SPEECH AS WRITING: LITERARY DIALECT ORTHOGRAPHY

The aim of this paper is threefold. First, it discusses the slippery concept of ‘nonstandard speech’ and argues that it is a multifaceted phenomenon which can only be approached in connection to standard speech, as they represent a binary opposition. It also tackles the importance of orthography in rendering nonstandard speech. Second, it draws a distinction between ‘literary dialect’ and ‘dialect writing’, exemplifying the use of the former in writings dating from the first half of the nineteenth century. Third, it presents the project and database ‘Dialect in British Fiction 1800-1836’ as a major tool to be used in any type of analysis focusing on the use of nonstandard speech in novels published in that period. Our analysis relies on excerpts taken from this database. Included here is also an analysis of several novels which include characters whose speech is rendered as nonstandard.