Appalachian history professors applaud Tennessee bill recognizing dialect

A bill moved a step forward in the Tennessee legislature that would recognize the history and culture of Appalachian people in the state.

Republican State Sen. Steve Southerland of Morristown sponsored Senate Bill 227, which states that the Secretary of State would include a discussion of the Appalachian dialect and history in the Tennessee Blue Book every year.

The bill states that people of the Appalachian Mountains are misunderstood and their dialect is often seen as uneducated. If the bill passed, it would legitimize the Appalachian dialect.

What's the Appalachian dialect?

Amy Clark, co-founder of the Center for Appalachian Studies at the University of Virginia's College at Wise, is from Central Appalachia and said the dialect is a mixture of vocabulary, grammar and phonetics from the original settlers in the Appalachians.

Original settlers ranged from Native Americans to Scotch-Irish. The bill states the dialect was formed mostly because of the topography of the region.