Talkin’ Tarheel: How Our Voices Tell the Story of North Carolina
New Bern Historical Society sponsors monthly Lunch & Learn.
Talkin’ Tarheel: How Our Voices Tell the Story of North Carolina
1:30 am Thursday, October 12, 2017
Chelsea Restaurant
Speaker: Dr. Walt Wolfram, Linguistics Professor & Author
If you’ve ever spotted a whistle pig or know what a Kelvinator is, then you just might be fluent in Tar Heel. If you pronounce Buies Creek, Cashie River and Chicamacomico like a native, then you might be fluent in Tar Heel. Linguist Walt Wolfram will share stories, sights, and sounds from his book Talkin’ Tar Heel: How Our Voices Tell the Story of North Carolina.
“North Cackalacky’s” dialects go beyond the stereotypical Southern twang. Wolfram also explores the distinct dialects of African-Americans, recent Spanish-speaking immigrants, mountain residents, the Cherokee and Lumbee, and the “Hoi Toiders” – High Tiders, a nickname for Outer Banks natives.
Dr. Walt Wolfram is William C. Friday Distinguished University Professor at North Carolina State University, where he also directs the North Carolina Language and Life Project. He has pioneered research on social and ethnic dialects since the 1960s and published more than 20 books and over 300 articles. He has written books on Outer Banks dialects, (Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks: The Story of the Ocracoke Brogue), Lumbee English, Appalachian English, and African American English in North Carolina, and with Jeff Reaser, published Talkin’ Tar Heel: How our Voices Tell the Story of North Carolina.
For more information: Call the New Bern Historical Society at 252-638-8558
