Dialect In Huckleberry Finn

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, dialect is “a form of a language that is spoken in a particular part of a country or by a particular group of people”, distinct by its way of pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary (Definition of ‘Dialect’). It is a “spoken model of speech” that can be characterized by time period, background, individuality, and geographic region (Townson). Dialect is a brilliant way for authors to express their culture and enhance the reading experience for any audience. It is common throughout all types of literature and is oftentimes the thumbprint that gives a work its true identity. While it may seem obvious to link dialect with literature, it is fascinating how diverse dialect is and incredible how it represents …show more content…
Everyone speaks differently, and it is important that authors are able to convey that through their writing and formulation of how different words are written on paper. Mark Twain is a master at relaying dialect and is capable of reeling in an audience to make them feel like they are actually part of any setting. Before writing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain took it upon himself to study the different dialects he intended to utilize throughout the novel in an attempt to make the novel feel more personal to the reader (Townson). He would analyze other novels written by different authors of the time in order to get an idea of how he wanted to verbalize the dialect of each of his characters. In the novel, Twain brings forth more than three different dialects from the southern region of the United States (Carkeet). His goal in writing the novel was for people to appreciate the numerous dialects dispersed throughout this region. In the novel, Huck tells his own story, so the reader is able to experience an old fashioned “backwoods South-Western dialect” from the perspective of a young boy, which actually represents two dialects within one character: southern and young-boy; making Twain’s work even more impressive (Carkeet). Throughout Huck’s journey, he has a multitude of encounters with various types of people in locations scattered across the southern region, which allows Twain to bring forth the dialects of the different people. One of these includes, Jim, a slave whom Huck had already known. Jim presents the “Missouri negro dialect” that is extremely distinct to his character (Carkeet). With this, readers are able to imagine what Jim may have actually sounded like, and, also have a glimpse into part of his true identity of what makes him unique to all the other characters involved in the novel. The “Pike-County” dialect is another dialect apparent in the novel, and is named after Pike County, Missouri