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writing dialect
Rather than get into a long essay on erroneous use of terms for language (the temptation is great, but I will resist), I will simply state an observation: it's never a good idea to try to convey variation in spoken language in terms of spelling. The best (and maybe the only) way to make this clear is by example. Take a look at this exchange from Gone with the Wind. In this scene, there is an elderly black man named Peter, a slave, and he's upset with Scarlett.
"Dey talked in front of me lak Ah wuz a mule an' couldn' unnerstan' dem—lak Ah wuz a Affikun an' din' know whut dey wuz talkin' 'bout," said Peter, giving a tremendous sniff. "An' dey call me a nigger an' Ah ain' never been call a nigger by no w'ite folks, an' dey call me a ole pet an' say dat niggers ain' ter be trus'ed! Me not ter be trus'ed! Why, w'en de ole Cunnel wuz dyin he say ter me, 'You, Peter! You look affer mah chillun. Te'k keer of young Miss Pittypat,' he say, ' 'cause she ain' got no mo' sense dan a hoppergrass.' An' Ah done tek keer of her good all dese yars."
"Nobody but the Angel Gabriel could have done better," said Scarlett soothingly. "We just couldn't have lived without you."
You'll note that the author attempts to portray Peter's speech by playing with spelling. The idea being, I suppose, that he doesn't speak English as it is written (something nobody does, by the way, unless you happen to be having a conversation with the ghost of somebody who lived in the 15th century). The author feels it is important to make the distinction between Peter's speech and Scarlett's.... why? Because he's a slave, and she's a free white woman of means? Because he is uneducated and she is ... a little more educated? Let's approach this differently, by rewriting the passage:
"They talked in front of me like I was a mule and couldn't understand them -- like I was an African and didn't know what they was talking about," said Peter, giving a tremendous sniff. "And they call me a nigger and I ain't never been call a nigger by no white folks, and they call me a old pet and say that niggers ain't to be trusted! Me not to be trusted! Why, when the old Colonel was dying he say to me, 'You Peter! You look after my children. Take care of young Miss Pittypat,' he say, 'cause she ain't got no more sense than a hoppergrass.' And I done take care of her good all these years."I haven't changed the dialogue one bit -- I've only changed the spelling. In Peter's case all the grammatical points of his speech are maintained, such as the invariant use of third person singular verb forms ('he say'). The distinctive lexical items remain, too (hoppergrass) and the syntax (''I ain't never been call'). If it's important to portray his speech, then this passage does it by means of lexical, grammatical and syntatic variations without resorting to spelling.
"Nobody but the Angel Gabriel cudda done bettah" said Scarlett soothingly. "We jus' couldn't have lived without you."
I've done to Scarlett's dialogue what the author did to Peter's -- I changed the spelling to approximate how she would have pronounced the words. The result? It's amusing and condescending -- the misspellings seem to indicate something about her intelligence, or her illiteracy.
The lesson here is simple: don't play with spelling unless you have a really good reason. Playing with spelling will almost always work as a trivialization of the character, and that's never good. If it's important to portray dialect, do that in other ways.
March 15, 2005 01:10 PM
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Comments
I loved this post when I first read it a while ago. I think you are so spot on although I had huge discussions about this topic with people afterward. Some people disagreed with the point you were making but I think that was mainly because I didn't actually have the passage in front of me to demonstrate. I think some people feel that they can only convey the linguistic difference of a character if the dialogue looks different on the page. Sometimes I find incorrect spelling a bit alienating as a reader.
Posted by: Jacqui at March 15, 2005 05:28 PM
Maybe every exchange of dialog should be written using Bell's Visible Speech so no one is offended.
Or sense everyone in the world does not think in english (American) maybe a more universal language should be used. Maybe all books should be written in Esperanto. Shatner would find himself suddenly useful doing dramatic readings for Audio Books.
Posted by: Matt at October 5, 2005 01:50 AM
Matt -- it's not so much a matter of causing offense as it is of constructing solid, well grounded characters without trivializing or stereotyping.
Posted by: sara at October 5, 2005 07:05 AM