230155 Accents and Dialects in North America (S) (SoSe 2025)

In this class we will look at North American accents and dialects and how they are represented in novels and plays. This doesn't mean that you have to read (a lot of) novels, but you have to show a willingness to engage in our reading material. Most well known is the representation of African American English (AAE), which as been used sometimes more or and sometimes less consistently in fictional writing, but there are also other regional varieties (American South), or immigrant influences on English in the US. For this purpose, we'll look at novels such as The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, or China Boy by Gus Lee, but also Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus (Brer Rabbit tales) and many more. The excerpts from these and other novels and plays will illustrate how authors represent and also stereotype accents and dialects both in 19th and 20th century fictional writing.