investigated to find out the linguistic featwes of American English in the novel without conceming the variety used by the narrator

4 Methodology

First of all, it is noticeable that in the process of the study, both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed ‘Ihe former is used in the form of listing and the latter is used in the form of analyving the lingnistie [saluwes

Additionally, the theoretical background in chapter 1 relics on the published literature

on the concepts of standard language, dialect and levels of dialect, American English together with a brief introduction lo Mark Twain and kis novel "The adventures of Tom Sawyer."

Last but not least, the analysis of lnguistic features of American English is merely

based on Wolfram W& Schiling-Ustes, N.'s framework (1998) about linguistic features of

Sonthwestor American English slated in 1.4 in the first chapter “Theoretical background” of part IL

In this main part, the author starts with the analysis of linguistic features of American

an the novel with the

English in terms of phonology, graromar, and lexis in charaotors' spe

application of idealisation Then the author attempts to investigate whether there are differences among the characters of the novel as far as their use of language is concerned to look for a possible conclation betweon the characters’ sociat background and their use of

language.

This part comprises Ihe rationale, scope, aims, molhodology, and design of the study

Purt 2: Development

This is the main part consisting of two chapters

Chapter 1: Theoretical background

This chapter is proscrved to give the basic theorctical background of the study It includes an overview about standard language, dialects, American English, and Southwestern American English Additionally, corlain information aboul Mark Twain, his works and spocifically the novel "The adventures of Tom Sawyer” is cluded,

Chapter 2: Linguistic features of American English in Mark twain's Tom Sawyer

dialects in "The

Chapter 2 is the hoart, of the thesis which investigates American Fnglis

adventures of Tom Sawyer.” in terms of phonology, grammar and lexis The analysis is

attached to the theory about Southwestern American English of Wolftam Wé Schiling-Kstes,

N (1998) lo realixe the aims of the study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER T: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

‘To provide a theoretical background to this study, this chapter will be devoted to a review of issues most relevant to the thesis's topic: standard language, dialect, American

English, Southwestern American English, the writer Mark Twain and his novel "The adventures of Tom Sawyer."

1.1 Standard language

1.1.1 Definition of standard language

Language is a communicative means and also a social phenomenon of human A language, as Wolfram (1991) slated, is not realized in orlly ong bul ina variety of forms among which one form can be considered the standard one while others are the non-standard

or dialects of the standard one Consequently, there have been quite a mumber of attempts to define whal a standard language is

Finegan, Edward (2007) defines a standard language as "a particular dialect of a language that has been given either legal or quasi-legal status it is said to be the most correct

language of a nation.”

Wolttam W& Schiling-Estes, N (1998) believe that "a standard language is a

language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse Alternatively, varieties

become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for

description m grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works."

It 18 noticed that the above definitions share the same idea that a standard language is a variety of a language used by a group of people and i is normally considered the ‘correct! or

Yormat form of a language

1.1.2 Features of standard language

According to Wolftam W& Schiling-Estes, N (1998), standard languages usually are

established upon the following features

Firstly, il may be formed by a recognized diclionary (standardized spelling and vocabulary)

Secondly, a recognized grammar is also a basis tor establishing a standard language

norm of "polite" socicly, that is lo say of the uppar classes The spoken slandard,

Other features defining standard languages include constitutional status, the effective public

us like courl; legislaturs or schools and a literary canon

1.2 Dialect

1.2.1 Definition of dialect

Dialeol, a linguistic phenarmcnon, has been accessed (rom a mors technical point of

view recently The question "What is a dialect?" has been approached by many linguists

Nordquist, R (2006) defines dialect as "a regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a way of speaking that differs from the standard variety of the language."

Wolfram Wé& Schiling-Listes, N.’s (1998) claims that dialect is any variety of language that is sharod by a group of speaker

In the views of linguists, however, dialect is used to refer to "varieties that seem to be tpifle4 by the use of non-standard forms.” In other words, dialect can be perceived as an

"proper" the slardard language Dialects, however,

imperfecl aticmpl to speak "correct" or

are not deviant forms of language, but simply different systems with distinct subsets of language pattems (Wolfram W& Schiling-L’stes, N's (1998) Language patterning here refers

to the fact that language features arc distributed in systermatic and orderly ways rather than used randomly That is, for any given language feature, there are contexts in which the form may be used and contexts in which is not typically used,

1.2.2 Levels of dialect

According to Nordquist, R, (2006), dialect differences can be manifested in a number

of different ways For example, they may involve the use of difference words for the same ilem, asin the usc of seh, hoagie, hero, or grinder for a sandwich made on a long tall with

che

si, meal, and vegelables such as lettuce, lornalocs, and omons They say also involve the pronunciation of the same word in different ways For example, in some dialects the vowels in word pairs like dawn and Don are pronounced the same, while in other vernacular dialects,

they are pronounced differently Dialect differences may also involve the ways words arc put

together into sentences, as in he house needs painted vs The house needs painting, and even

‘how language is used in carrying out social toulines, such as greeting people wilh Hi, Hey, Fo,

or Sup

Languages are patterned on several different levels, and each of these is subject to dialect variation This thesis, therefore, is tainly based on the theory of Wolfram W&

Schiling-Estes, N (1998) in which they classify five levels of dialects namely Lexicon, the

vocabulary of a language: Phenology, the sound system of a language; Granuzar, the

formation of words and sonlsness, Semaniies, the meaning of words, and Pragmatics 1) us

of language form to perform different functions

42.2.1 Lexical differences

One of the obvious levels af vernacular dialect variation is the lexicon, or vocabulary,

of a language As Nordquist, R (2006) states most of us used to encounter the situation in which we failed to recognize a word used by some regional or social groups despite sharing

the same standard Janguage, which rosulled im confusion, and sometin

outright commmumucation breakdown, A famous example stated mm Wolfiam W& Schiling-Estes, X (1998) is the circumstance in which a traveler goes to different places of the United Stated and orders a sada, and he finds thal he reccives different, drinks in different regions like a sitmple carbonated drink in Philadelphia and a carbonated drink with ice-cream in it in Chicago People of different social classes as well as different age groups suffer from the same

situations in communication.

always arbitrary; therefore, poopls often find that different labels are used to describs the same

object or idea in different dialect arcas People also find different words because dive objects and activities are found in different regions For example, in America it is easy to find such words as sneakers, tennis shoes, gym shoes and running shoes referring to the same basic type of athletic shoc when worn as casual footwear

Secondly, not only do dialects use diffrent words, but they may use the same words with different meanings Mearing is foxible and transitory, and they ay change in a mmber of ways over time and places Dialects differences result when a meaning changes in one way in

a particular region but in some other way in other dialect areas Vor instance, the broadening in meaning of the word barn which used to refer to a building that was used for only storing grain in British English to a building for storing all sorts of farmrrclalted items including, animals and machinery results in a lexical difference between America and Britain

Finally, there are a variely of ways lo create now words as compormding, acronyms, blending, clipping, so on and so forth And there also appear many instances of new meanings for old words across the dialects of a language in general and Linglish languags in particular although

Like lexical differences, phonological variation among 1 fisleets of a language can

be Inghly noticeable In America, for example, listeners are quick to hone the distinctive

vowel sounds associated with "Ihe Southern draw," the "bread a" and "dropped r" of the

Boston specch or the “dropped g* in certain vernacular

Phonological pattern can be indicative of regional and socio-cultural differences, and a person who has a good ear for dialects can often pinpoint a speaker's general regional and

social and cthnic affiliation with considerable accuracy based solcly on phonology Even in

today’s increasingly interconnected world, the use of a few critical pronunciation cues can narrow down a person's place of origin to at least a general region ofa country

Wolfram W& Schiling-Estes (1998) states many ways in which phonological

differences may be manifested in the dialecls of a language Firstly, it is the variation in promnciation of vowels and consonants, which concerns inslanecs in whieh a sound in one:

dialect corresponds to a different sound in another variety Secondly, there are also instances

where sounds are added or deleted affecting the basic sequencing of sound segments The

addition or deletion of sounds has to do with how sounds arc pronounced when they occur in

particular sequence or with the arrangement of sounds into syllables rather than with overall

therefore, tend

changes in Ihe organization of sound system, Addilion and deletion process:

to be restricted to certain phonetic contexts as well Finally, the potential for pronunciation differences that have to do with such matters as the stress pattems of words, the intonational contours of sentences, ar the timing of syllables is also noticcable

Although there may be some social stigma attached to ccttain pronunciation differences, phonological dialect differences are normally considered to be matters of curiosity rather than gromds for condammation, Marcover, in terms of principles governing the organization of language systems, it is difficult to explain why certain pronunciation changes take place in some regions or among social groups and why other changes take place clewhere However, once a given promunciation lakes hald, il may persist for quile a long time as a symbolic marker of regional or social group identity

41.2.2 3 Grammatical differences

Grarmmatical variation may be discussed in terms of two typos of language orpanization One level, called Morphology, velates the way in which words are formed fiom their meaningful parts ‘The other major level of grammatical organization, Syntax, refers to

the arrangement of words into larger unils such as phrases ar senicnecs

Firstly, mn terms of Morphology, there appear cases in wich inflectional morphemes can be added or omitted in a language Additionally, morphological differences may be due to regularization or simplification and these differenecs can cary a great deal of social significance in a society, and listeners craw sharp distinctions between dialects and standard

learned by role since they are nol as linyguistically "natural as rogularived forms This focused attention on learning these forms subscquontly makes thom sensitive to sogial marking, Tn other words, because speakers of standard varieties may have struggled to learn irregular forms during their school years, they will be quick to notice whsn regularized forms are used and just as quick to stimatize speakers to usc them Furthermore, it should be notiocd that not all dialect word formation processes are the result of regularization and simplification It may involve complications as well as simplification

The other major level of grammatical organization called Syntax refers to the arrangements of words into larger units such as phrases or sentences As with morphology, it

is found thal the tendoney toward making meaning differct

cos transparent may lead to dialect differentation in syntax For example, it is common in English language for the speakers of dialect variaties to use auxiliary, or helping verbs to give verbs special meanings that can be only indicaled in standard variatics through adding a good bit of additional materials to the sentence if the meaning can be conveyed at all Syntactic differences may involve special auxiliaries, types of structures that can co-occur with particular verbs, agreements among different clemonts in the sentences or linear arrangement of words in phrases or sơnlencss

1.22, 4 Language usage and Pragmatics

Knowing a langnage involves more than knowing the meanings of words and the phonological and grammatical strnctures of the language In every language and dialeel, thers

are a variety of ways to convey the same information or accomplish the same purpose, and the choice of how to say something may depend on who is talking to whom under what social circumstanees Therefors, the term Pragmatics is used lo rofer to how language is uscd in context to achieve particular purposes And in Pragnuatics, one important concept is the speech act, which refers to an utterance that accomplishes a social action, such as requesting,

making a promise, complimenting, or apologizing.

17

Speakers of all languages and dialects are quite capable of performing the same basic Kinds of speech acts but how these speech acts are carried out and the conditions under which they are considered to be appropriate varies considerably across cultural groups Statements may he strong or direal or they may be sofler and less direcl Additionally, different social and cullural groups oflen have conirasting expcclations about the appropriate use of direct or indirect expressions, Related to the assue of cultural differences in directness is the distinction between literal and non-literal language use Conventions for interpreting statements as literal

or nonliteral vary considerably among different social and cultural groups, as docs the value accorded to literal vs non-literal language use Kor example, Shirley Brice Heath (1983) cited

in Wolfram W& Schiling-Fstes (1998) found that European Americans in one particular working lass community valued perfectly factual children’s stories more highly than Affican Americans in the same community, who placed higher value on stories embellished by non- literal language use, inoluding invented quotations This conlrasl contributed to the negative valuation of Aftican American children by school teachers, since story telling conventions in the classroom setting were largely reflective of mainstream Although there are many types of languigo- use differanoss, il is also staled in Wolftam W& Schiling-Fsles (1998) thal a

couple of areas are particularly sensitrve to variation involving, address forms, greeting, leave- taking, tum taking overlapping, backchanneling, so on end so forth

1.3 American English

1.3.1, American English - a dialect of British English

The formation of a dialect language involves a complex array af historical, social and

linguistic factors, Furthermore, dialects not static, di

entities; they conslanlly imfcract

with one another and undergo change over time and place And all these features denote the situation of American Linglish

Many lingnists tike Crystal, D (1997), Dawnes, W (1998), or Labo (2005) all claim that American English is a set of dialects of’ the English language used mostly in the United

States They, therefore, argue that American English is in fact a variation of British English

Other linguists like Edgar Schneider (2003) quoted in Wolftam W& Schiling-Estes,

N (1998) showed that in the process of its development, American English has evolved

English to different Ineations across the world, including "ite moventent to and development

within the United States."

In the initial phase called the Foundation stage, English was used on a regular basis in

five primary cultural hearths including Jametown, Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston, and New

Orleans where it was not uscd previously The sccond phase namely Exonormative

Stabilization witnessed the consideration influence of British norms in American language

despite

fondamental transition towards independence - politically, culturally, and linguistically; as a consequence, unique linguistic usages and structures of American English emerged ‘This also

Amorican resistance to British English, In the next phase, Nativiation, there was a

created the differentiation of American English from British English Tn the fourth phase known as End normative, the new-vstablished country America adopted its own language norms rather than adhering to external norms while in the last phase, Differentiation, the Amncrican English dialccl valve in its own, and quite different from British English, In short,

in such as progression, we can see how language variation in the United States has developed from its initial roots in the inglish language of the early British colonists to its curent state in which the dislecis of American English ars viewed as the regional and cullural manifestations

of diversity solely within America

1.3.2 Meatures of American English

As the author has mentioned in the p

by many linguists like Mencken, H.L, (1962), Lippi-Green (1997) and such features can be

summarized as follows:

First of all, in terms of phonology, the difference in words prommnciation between British and American Enplish is little while in some cases there are differences between American English and British English in the rhythm of words

Sccondly, in Lerms ofinflexional farms, the differcnos is nol much For cxarples, the

plural nouns and verb lenses of the lwo English have nol diverged very much Thousands of nouns form their plurals in regular fashion in the manner of boy-boys; girl-girls; bus-buses Even certain imegular nouns such as Jaife-knives: tooth-teeth or sheep-sheep have the same form in these two different places Furthermore, there are of about 120 or more inregular verbs like gef-gor in English language And the point here is that both American English and British one share Ihe iregularitics, For most of Ihe verbs, lwo forins of the language are prelty well- identical,

‘Thirdly, in terms of word order for the arrangement of the words into phrases and

sentzme: „ British and American English arc similar

Fouthly, in terms of lexical ficld, unlike British English, American English is various for there are many loan words in present - day American English Certain languages that have contribuled to the diversily af American English inde Indian, French, Sparisl, Dutch, Germans, Afiicans and others, Moreover, millions of people fiom diffrent parts of the world who have settled in American have also contributed to American Lnglish to make it more plentiful

Additionally, the different varieties of English do use different words for many words that are slightly less common, for example, British crisps for American potato chips It is sven

of

more common for the same word lo exis! with different meanings in different varicti

English Corn is a general term in Britain, for which Americans use grain, while corn in American English is a specific kind of grain Many of the words most easily recognized as Annorican in origin ars associated with aspocts of American popular cntlure, such as gangster

or cowboy

Finally, in terms of every day communication and text-o-logy, American have a

tendency of expressing their opinion by bricf statements through simple sentences or clauscs

rather than complex sentences Moreover, thanks to their religions beliefs, they Tike to use religious expressions in communication with each other

1.4, Southwestern American English - a dialect of American English

The investigation of the rogioral dialects of American English has been a major

concern for dialeciologisis and sociolinguists since at least the carly parl of the twenty century Linguists have additionally long debated the precise place of regional dialect studies in the overall investigation of language variation However, this M.A thesis is mainly based on.the thcory developed by Walt Wolfram and Natalic Schiling-Estes (1998) to explore in more details one of the variations of American English, ie Southwestern American English ‘here are Iwo nmin important reasons for this choice that is firsily, the setting of the novel analyzed

in tus thesis is in the South-west of America and much more importantly, the theory about South-westem American l¿nglish developed by these two authors, in the researcher' opinion, is casy to understand and fallow

According to Walt Wolfram and Natalic Schiling-Estes (1998), the distinctive features

of Southwestern American English are numerous in comparison with the so-called standard

is, within (his

American English Nanethols shudy, the author just focuses on phonological, grammatical and lexical features and such features can be summarized as follows

1.4.1, Phonological features of Southwestern American English

The distinctive features af American English in terms of phonology ean be sub-divided into features related to consonants including consonant deletion and consonant changing their features; features related to vowels like vowel shift and vowel deletion, and features related to comecled specch such as clision, contraction,

21

1.41.LL Consonant deletion

a Unstressed initial syllable loss

In Southwestern American vernacular, the general process of deleting unstressed initial syllables in informal speach styls of genaral American English such as ‘eause for hectare is

s, cle arkl

extended; as a resull, a wide range of word classes including nouns, verbs, adjcctiv

a wide range of initial syllable types are affected by the process of deleting unstressed initial

syllables

The following arc ecrtain examples of this process

b Dropping of final consonant sounds

A certain consonant sounds, especially |t] and |d|, are dropped when they are at the

end of the words Some examples of this phenomenon are:

1.4.1.2 Consonant chanying their features

a th sounds

There are a mumber of different processes thal afffscl de sounds for tho phon: production of it is sensitive to the position of ¢ in the word and the sound adjacent to it Consequently, a mumber of changes with #2 sound can be seen in American English of people

in the Southwest dspending on its position in the words,

At the beginning of words #h tends to be produced as a corresponding stop, as in dey for they or even it can be dropped like the + de that > dat

syllable at the end ofa word.

consonant cluster Typical items affeetod by this process are anced, pwicet, clifft and acrasst

The following table summarizes phonological features related to consonants of

Southwestem American English according to Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schiling-Estes (1998)

Lable1

Phonological features related to consonants of Southwestern American English

Features Manifestation Examples

Form used | Standard

form Certain consonants, especially nnss an’ and

Consonants deletions | in unstressed positions, are deleted —_goint gaing

in American Enghsh ‘cause because

Consonants changing — | Certain consonants like 1 or th Den then

thew features change their features when wid with

produced in words oneet once

4.4.1.2 Features related to vowels

The distinctive phonological features related to vowels of Southwestem American English are most noticeable in the vowel shift and vowel deletion

First of all, there are

veral shifis in the phouclic values of vowals thal were taking

place in the 19 century Southwestern American English vernacular The important aspect of

these shiffs is the vowels are not shifting their phonetic value in isolation but as a rotating system of vowels Normally, the short ffont vowels are moving upward and taking on the gliding character of long vowels Meanwhile, the long front vowels are moving somewhat backward and downward, and the back vowels are moving forward hese features can be

illustrated as follows:

23

Figure 1 The Southwestern American English vowel shift (Adapted from Labov 1991}

Ail (beet) XS ~———— +(22

fel (hati) + 10 (boat

feel (al) 12? ough

101 (father) Secondly, vowel deletion is additionally a noticeable phonological feature of American English spoken in the Southwest There are a number of vowels being reduced in the prommeiation of ths words in sentences, Normally, the vowels reduced belong lo the unstressed syllables of the words, and this process results in the reduction of the number of syllables in words ‘I'he vowels deleted may be at the initial or mid position in the words like

in snch words as ‘Tong or b Tong

1.4.13 Features related to connected speech

Three different types of features related to comnected speech may be noticed in South- wostem American English basing on the theory of Walt Wolfram and Natalic Schiling-Estes (1998) including elision, contraction, and assimulation

1.4.1.3.1 Elision

ion of a vawel or

Flision is the process in which appears the culling off or suppr

syllable, for the sake of meter or euphony and the dropping of'a final vowel standing before an initial vowel in the following word, when the two words are drawn together are realized

Kxampk:

Deyou > D'you More than > more'n

Sa do !—+ so d1 Don't know — dono

4.4432 Contraction

Contraction is a shorlened form of a word or group of words, with the omitied letters

often replaced in written English by an apostrophe, as eer for ever, isn't for is not, or dep't for department

Contraction can appcar in three types namely positive contraction like Ae‘d, I've:

you're, negative contraction as in aren't; can't; won't and informal contraction Among the

three mentioned, it is essential for the author to explain more aboul the last typo, informal

contraction

Informal contractions are short forms of other words that people use when speaking casually They are not exactly slang, bul hey are ä RUIs like slang For example, “gonna is a

short form of "gaing to" If you say "going te" very fast, without carcfiully pronouncing cach

word, it can sound like "gonna" It is noticeable that unlike other normal contractions, we do

not usually nse apostrophes (°) with informal contractions when writlen

1£

Assimilation

Assimilation is a common phonological process by which the phonetics of a speech

segment becomes more like that of another segment in a word (or at a word boundary), For

example, in the ulicrance "don't be silly" where the nf and /t/ in "don’t" arc assimilated Lo /mé

and /pi by the following fb/, where said naturally in many accents and discourse styles (“dome silly")

Exampks:

Gimme (The oral labio-dental fricative *v’ is assimilated by the bilabial nasal stop fn’) Lemme (The oral alvcolar stop /t’is assimilated by the bilabial nasal stop ¿m)

1.42, Grammatical features of Southwestern American English

Southwestem American English has a variety of different grammatical features in comparison with the so-called slandard American English The prominent ones include

features related to verb phrases like the irregular verbs, co-occurrence relations and meaning

change, special auxiliary form or absence of subject-verb agreements; features related to

adverb; features related to noun phrases; features related to adjective phrases, the negation, ete,

1.4.2.1 Features related to verh phrases

Many of the significam grammatical structures involved aspect of verb phrases in

American English are distingnishably identified in the Southwest of America including

inregular verbs, co-occurrence relations and meaning changes, special auxiliary forms, and

absence of subject-verb agreements

1.42 1.1L leregular verbs

There are three ways in which irregular verb pattems differently in standard and South-

western vernacular ‘I'hese differences are a3 follows:

First of all, ccrlain participle can function as the pas! farm in the sentences as in 7t

wasn't I who done it

Secondly, making language forms as regular and straightforward as possible leads to

the regularization of certain inggular verbs cnding with diphthongs having a regular ‘sd past tense inflection like Anowed, waked, etc

‘Thirdly, even certain hare roots can also be used as past form

1.4.2.1.2 Co-occurrence relations and nieaning changes

There are a number of different types of constructions that can co-occur with certain verbs in Southwestern vernacular There are also meaning changes that affect particular verbs These constructions and msaning changes includes the following types:

Firstly, some complement structures can eo-occur with particular verbs, which can be quite different from standard American Linglish and other vernacular dialects as in AH we got

to do is to arrive on fine

Secondly, some verbs can be followed by particle forms ike go to fishing

‘Thirdly, there appears also the use of progressive with stative verbs as in:

Fourthly, Southwestern American English also exhibits the so-called reciprocal verbs,

ie the verbs indicating similar relationships of converseness are reduced to a single verb with

little or no negative social tepercussion For example, the verb “learn” which can only take the person or people who are the recipients of the knowledge as an object can co-ocour with a subject indicating the person who is conveying knowledge to someone else as in /# learn you

1.4.2.1 Special aviliary forms

There arc a mmmiber of special uses of auxiliary forms thal sel aparl Soullnvestern American English ftom the standard American English Many of these auxiliaries indicate subtle but significant meanings related to the duration or type of activity indicated by verbs or verb aspect These special uscs include the followings

Kirst of all, an a-prefixing may occur on -ing form functioning 4s verbs or complements of verbs, It cant also be allachod to other verb forms such as participles or sinnple past forms as in:

Pm going in a-fishing

Tt would a-spoiled everything

Secondly, the form done when uscd with a past tense verb may mark a completed action or event in a way somewhat different irom single past tense form In this use, the

The first patter is mvolved in the leveling to is for present tense form of be

Women's always beautiful

Sccondly, z can be absent on third

And God forgive you

Another pattern of subject and verb agreement is the agreement with the form "don’t"

‘on singutar forms

as in:

dt don't iurt any more.

27

Fourthly, was can also be the past tense form of be for all the subjects

Hd let you, if you was me

You two was so naughty

Finally, the existential ere can also have special agreement in Southwestern

American English

There's flowers everywhere

Features related to adjective phrases

‘There are certain differences involving in the structures of adjective phrases of

142

Sontweatem Ameriem English in comparison with the standard language

Firstly, the comparative and superlative intlections -er and -est are used after a long adjective as in:

This ts the pleasantest news ha had ever heard

Secondly, there appears the comparative form of an adjective cxpressed through both morphological and analytical ways such as”it’s surer.”

Thirdly, adjectives ean be uscd as adverbs as inc “i's got to he done very carefiat”

14

Features reluted to noun phrases

Distinetive features related to noun phrases in American language of the Southwest include:

The first feature is the absence of a determiner before a singular noun as in utterance like "Fes, Bean's good I've done that"

Sccondly, il is tho v 6 0Ÿ thụ objective pronoun as a determi

pre & plural noun

For example, "Well, where did you see him car?”

Kinally, it is also noticeable that there sometimes appears the plural inflection of indefinite pronouns like somewhere, everywhere

14.2.4, Mukiple negation

The major vernacular negation features of Southwestern American English are the use

of double negutive ot multiple negation.

Multiple negation is the use of not only the negation of the main verb or the auxiliary verb, It includes the marking of the negative on the auxiliary verbs and the indefinites following the verbs at the same time ‘he use of multiple negation is just to make sure that listeners pick up the negative moaning of their ulleranees Lingnistically, the allachmemt of the

negative element on indsGnite forms through the sentences makes negation more Iransparenl

than in its standard American English counterpart where it can only be attach at one point

Exampk:

T don't understand nothing

1.4.2.5, Possessives

There are several palicrns involving possessive nouns and pronouns in Sonthwestert

dialect mcluding the following three things

‘The first pattern of possessive can be found in the language of Southwesteners is the

usc of possessive forms ending in -n This

s thế resull of making the langnage as regular and

straightforward as possible by adding the inflectional ending n This is especially prominent in

the language of rural people

What are you going ta do with your money?

Secondly, there appears the absence of the possessive sutfix -y as in Ary Daisy told

about her daughter studying resuit in a merry voice In this case, the ending has been lost

Decause im cssonee, it is the redundant marker The positioning of Aer daughter and studying result is sufficient to indicate the possessive relationship

Finally, the extension of object forms to possessives also occurs:

Tean’t stand them ways

4.4.2.6 Existential "they"

As used in sentences such as There are four peaple in school and There's a picture on TAZ, the American English form shere is called an Existential sines it indicates the mere

existence of something rather than specific location Southwestem Americans tend to use they

for there in existential constructions

Exampks

‘They isn't anybody in the room

LAZTE -by absence

Some adverbs that formerly ended in an -fy suffix no longer take iy, The range of items affected by -fy absence can be relatively unobtrusive or quite obstructive

Come quick

She sings beautiful

£4272 Intensifving adverh mighty

The intensifying adverb mighty is nscd as a helping verb form to inlensify particular attributes or activities with the mcaning of very or really as in:

I'd feel mighty shaky if I save him

14.2.8 Question order

Involving in the syntactic features, the basic linzar arrangement of words in phrases and sentences in Southwestem American English is somewhat different stom other vernacular dialect, One of these differences is in the question order, For example, in ‘standard! American English and some other dialects, the order of questions is normally pattemed with the question word first followed by the auxiliary verb, the subject and the main varh, In Southwestem American English, however, the ordering of words in questions may be different as in What you are doing here?

14.2.9 Other grammatical structures

There oxi

s also olher grammatical structures thal arc different from the standard American English such as the prominal apposition (a pronoun is used in addition to a noun in subject position) or the confusion of passive and active as in 7m agreed or He'll punish for his

rude behavior.

1.4.8 Lexical features of South-western American English

The most prominent (cature oflexieal features of Arnerican English in the Southwest i

the use of non-standard forms af the verbs 'to have’ and ‘ie be’ in formes of ain't, warn't and

hain't in different morphological realisations

Firstly, ain't is used as the present negative form of ‘fo ðe' in its third person singular

form (is mo), in its first person plural, second person and third person plural form (are not)

and also in its first person singular (am mot) like in the following examples:

Exampks:

He ain't un honest person

We ain't from Morida

ain't good at Mathematics

Sccondly, warn’ is used as the past negative fonn of ‘t de’ in its first person and

third person singular form (was nof) and in ifs second person and third person plural form

(were noi)

He warn't born in this village

Those boys warn't naughty at all

Thidly, Aam't is uscd as the presen negative farm of %6 ñawe' in ils third persom singular form (has not) and in its other torms (have ot)

Moreover, there also appear a mumber of words used orty in the Southwest of

American English and not found in moda

tendard American English like goner, chap, goody, ete, Some of these items are entered in the dictionary as slang words and some other colloquial items are not entered in the dictionary

1.5 Mark Twain and "The adventures of Tom Sawyer”

1.5.1, Mark Twain- The first "truly" American writer

45 Twain's biography

31

The man wha would become known as Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne

Clemens in Florida, Missowi, in 1835, and grew up in nearby Hannibal, a small Mississippi River town

The young Clemens grew up in a prosperous family—tis father owned a grocery store

as well as a mumber of slaves—bul he was sent oul to wark al the age of Iwelve aflcr his

father’s death, As a young man, he traveled itequently, working as a printer’s typesetter and as

a steamboat pilot In this latter profession he gained familiarity with the river life that would

furnish much material for his writing He also gained his pen name, Mark Twain, which is a measure of depth in steamboat navigation

Twain enlisted in he Confederate tilitia in 1861, carly in the Civil War, but he soon

left to pursue a career in writing and jownalism in Nevada and San Francisco His articles and

stories became immensely popular in the decades that followed On the strength of this

1.5.1.2, Twain's writing style

During early to mid-19th century, as America sought enhanced definition as a nation,

Willian Ellery Charming, Ralph Waldo

there were scvcral calls for» national Literatu

Emerson, and Walt Whitman were particularly forcefial in their plea for a literature that would capture the spiritual essence of the new nation’s beliefs, and the distinetive character of the new wation’s people Mark Twain is generally acknowledged as the founder of American realistic literature whose work opened up a new area for American literature to develop

Many critics consider Twain as a realistic writer (ef Iligh, 1986, Gerber, 1993, Van Spanckren, 1994 and Wonham, 1996) Twain himself speaks about ‘dhe native novelist’ who

has the ability to give an accurate description of the nation's experience: "Jts soud, its life, its

as a master of the vernacular was demonstrated by Lllison’s friend and fellow novelist Saul Bellow Bellows firsi two novels were smnall-suale “literary” works, Bul his third novel, The Adventures of Augic March (1953), whose very title is a kind of tribute to Twain, was a major breakthrough in his career It is a large, sprawling book, narrated in the lively, slangy, very

American voicg of Augic himself, and fitted with vivid characters and both grotesque and hilarious incidents It’s the reason why Faulkner at a hterary conference in Japan in 1935, called ‘Twain “the father of American literature the first truly American writer, and all of us since are his hewrs.”

To sum up, the author of this study relies on Dean Howells’ (1817) comments about Mark Twain's distinct stylistic traits as "the Lincoln of our literatare” as the followings:

abou it that at the beginning of his book "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," he states,

"Un this book a raanber of different dialects are used," and then he gocs on te cxplain cach and

33

every type of dialect that he uses, so that “readers would [not] suppose that all these

characters were irymg to talk alike und not succeeding.”

Secondly, his social catomentary is such more subtle than the satire of other writers After all,

there have been many a reader of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," "A Connecticut

Yankee in King Arthur's Court," or "The Prince and the Pauper" who have enjoyed these narratives told by seemingly artless namators without realizing Twain's cynicism toward socicty A simple linc from "Comnecticut Yankee" such as: "The old abbot's joy to see me was pathetic Even to tears; butt he did the shedding himself" points to this cynicism

Thirdly, Twain was known as a humorist end demenstratcd a playfal quality in most of his writings This is evident throughout the book The Autobiography of Mark Twain, in which

he uses humorous phrases to describe simations, such as when wasps ars crawling up the leg

of a boy so sirickan with shyness by some girls in the Toor thal he cannot move, Twain describes the wasps as “prospecting around,” and says that’ ‘one group of excursionists after another climbed up Jim's legs and resented even the slightest wince ar sprirm that he indulged himself with in his misery.” By employing interesting words like “excursionists" in obviously unconventional ways, Twain eleits a laugh fiom his readers, Twain's humor, however, also has a sherp edge to it when it is aimed at somebody else Le does this when he wants to vilify

1, The use of diulect vernacular in Twain's works

The use of vernacular dialects in literature undoubtedly has a variety of functions

According to Wolfram (309)

“Dialect in literature is a helpful tool that an author may use in order ta make his or

her characters well-ronnded By using a certain dialect for a character the author is

actually telling the reader more about that character's background without directly stating anything, It is a subconscious detail that readers sometimes rarely notice if they

are caught up in the book.“

Sharing the same point of view, Katic, K (1996) states that the vernacular that cach

character (in a literary work) presents controls the mind of the reader and allows the reader to

‘docome more involved in the slory

As discussed in the previous chapter, Mr Clemens is well-known for his great use of vernacular Dean Iowells (1817) has stated that "Sle (Twain) writes English as if tt were a

primitive and not a derivative language" (1817: 169) In comparison wilh ather writers of his

time like Henry James, Milton or Thackeray whose language is scholarly and conscious,

‘Twain's one is "real American” or more specifically "Hester words Alexander, S also claims thal the dialeets Twain uses in his works, especially in he two novels "The adventures

of Tom Sawyer” and "The adventures of Huckleberry Berry Finn," allow the reader to

have a closer connection to the setting of the story and also permits for the story to be more believable and understandable

Being bom on the Missouri river, which was not only Western but also Souther, Mr Clemens found himself placed in and under Westemners, near to a world of obsolete nature and primitive He understands the life of South westerners thal through his works, the readers can almost "breathe" the atmosphere of the daily life in the Southwest

In short, we can borrow the words of Ralph Lllison, whose Juvésible Adan (1952) is considered one of the grealest American novels since World War II, explained in un essay what Twain had meant to him and to American literature: “Adark Twain transformed elements of regional vernacular speech into a medium of uniquely American literary

expression and tus taughi us how to capture that which is essentially American in our

foliways and manners For indeed the vernacular process is a way of establishing and

discovering our national ideniity."

1.5.2 The adventures of Tom Sawyer

"The adventures of Tom Sawyer" is considered one of ths most successfidl by Mark Twain and a typical of his style The fictionalized sctting of Twain’s "The adventures of Tom Sawyer" was St Petersburg, which was given model from ‘Twain's hometown Hannibal, asmell Mississippi River town

As its title indicates, the novel deals with the adventures of Tom Sawyer, a prototype mischievous boy who hates school and looks for treasure In all his adventures, ‘Yom was accompanied by other eharaclers with whom he interacts linguistically: he tived with his aunt Polly, his half-brother Sid and his cousin Mary, he went with his fiiond Huck to the graveyard where they witnessed the murder of Dr Robinson by Injun Joe; he fall in love with Becky Thatcher, and had an adventure with her when they gol lost in ths cave; he ran away with his fiends Joe Harper and Huck Finn to an island to become pirates, and he discovered a treasure with Linck

Twain bascd The Adventures of Tom Sawyer lirgely on his personal momerics of growing up in Hamnibal in the 1840s, In hus preface to the novel, he states that "{mjost of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred” and that the character of Tom Sawyer has a

m the

y gu

basis in “a combination of three hoys whom T knew.” Indeed, nearly eve

novel comes from the young Twain's village experience: Aunt Polly shares many characteristics with ‘[wain’s mother; Mary is based on ‘Iwain’s sister Pamela; and Sid

In the novel, the author introduces a variety of characters helonging to different social backgrounds (the wealthy, the poor, ethnic minorities, old and young people ) and describes their beliefs, their superstitions and their social interactions

As one of the Amorica’s best-loved tales, "The adventures of Tom Sawyer" nal only

appeals to the children as the exciting adventures of a typical boy during the mid-ninetoonth century but also to the adult readers who wants to look back on his/ her own childhood with fond reminiscences, Consequently, it is no doubt that Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer to this day remains perhaps the most popular and widely read of all Twain's works

‘The content of the novel can be summarized as followed:

The book begins in SL Potorshurg, Missouri, a snail village on the barks of the Mississippi River in the mid-1800s, Tom, a mischievous boy, is hiding from his Aunt Polly while stealing jam ftom the pantry When caught, he runs away and goes swimming instead of going to school

The next day, Aunt Polly punishes him for playing hokey by making him whitewash their entire fance Tom instead convinces the other boys in town that whitewashing is fim and gots thom lo do all the work for him, Aunt Polly leis him go and he goes to play with his friend Joe The two boys have wild imaginations and a taste for getting into trouble, On his way home ftom playing, om sees a beautifil girl and falls in love with her

Thal Sunday, Ihe whole farnily must go lo church, Al Sunday schoot, Tom trades other boys for tickets that will earn him a free Bible To actually earn the Bible, children must collect tickets by learning two thousand Bible verses Tom's new love, Becky Thatcher, arrives

al Sunday school with her father, # judge Tom prondly claims his Bible in front of overyone, but cannot name the first two disciples when questioned by Judge Thatcher At church, he entertains himself by playing with a pinch bug, which bites a dog and causes a huge disruption

On hus way to school on Monday, Tom runs into Huckleberry Finn, the son of the town drunk, TIuck is homeless, can't read and lives a wild life Tom is late for school, and for punishment is forced to sit next to Becky, which he is happy about At lich, Tom and Becky meet and Tom convinces her that they should get engaged and kiss She does kiss him, but

37

Tom lets it slip that he was already engaged to someone else, and she rejects him Tom skips the rest of school and meets Joe in the woods to play Robin Hood At midnight, Tom and Huck sneak info the graveyard Once thare, they hear people coming and hide Dr Robinson arrives with Injun Jog, an ovil criminal, and Muff Polior They are sleating bodies from the grave, The men argne Mail Poller is knocked oul, and Injun Joe murders Dr Robinson Tort and Huck run away, fearing for their lives When Mutt Potter awakes, Injun Joe tells him that

he, not Injun Joe, murdered the Doctor

Tom and Huck, scarcd, swear never to tell anyone what they saw However, Tom is bothered by the event and begins to have nightmares Becky gets sick and he becomes vary dop

realize that they townsfolk belicve that they have drowned, They begin to gct homesick, but

‘Tom convinces them that they should stay on the island ‘That night, however, he sneaks back

to SL Petersburg

Tom intends on leaving Aunt Polly a note saying that they are alive and well When he sneaks into his house, he hides and listens to Aunt Polly, Joe's mother, his brother Sid, and his consin Mary crying and lalking aboul fineral plans for the bays Tom waits until Aunt Polly is asleep and sneaks back out, without leaving the note

After Tom retums to the island, he tells Tuck and Jos of a great plan he has devised

Back at school, Tom and Becky are still fighting Becky accidentally rips a page in the schoolmaster’s book, but Tom, out of love, pretends he did it and takes the punishment for her She is gratefill and their fighting stops

School ends with the boys playing a prank on the schoolmaster in front of the whole village Becky leaves town for the summer, and Tom is sad and very bored, Tom gets the measles and is sick for two weeks A revival comes to town and everyone, even Huck, gets vory religious for a short time

Soon enough, that ends, just in lime for Mul? Potter's trial t¢ begin Tom is still wracked with guilt about letting Muff Potter take the blame for Injun Joe's crime He goes against his oath and confssses what he knows to the defense attorney Ile testifies in court, and Muff Potter is ficed, but not before Injun Joc escapes,

‘Tom and Huck go looking for buried treasure Instead, they find Injun Joe again While hiding from him, they discover thal he 4s in possession of a large amount of Ireasuro Thay decide to spy on him and wy to steal it, Becky retums to town, and all the cluldren (except

Luck) go on a picnic to McDougal's Cave While exploring, ‘fom and Becky get lost and left

Đehind

The same night Tom and Becky act lost, Huck follows Injun Joc and another man to

Widow Douglas's house He overhears Injun Joe's plan to hurt the Widow Douglas, and runs

to Mr Jones, the Welshman, to get help Mr Jonos and his sons chase Tnjun Joo off The noxt day, Huck is exhausted and gets very sick, At church that morning, Aunt Polly realizes that

‘Tom and Becky are missing, and the town begins to search the maze like cave to find them

Inside the cave, Tom and Becky realive thay are lost and try ter find a way oul, Al one pomtt, Tom thinks he's found someone, but alll he discovers is Injun Joe hiding out in the cave Afier many days, just as they've given up hope, Tom sees light and leads Becky out The townsfolk are overjoyed whon they retum, Judge Thatcher has the door to the cave scaled When Tom finds out, he tells the judge that Injun Joe is inside, but they arrive too late, and Injun Jog has starved to death

Aflor Injun J hidden in the cave, He and Huck go back and find the treasure When they return, they are summoned to the Widow Douglas's house, where Mr Jones tells everyone that [Tuck is the one who saved the Widow's

funeral, Tom realizes thal the troastm

life The Widow, out of gratitude, announces that she will adopt Huck Tom reveals that they have found Injun Joe's treasure ‘They are both rich Huck has a hard time living under Widow

39

Donglas'’s roof and runs away Tom convinces him to retum and booorne a part of respectable society with the promise that they will stat a dangerous gang of robbers Huck agrees, and they go back to the village

CHATTER II: ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS This chapter presants the analysis of linguistic featwes of American English in the novel "The adventures of Lom Sawyer." I'he core of the chapter constitutes firstly a general

2 1 Linguistic features of Southwestern American English in characters’ utterences

This section discusses the linguistic features of American English depicted by characters’ specch classificd in three diffrent categorics, namely phonological, grammatical and lexical, In this part, the principle of idealisation will be applied This methodological principle makes it possible to treat all the characters of the novel as sharing the same linguistic

fsatiwes In other words, throughont this section, any Tingnistic differonces thal may exis! between characters will be neglected so that the researcher can reveal the linguistic fzatures of South-westem American English used by people from the Southwest of America in the nincteenth century

24.1 Phonological features of South-western American English

As the author has staled in [heovelical background, phonological features are the mosl distmetive features that help to realize people of a certain geographical region, It is obvious that phonological pattern can be indicative of regional and socio-cultural differences, and a

Basing on the theory of Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schiling-Estes (1998) and a careful investigation into the spcoch of all the characters in the talc Tom Sawyer, a number of distinguished phonological features of Southwestem American English can be, among which some features are relaled 1a vowels, some are relaled lo consonants and others 1o connected speech The following tables display those features along with their trequency in the novel

‘The first phonological feature in characters’ utterances in Mark ‘I'wain's ‘om Sawyer is the features related 1a vowels incading the two promingnl ones, vewel deletion and vowel shift

The above data collection leads us to the following conclusions

Firstly, there are two common types of phonological features related to vowels used by different characters in Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, ic vowel deletion and vowel shill Basing

on the theory of Wolitam, W& Schiling-Estes, Nis (1998) stated in the theoretical background, the author can conchide that they are distinctive phonological features of Ameriean English in the American Southwest

Secondly, between the two features, vowel deletion with 74 occurences is more

common than vowel shift with 48 occurrences

Finally, it can b that these phonological fealures appear commonly in utterances

of lower-class charaeters like Jim, Huck or Muff Porter while characters of upper class tend not to produce such non-standard features, Consequently, we can find nowhere in the novel the utterances with vowel shift or vowel deletion of upper-classcd characters like Mr Welshman or the Widow Douglass

Secondly, two prominent, phonological features of the language used by characters in the novel are related 1 consormmis as in the table followed

Table 3

Phonological features related to consonants af Southwestern American English in the novel

Features: Character's Na of % of total

utterances occurrences | utterances

‘Tom 23 332%