[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Hitch

"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.

I often wonder how readers for whom English isn't a first language cope with Dickens's "dialect" writing, such as this example from "The Pickwick Papers", where Mr Weller offers these touching words of advice on matrimony to his son Sam:

“I’m a goin’ to leave you, Samivel, my boy, and there’s no telling ven I shall see you again. Your mother-in-law may ha’ been too much for me, or a thousand things may have happened by the time you next hears any news o’ the celebrated Mr. Veller o’ the Bell Savage. The family name depends wery much upon you, Samivel, and I hope you’ll do wot’s right by it. Upon all little pints o’ breedin’, I know I may trust you as vell as if it was my own self. So I’ve only this here one little bit of adwice to give you. If ever you gets to up’ards o’ fifty, and feels disposed to go a marryin’ anybody—no matter who—just you shut yourself up in your own room, if you’ve got one, and pison yourself off hand. Hangin’s wulgar, so don’t you have nothin’ to say to that. Pison yourself, Samivel, my boy, pison yourself, and you’ll be glad on it arterwards.” With these affecting words, Mr. Weller looked steadfastly on his son, and turning slowly upon his heel, disappeared from his sight.

Would it be obvious to a non-native speaker than "pison = poison", "arterwards = afterwards", and so on, I wonder? I don't think a native speaker would have any trouble with it.

I believe I'm right in saying that Dickens was the first author (in the English language at least) to try to represent dialect (in this case a London "Cockney" accent) in this way.

Mark Twain is perhaps a little more extreme in his representation of "southern" American speech with stuff like this from "Huckleberry Finn":

"Say, who is you? Whar is you? Dog my cats ef I didn' hear sumf'n. Well, I know what I's gwyne to do: I's gwyne to set down here and listen tell I hears it agin."