The other night I was watching LAW & ORDER: Criminal Intent, and a nanny said, �I have to go redd up.� I smiled, because this was a familiar colloquialism to me, and I thought it odd that someone living in New York would say it. The ever so astute detective Goren picked up on it, asking the nanny if she was from Pennsylvania. Detective Goren said that western Pennsylvanians, especially Pittsburghers use �redd up.� I wanted to correct him, as the area I come from is central, closer to eastern Pennsylvania, nearer to Philadelphia. But maybe he�s right. What I thought interesting was that this girl had no trace of an �accent.� Perhaps like me, she worked to erase traces of it.
The Pennsylvania Dutch accent sounds a bit like German, and the deeper you go into the community (especially the Amish and Mennonites) the closer to German it is. For instance, we pronounce flowers like �FLAHRS� and eggs like �ECKS� our W�s like V�s and vice versa. But if I were to transcribe their speech phonetically, it would be hard for the reader to follow. Likely, it wouldn�t make any sense. You don�t want your readers to have to slow down and try to figure things out. So, if one wants to use dialect in dialogue, how does one accomplish this?
Josip Novakovich (FICTION WRITER�S WORKSHOP) suggests these tips:
� Don�t alter your spelling radically. For instance, to indicate a drawl, don�t triple vowels. It�s okay to alter your spellings occasionally to give the reader a flavor of dialect, but avoid over-doing it.
� Use word choice and syntax. For instance, a Pennsylvania Dutch speaker would say, �Is it all?� for �Are we out of eggs?� Or the word order can be something like: �Throw the cow over the fence a bale of hay.� This is an extreme example, but typically, dialects have idiosyncratic grammar constructions (or corruptions, depending on how you look at it.).
Your characters will speak in their own dialects. Maybe they�re not labeled as �Pennsylvania Dutch� or �Southern� but they�ll have their own idiosyncratic ways of speaking. Not everyone, even those reared in the same geographical area, speaks in the same rhythm or uses exactly the same words. Or perhaps you have a character who isn�t Southern but wants to make her new friends think she is, so she peppers her speech with �y�all� and �I reckon,� in an attempt to sound like Scarlett O�Hara.
The exercise:
Freewrite (or make a list) about typical colloquialisms or ways of speaking where you grew up (or currently live). Write about geographical and generational colloquialisms. For instance, the way you spoke as a teenager may be different from the way you speak now. Or, the way your kids speak is different from the way you speak. And so forth. Once you have half a page to a page, prepare to write a scene. The situation can be of your invention, or try one of these:
� Two (or more) peers have a typical conversation. Try to introduce some type of conflict. As commented in our list discussion, the conflict doesn�t have to mean high drama or a fight.
� A child comes home from college and has a discussion with his/her parents over dinner.
� Someone gives directions to an out-of-towner.
� Someone tries to give the impression he/she is from somewhere else.
As always, have fun with it!
