Charleston, South Carolina

Charlestonian dialect

Charleston's unique (though vanishing) dialect has long been noted in the South and elsewhere, for the singular attributes it possesses. Alone among the various regional Southern dialects, Charlestonian speakers inglide long mid vowels and one hears elements often associated with speech in Canada, such as the raising for /ay/ and /aw/. Some attribute these unique features of Charleston's speech to its early settlement by French Huguenots and Sephardic Jews, both of which played influential parts in Charleston's development and history.

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Two important works which shed light on Charleston's early dialect are "Charleston Provincialisms" and "The Huguenot Element in Charleston's Provincialisms," both written by Sylvester Primer. Further scholarship is needed on the influence of Sephardic Jews to the speech patterns of Charleston.

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