WRITING IN DIALECT: WRITTEN REPRESENTATIONS OF SPEECH
WRITING IN DIALECT: WRITTEN REPRESENTATIONS OF SPEECH

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses different types of respellings (allegro speech, dialect respelling, eyedialect,semi-phonetic respelling) used by different English authors. In some contexts dialect is usuallyused for humorous purposes, and sometimes even to promote negative character evaluations by thereaders. The representation of dialect in writing draws mainly on stereotypes, using eye-dialect or semiphoneticspelling to render some of the best-known features of a certain dialect or accent, includingspecific words or grammatical structures. The aim of this paper is to delve into the ways in whichdifferent English authors represent various dialects. The authors under consideration are WilliamShakespeare, Charles Dickens, Irvine Welsh, Rudyard Kipling, and Robert Burns. The first four areincluded in what Beal (2006) calls ‘literary dialect’ while the latter in ‘dialect literature.’

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