Appalachian English

Appalachian English is a common name for the Southern Midland dialect of American English. This dialect is spoken primarily in the Central and Southern Appalachian Mountain region of the Eastern United States, namely in North Georgia, Northwestern South Carolina, Central and Southern West Virginia, Southwestern Virginia, Southern Ohio, Eastern Kentucky, the Upper Potomac and Shenandoah Valleys of Virginia and West Virginia, Western Maryland, East Tennessee, Western North Carolina, and Northeastern Alabama. It is a dialect distinct from Southern American English, and it has more in common with the Northern Midland dialect of Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia than the Southern dialect. While most of this area lies within Appalachia as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission, Appalachian English is not the dialect of the entire region the Commission defines as Appalachia. The Appalachian dialect is rhotic and characterized by distinct phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon. It is mostly oral but can also be found in writing.

Appalachian English has long been derided as an inferior dialect. Detractors both within and outside of the speaking area mistakenly cite laziness, lack of education, and the region's relative isolation as reasons for the dialect's existence. American writers throughout the 20th century have used the dialect as the chosen speech of uneducated and unsophisticated characters. While research has largely disproven these stereotypes, use of the Appalachian dialect is still often an impediment to educational and social advancement.

Extensive research has been conducted since the 1930s to determine the origin of the Appalachian dialect. One theory is that the dialect is a remnant of Elizabethan (or Shakespearean) English that had been preserved by the region's isolation. Another theory suggests that the dialect developed out of the Scots-Irish and Anglo-Scottish border dialects brought to the region by some of its earliest British Isles settlers. Recent research suggests that Appalachian English developed as a uniquely American dialect as early settlers re-adapted the English language to their unfamiliar frontier environment. This is supported by numerous similarities between the Appalachian dialect and Colonial American English.

Speakers of Appalachian English have no trouble understanding standard English, but even native speakers of other dialects can find it somewhat impenetrable (compare the similar situation of Glasgow English and London English), and foreigners may have some trouble understanding it, while others may find it easier to comprehend. Standard forms are taught in schools, with the implicit assumption that the Appalachian dialect is inferior to Standard American English. The characteristic syntax and morphology of Appalachian English gives way to more standard forms in schools, public speaking venues, and courts of law, but the phonology is likely to remain the same.