Hill talk is still around in the Ozarks

One thing I think I have learned both in school and through 70-some years of practical living is that there are lots of ways to get things said. Not only is the world outfitted with numerous languages, but within territories where you hear a certain language there may be numerous local dialects, localized versions of that language. There are also families of languages, where the different languages may share some real similarities. For example, I'm told that German and English are cousins as languages. Many words may be different, the normal word order in sentences may be different, but they share many root words. One that comes to mind is the German, "das Hund," for which our English expression is, "that hound-dog." At least that's the hill-talk version of "that hound."

A few weeks ago my wife Nancy found a magazine in the rack at Catfish John's called "Hills and Hollows." One of the articles in the June-July issue of "Hills and Hollows" is called "Hill Talk is Still Alive and Well in the Ozarks." The writer, Kim Mobley, has some things to say about hill talk that I think are quite good, and I want to comment on her comments and compare to some of our own language heritage around these parts.

First, let me quote her two opening paragraphs, as found on page 18 of the magazine. "Rumor has it that 'hill talk' is fading fast. I reckon I hate that. Bein' a writer, editor, and publisher, full-time teacher and an English professor, I figure most folks think I would throw a hissy fit if'n a comma is out of place or some sech word ain't quite spelt right."

I'd say that fer a much-schooled perfesshunul person Ms. Mobley is purty good at hill talk! I did notice that in her first sentence she mis-spelt the word "fading." In hill talk, that should have been "fadin', "fadin' fast." In hill talk, you mostly don't sound a "g" if it comes at the end of a word. When yur a-readin' and you see "fading," you translate it to 'fadin' if you want to be kerr-ect in the Ozark languige.

I like Ms. Mobley's attitude toward people who talk differently from what some people look at as the norm, or as the more educated version of American English. In her article, she expresses a love of the different sounds and different words in different cultures, including sounds and phrasings that are distinctive to Arkansas and southern Missouri (and Texas). She even laments in the thought of a world where everybody talks the same as everybody else. How monotonous! One point that I'd like to make, and it seems in accord with Ms. Mobley's way of looking at things, is that we ain't dumb because we say "ain't." Also, people ain't necessarily dumb because they ain't highly educated. In fact, people ain't necessarily unlearned just because they ain't highly schooled. There have always been hillbillies who are very smart, who keep learnin' as they live, and who show lots of ingenuity in makin' do with what they have to work with as they live out their very creative lives. The stereotypes we have in our heads about hillbillies are just wrong when it comes to thinking about people who come from the hill country. Maybe there were or are some who are content to be lazy, know-nothing boozers. But many hillbillies are fine people, salt-of-the-earth people, with lots of smarts and compassion and homegrown Bible-inspired wisdom. For the most part, you can't determine a person's intelligence by the way they say their words.

If people from the northern states, or the west coast or the east coast want to learn the Ozark language, one of the first things to recognize is that language ain't fer justifyin' uppitiness in people. Just as you ain't dumb because you say your words a certain way, you also ain't no bettern your neighbors jis' 'cause you say yer words more properly.

In the Ozarks, bein' uppity ain't no value; bein' uppity is a negative thaing, it don't make you more'n others. Now fer a little how-to: If you are used to sayin' "ing" at the end of words such as "going, coming, doing, hitting, fielding," and so on like that, remember that in speakin' hill talk you don't need the "g" at the end. It's goin', comin', doin', hittn', fieldin' and so on. Also, if you see words like "tire, wire, hire, mire, or fire," and are used to sayin' them with an "ire" sound, that ain't right fer hill talk. Those words, in hill talk, are pernounced "tahr, wahr, hahr, mahr, and fahr." They don't rhyme with "ire," they rhyme with "are." Yer car rolls on four tahrs. Ye use balin' wahr to fix stuff that's broke. Ye hahr somebody to work fer ye. Ye'll git yer car tahrs mahred down in the mud if ye ain't keerful. Ye tho' water on a fahr to put it out!

Finally, there are two words that you really need for hill talk -- "reckon" and "fixin'." Let's say we're ready to go somewhere. "Ma, are ye ready? I reckon I am, soon as I finish fixin' my hair."

"Ok, I'm a-fixin' to start the car."

To say "I reckon" is to speak the affirmative, like yes, but maybe not with quite as much enthusiasm as to say "sure am." "I reckon" is a bit more reserved, but still an Ok. To say "I'm a-fixin' to do somethin'" is to say that right soon I'm about to do it, or that I'm gettin' ready to do thus and so! Ok, that wraps up the hill talk lesson fer now.

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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history and vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. The opinions expressed are those of the author. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected] or call 621-1621.

Editorial on 06/21/2017