American Dialects: A Manual for Actors, Directors, and Writers

311 Pages·1997·12.59 MB·English

by  Lewis Herman

American Dialects
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AMERICAN
DIALECTS
A Manual for Actors, Directors,
and Writers
by
LEWIS HERMAN
and MARGUERITE SHALETT HERMAN
~l Routledge
~ ~ Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1997 by Routledge
Published 2013 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © 1997 by Routledge
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Herman, Lewis, 1905-
[Manual of American dialects for radio, stage and screen, and television]
American dialects : a manual for actors, directors, and writers I
by Lewis Herman and Marguerite Shalett Herman.
p. cm.
"A Theatre Arts book."
Originally published: Manual of American dialects for radio,
stage and screen, and television. Chicago : Ziff-Davis Pub., 1947.
1. Acting. 2. English language-Dialects-United States.
I. Herman, Marguerite Shalett. II. Title.
PN2071.F6H39 1996
427' .973 '024 792-dc20 96-30632
CIP
ISBN 13: 978-0-878-30049-5 (pbk)
To Our Children
STEPHANIE,
JUDITH,
and
HELMAR
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Contents
Foreword IX
Preface XI
How to Use the Manual
one The Common Speech 7
two The New England Dialect 25
three The Southern Dialect 57
four The Louisiana-French Dialects 113
five The Mountain Dialect 133
six The African American Dialect 167
seven The New York City Dialect 221
eight The Pennsylvania-Dutch Dialect 251
nme The Middle Western Dialect 265
Bibliography 285
Basic Exercises for Speech Clarity 293
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Foreword
U
nlike other art professions, acting cannot be practiced well at home or in
the studio-school, for it is an interpretive art that demands an audience.
There is no instrument or method of exercise for it other than the
human body and the activity of the brain. Therefore, there are few textbooks to
which the actor may refer, the art of make-up being the possible exception,
though even here no specific method or trick is applicable to every face.
Now, again, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Herman have brought out of their experience
as actors and writers a reference book for actors which can be used at home, in
the studio, and in the schools, to prepare an actor for a specific part of his trade
the art of interpreting and projecting American dialects.
Their first book, Manual ofF oreign Dialects, was published a few years ago and
proved its value and necessity to the actor in radio, on the screen, and in the the
ater, by going into a second edition. It is a fascinating book for anyone, for the for
eigner who wants to know and correct his speech peculiarity and for English
speaking people who wish to study the dialects of those of foreign birth or
descent, who make up so great a part of our land.
But it seems to me that this book, Manual ofA merican Dialects, for which it is
my privilege to write this preface, is an even greater contribution. For here, we can
listen to the intriguing voice of America, a voice which speaks with the different
tongues of all times-a voice which makes for the song of our land, the speech of
our land.
In this book, from which the actor can extract the true speech flavor of almost
every section of America, are the explanations and ways to reproduce this multi
ple, polyglot tongue. The student, the actor-even the amateur adventurer-can
wander from north to south, from east to west, from state to state. It is an exciting
excursion, not only into places, but into the very music of America, the intangible
rhythm everyone must feel when traveling across or up and down this land. It is
as indispensible to the acute taster of this country as a cook book, for it places, di
rectly on the tongue, the flavor of America.
A man's dialect is as much, if not more, of his personality than his education.
It stamps his charm, his wit, his whole mode of expression. To know a man's