Document Type

Thesis - University Access Only

Award Date

2002

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department / School

English

Abstract

This thesis compares representations of the regional dialect variety of the Upper Midwest imbedded within the works of poet Leo Dangel, humorist Howard Mohr, and essayist Bill Holm with data collected by dialect geographers Harold B. Allen and Fredrick Cassidy. Traditional dialectologists rely upon data collected through meticulous fieldwork and represented in the form of atlases like Allen's Linguistic Atlas of the Upper Midwest and Cassidy's Dialect Atlas of Regional English. While their synchronic method addresses the state of the dialect at any given point in time, the traditionalists, with their itemcentered methodology, tend to de-emphasize the diachronic aspect of the dialect with its inherent association with the culture in which the dialect exists. This thesis, in a Formalist analysis of Leo Dangel's Home From the Field, Howard Mohr's How To Talk Minnesotan, and Bill Holm's The Heart Can Be Filled Anywhere On Earth, examines the interrelationship between the dialect variety of the Upper Midwest and the culture from which it emerges.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Dangel, Leo, 1941- Home from the field : collected poems Mohr, Howard How to talk Minnesotan : a visitor's guide Holm, Bill, 1943-2009. Heart can be filled anywhere on earth : Minneota, Minnesota English language -- Dialects -- Minnesota English language -- Dialects -- Middle West Language and culture Popular culture in literature

Format

application/pdf

Number of Pages

137

Publisher

South Dakota State University

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