Dialect and Characterization in Mountain Meadows

Authors

Adrienne Landes, Brigham Young University
Dr. David Bowie, Brigham Young University

Keywords

dialect, Mountain Meadows, grammar, diction usage, Utah

College

Humanities

Department

Linguistics

Abstract

Great writers are often praised for their fine ear for dialogue; Mark Twain, Jane Austen, and Thomas Hardy all had the talent for recreating discourse that gives their work authenticity and their characters individuality. While I will not be writing about my contemporary neighbors and countrymen, as did these authors, I have studied the language of my characters in an effort both to enrich the body of existing linguistic research, and also as background research for a play about the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The best dialogue makes use of the eccentricities unique to a society, thus I have recorded the distinctive and intriguing grammar and diction usage among eighteenth-century white settlers in southern Utah.

Recommended Citation

Landes, Adrienne and Bowie, Dr. David (2014) "Dialect and Characterization in Mountain Meadows," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2014: Iss. 1, Article 681.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2014/iss1/681