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โครงการรวบรวมและจัดทําเอกสารวารสารอิเล็กทรอนิกส์ มหาวิทยาลัยเกษตรศาสตร์

186 Humanities Journal Vol.21, No.1 (January-June 2014)

2.2.2 Grammar and Syntax
Like phonology, grammatical features of Southern American
English are various due to variety of speakers. Yet, the prominent features of
SAE features, according to Kinnebrew (1983), Bernstein (2003), and Wolfram
& Estes (2004) are as illustrated in table 2.

Table 2 Examples of grammatical features of SAE
Feature Example
Ain’t He ain’t my sister

Double negative We didn’t like nothing
Copula absence They nice, She nice
rd
3 singular absence She like_ cat
A – prefixing He was a-fishin’

2.2.3 Lexis
Most Southern words are new terms or adaptations of old
words. Many of the South's words are folk-like sounding and are related to
rural and farming life. Below is some glossaries taken from Connie Eble
(1996), Professor of English at the University of North Carolina which she
collected from Malin (1972) as well as drawn from websites.

Alligator pear = Avocado Bad mouth = Speak unfavorably
Crazy bone = Elbow Locker = Closet
Mosquito hawk = Dragon fly Shed = Small storage Building
Slaughter pole = Cane pole for fishing
Tumbleset = Summersault

2.3 John Steinbeck’s Life and Work
Steinbeck grew up in the Salinas Valley region of California,
a culturally diverse place of rich migratory and immigrant history. Steinbeck's