Post by Annette on Jul 2, 2009 3:07:38 GMT -5
It's precious and soothing to hear the beautiful mountain dialect of Eastern Kentucky. It warms my heart and there's no sweeter thing on earth than to hear a Kentucky Mother or Grandmother tell of the gentle love of the people from my home place. They are unique, loving, intelligent and tolerant. They know how they're viewed by Hollyweird and the outside world, but they manage to remain above it. There is a sense of humor about the way they are viewed from the outside world and how they are portrayed by the media, but there is also a sadness for those who never get to know what they are missing. Many of the folks from my Kentucky mountains feel a sadness for those who live in a world where they are so lacking our Kentucky mountain values. We have experienced a greater love from the folks at home; unlike those who live the unattached, cold, big city life. I am always listening and can't wait to hear that precious Eastern Kentucky mountain dialect again.
13 July 2009:
I found this article in the Harlan Daily Online Newspaper. It is from Judith Victoria Hensley. I love what she wrote about my people from Eastern Kentucky. She wrote the following:
I’ve been a listener since I was a little girl growing up in a Chicago suburb. The area we lived in had neighborhoods of cultures straight from the “old countries.” There were German, Polish, Italian, Irish and so on. Chicago, at that time, was considered the melting pot of the world. My family talked differently than any of these other groups, and I’m sure each one of them had the same sense about their own speech and accents. Early on, it made me wonder about the way we talked in our house and how the relatives talked when we made our joyous trips home to Harlan County.
I would find occasional snippets of our language or peculiar phrases in literature like the Bible, or some other book I happened to be reading like Christy or Old Yeller. Often, my teachers in high school would call on me to translate some passage from old English poetry or literature that the other students didn’t seem to understand. In church, the King James English of the Bible never seemed foreign or difficult to me.
When I got old enough and in college, I began to realize that the region of the United States that I came from was very unique and the language still being used by its older citizens was a direct link to the past of their culture. Long before I started jotting notes down to myself, I was listening and enjoying the speech of family and loved ones in or from this area of the country — southeastern Kentucky and bordering areas of Virginia and Tennessee, as well as people from North Carolina and Georgia.
I love the people of the region, my people, and their beautiful, poetic, expressive language and storehouse of knowledge that did not come out of a textbook. People here tend to paint word pictures rather than just state things in black and white. A lot of their private belief system is deeply rooted in the past and still sprouting in the present.
13 July 2009:
I found this article in the Harlan Daily Online Newspaper. It is from Judith Victoria Hensley. I love what she wrote about my people from Eastern Kentucky. She wrote the following:
I’ve been a listener since I was a little girl growing up in a Chicago suburb. The area we lived in had neighborhoods of cultures straight from the “old countries.” There were German, Polish, Italian, Irish and so on. Chicago, at that time, was considered the melting pot of the world. My family talked differently than any of these other groups, and I’m sure each one of them had the same sense about their own speech and accents. Early on, it made me wonder about the way we talked in our house and how the relatives talked when we made our joyous trips home to Harlan County.
I would find occasional snippets of our language or peculiar phrases in literature like the Bible, or some other book I happened to be reading like Christy or Old Yeller. Often, my teachers in high school would call on me to translate some passage from old English poetry or literature that the other students didn’t seem to understand. In church, the King James English of the Bible never seemed foreign or difficult to me.
When I got old enough and in college, I began to realize that the region of the United States that I came from was very unique and the language still being used by its older citizens was a direct link to the past of their culture. Long before I started jotting notes down to myself, I was listening and enjoying the speech of family and loved ones in or from this area of the country — southeastern Kentucky and bordering areas of Virginia and Tennessee, as well as people from North Carolina and Georgia.
I love the people of the region, my people, and their beautiful, poetic, expressive language and storehouse of knowledge that did not come out of a textbook. People here tend to paint word pictures rather than just state things in black and white. A lot of their private belief system is deeply rooted in the past and still sprouting in the present.