The above photo features Walt Wofram and Jeffrey Reaser at Scuppernong Books, last month, promoting their new book "Talkin' Tarheel: How Our Voices Tell the Story of North Carolina." They also spoke at Barnes and Noble yesterday. The NC State professors have documented the North Carolina dialects and languages throughout the state: from Murphy to Manteo. They also include QR codes in their book so, when they talk about the way someone speaks or a dialect sounds, you can use your smart phone, scan the QR code, and hear what they are talking about. That is about as close to a talking book as you can get.
We are so lucky that their dialect research has been going on for over twenty years and that they have recorded the special people and sounds of North Carolina while speech groups remain distinct. It is nice to see dialect approached in an informative, yet entertaining way. While neither professor is from NC, they sure have captured the essence of the way we speak. What Cecil Sharp did for collecting folksongs in North Carolina, they have done for language. North Carolina is lucky.
I'd heard of Sharp years ago. Interesting that they're following in his footsteps.
Excellent portrait!
Posted by: William Kendall | Monday, June 02, 2014 at 07:05 PM