American Dialect Bibliography

English Dialect Books

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DIALECT BOOKS FROM EVOLUTION PUBLISHING

A Dictionary of Pennsylvanianisms Claudio R. Salvucci.

A Grammar of the Philadelphia Dialect by Claudio R. Salvucci

The Philadelphia Dialect Dictionary by Claudio R. Salvucci

GREAT BRITAIN

A Treatise on the Provincial Dialect of Scotland by Sylvester Douglas, Charles Jones (Editor)

Survey of English Dialects : The Dictionary and Grammar Clive Upton, David Parry, J. D. A. Widdowson

The Dialects of England by Peter Trudgill

Yes Mush : A Cockney Dictionary : The Cockney Language and Its World by Robert Barltrop

CANADA

Canajan, Eh? by Mark M. Orkin

Dictionary of Newfoundland English by G.M. Story et al.

Dictionary of Prince Edward Island English by T. K. Pratt

Prince Edward Island sayings by T. K. Pratt (Editor), Scott Burke (Editor)

Wet coast words : a dictionary of British Columbia words and phrases [Out of Print] by Tom Parkin

UNITED STATES

GENERAL INTEREST

Dictionary of Americanisms : A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded As Peculiar to the United States by John Russell Bartlett
This dictionary, first published in the mid part of the nineteenth century, was among the first to compile American dialect words as an independant entity.

Handbook of the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and South Atlantic States by William A. Kretzschmar Jr. (Editor)
This book does not contain much linguistic data per se, but it is an extremely useful work for those who make frequent use of the Linguistic Atlas records. Much of the book is taken up in community and informant sketches: each and every locality surveyed is listed, along with a sketch of its settlement history. A short paragraph is devoted to each LAMSAS informant: occupation, age, family history, and various other notes. Other features of this work include notations on the fieldworkers' transcriptional peculiarities, and maps showing the locations of each informant. Not recommended for those with merely a casual interest because of its technical nature, but indispensable for those delving into the intricacies of the LAMSAS data.

Dictionary of American Regional English, vol. 1 : A-C. Frederic G. Cassidy (Editor)
Dictionary of American Regional English, vol. 2 : D-H. Frederic G. Cassidy (Editor), Joan Houston Hall (Editor)
Dictionary of American Regional English, vol. 3 : I-O. Frederick G. Cassidy (Editor), Joan Houston Hall (Editor)
The Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) is not fully published yet, but what has already been released is nothing short of outstanding. Here for the first time we see a massive compilation of data ranging from Linguistic Atlas-style interviews, to thorough historical and literary citations, to odd notations collected right on up to the present. It is no exaggeration to call this the ne plus ultra of American dialect lexicology. Even if your interest is only in one specific area of the country, DARE can be of great help in determining what the true extent of those "local" words really are. The first volume contains introductory chapters on typical changes in American folk speech, a guide to pronunciation, the text of the DARE questionnaire, and a listing of all the informants and their relevant biographical information. The dictionary itself is in a very readable and reference-friendly style, and it actually makes fun browsing.

American Regional Dialects : A Word Geography by Craig Carver
This book is an analysis of the lexical data collected from the DARE surveys, and makes a good companion to the DARE Dictionary. A good book if you want to know what the general dialect picture of the country looks like, and how the various dialects relate to each other.

Writing in Nonstandard English (Pragmatics & Beyond, New Ser. 67) Hardcover (October 1999)

American English : Dialects and Variation (Language in Society, No 24) [Hardback] by Walt Wolfram, Natalie Schilling-Estes. [Paperback edition]

American Dialect Research (Centennial Series of the American Dialect Society) [Hardback] by Dennis R. Preston (Editor) [Paperback edition]

Discovering American Dialects by Roger W. Shuy

Applied Phonetics : The Sounds of American English (Singular Textbook Series) by Harold T. Edwards

Focus on the USA (Varieties of English Around the World, General Series, Vol 16) by Edgar W. Schneider (Editor)

How to Talk American : A Guide to Our Native Tongues by Jim Crotty

The Mother Tongue : English & How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson

REGIONAL BOOKS

How to Talk Yankee by Gerald E. Lewis
A general-interest work which treats dialect usage in northern New England, with a particular emphasis on Maine.

Yankee Talk : A Dictionary of New England Expressions (Facts on File Dictionary of American Regional Expressions, V. 3) [Hardcover] Robert Hendrickson [Paperback edition]

New Yawk Tawk : A Dictionary of New York City Expressions (Facts on File Dictionary of American Regional Expressions, Vol 5) [Hardcover] Robert Hendrickson [Paperback edition]

A Dictionary of Pennsylvanianisms Claudio R. Salvucci.

A Grammar of the Philadelphia Dialect by Claudio R. Salvucci

The Philadelphia Dialect Dictionary by Claudio R. Salvucci

How to Speak Dutchified English by Gary Gates

How to Speak Dutch-ified English Vol. 2 by Gary Gates

Pennsylvania German Reader and Grammar Ernest Haag.

'Heartland' English : Variation and Transition in the American Midwest (Centennial Series of the American Dialect Society) by Timothy C. Frazer (Editor)

How to Talk Midwestern by Robert Thomas

How to Talk Hoosier by N. Bell

How to Talk Minnesotan by Howard Mohr