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โครงการรวบรวมและจัดทําเอกสารวารสารอิเล็กทรอนิกส์ มหาวิทยาลัยเกษตรศาสตร์

วารสารมนุษยศาสตร์ ปีที่ 21 ฉบับที่ 1 (มกราคม-มิถุนายน 2557) 181

Literary Dialect: the Study of Southern American English

as Appeared in John Steinbeck’s Novels

Sivaporn Varaporn 

Navaporn Sanprasert Snodin

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine Southern American
English (SAE) in literature, using John Steinbeck’s three novels; In Dubious
Battle, Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath as the samplings, with a
focus on phonology, grammar, and lexis. The checklists combined from the
frameworks on Southern dialect in literary works were created to collect data

of phonological features (from the eye dialect) and grammatical features. For
lexical features, the concordance software AntConc was employed. The
findings revealed the characteristics of Southern American English together
with the use of non-standard English which non-native students can approach
without having to observe in a real speech community. Furthermore, it can
bring students’ attention on literary dialect, especially on its importance as a
reflection of actual language.

Keywords: Literary dialect; Southern American English; John Steinbeck


Graduate Student in English for Specific Purposes Program, Graduate
School, Kasetsart University. E-mail: wanillaaz@yahoo.com

Lecturer Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Humanities,
Kasetsart University.