The North Carolina Language and Life Project
presents

The Carolina Brogue

A lively tour of the dialect and culture of the North Carolina Outer Banks.

Synopsis:
The early residents of the North Carolina Outer Banks came south by boat from Tidewater Virginia and the eastern shores of Maryland, and many of them had originally come from Southwest England or the Ulster province of Ireland. Features of British and Scots-Irish English have been retained in the local dialect, though the dialect of the early English-speaking settlers evolved independently to take on the distinctive character and vocabulary of the ‘hoi toide brogue.’ Once derided as “bad English” outside of its native communities, the dialect has been elevated by the BBC’s assessment of Ocracoke as ‘the Galapagos of language,’ and books like Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks by Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schilling-Estes.

Though villages along the sounds remain relatively isolated, the Outer Banks is now one of the most popular travel destinations in the world and it receives millions of visitors annually. Increased contact with outsiders has brought rapid change and today locals strive to hang on to their heritage, traditions and changing dialect. Rooted in twenty years of fieldwork, research and community relations, The Carolina Brogue is a candid portrait of contemporary life on the Carolina Coast, and one of the most unique dialects in the world.

See also the film's external site, www.carolinabrogue.com.

DVD details:
USA | 2008 | 27 minutes | Color | Letterbox Format
Available for $20 at www.talkingnc.com

Special features: