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Originally Posted by HarryT
I would note that "ken" (meaning "know" - essentially the same word as the German verb "kennen") is an everyday word in the north of England and Scotland; it's a word I use in my own speech, although I wouldn't use it in writing here. It's rather different to trying to represent dialect using funny spellings such as "dinna".
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Yes, of course, you're absolutely right, Harry. I should have thought my response through more clearly, and not included "ken." I guess I recently saw...what was it? I think it was "canna" and "kenna," both used for "cannot." I know how common "ken" is, for "know," and for that matter, I've been known to use it myself, in
very specific circumstances.
"Ken" almost stands in a class by itself, as it's not what I really meant as "dialect." It's a
word. It's like...a German in a book saying "hund" for dog. That wouldn't faze me. Of course, in this country, we see it used in various books for "can," rather than KNOW. I probably oughtn't to have selected Scottish as my pet peeve, but with Historical Romance, it seems to be the most-abused form of English dialect. HOWEVER, I could list a boatload of heavily-overwrought abuses of "Southern-speak" from the US.
OMG, and TEXAN. And things like "cain't." UGHGHTHG. Or, speaking of k's and n's, "kin." As in, "I kin do that fer ya, ma'am." ICK.
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I'd personally make a distinction between using normal spellings of words that the reader may perhaps be unfamiliar with, and trying to represent dialect by means of non-standard spelling (as books like "Tom Sawyer" do, for example).
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I'd have to think about that one. I've never really considered Twain as an abuser of dialect,
per se, but on the other hand, he made up half the terms of dialect/region that he used. What was it, Bellythumper? Gullywasher? :-)
I ought to also admit that as a bookmaker, dealing with dialect and spell-checking is a major pain in the glutes. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it colors my view, but I genuinely think that by and large, I've always disliked dialect when done poorly--or worse, incorrectly.
Hitch