Non-standard varieties of English in local colour writing: Creole speech in Kate Chopin’s Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie

Abstract

As the main focus, in order to expand our acknowledgements about this topic, we have chosen Kate Chopin, of French and Irish descent. Her heritage was an excellent starting point for us, in order to explain some curious points about her biography and the attributes of her literature. In two of her collections of short stories, Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie, we perceived many accurate exemplifications of her way of using language, and her ability to capture those dialecticisms in a faithful, wise way – this latter point constitutes the most practical part of the project; once arrived to it, we will find out her dialectal skills. In the same context, paying attention to the historical and socio-cultural background of the Local Colour Writing, we found the necessary help to register the linguistic situation of the time, filling the informational gaps of today, even though we must wonder how we could fill more in the future, since the topic has not been developed enough. The use of English in both collections has been recorded in a few stories, where dialogues will be the focus of the review. In general terms, after this brief introduction, the project will begin with a descriptive approach of Kate Chopin; including her biography, the characteristics of her literature, and the way she reflects her reality in her works. Later, basic information about the Local Colour Writing will be provided: its historical, social and cultural background – including conventions and lifestyles in the 19th century, examples of other authors, and how characters are depicted in their fiction. The following subsection will deal with the Local Colour dialect and speech, the sociolinguistic situation at the time, and previous research on the topic. After that, the research will be developed by means of preliminary, terminological and conceptual considerations; among others, the notion of standard language, variety, and the element that influences Local Colour writing: the Creole. In other words, we will learn useful slang concerning sociolinguistics, in order to understand the next section: the data analysis. This will include the analysis of five Kate Chopin’s stories, two from Bayou Folk and three from A Night in Acadie – two of her most famous collections of short fiction. Our methodology consists on describing the non-standard English patterns which belong to the southern area of the United States, clearly appreciated in the dialogued parts. The linguistic richness and the diverse social profiles of the characters were the chosen criteria to select the stories