But she pronounces all "er" ending as
"uh"; e.g., nigguh, cullud, fathuh, mothuh, m(o)stuh, daughtuhs.
There are a number of variations from correct pronunciation which I do
not record because they do not constitute a variation from the normal
pronunciation; e.g., "wuz" for "was", "(e)r" for "[e]r".
The slave pronunciation of "m(o)ster" is more nearly correct than the
normal pronunciation of "m(a)ster." Frequent pronunciations are marse,
marsa, m(o)ssa, m(o)stuh, and m(a)ssa.
Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor
Person interviewed: Silas Dothrum
1419 Pulaski Street, Little Rock, Arkansas
Age: 82 or 83
Occupation: Field hand, general work
[May 31 1939]
[HW: Don't Know Nothin']
"The white people that owned me are all dead. I am in this world by
myself. Do you know anything that a man can put on his leg to keep the
flies off it when it has sores on it? I had the city doctor here, but he
didn't do me no good. I have to tie these rags around my foot to keep
the flies off the sores.
"I worked with a white man nineteen years--put all that concrete down
out there. He is still living. He helps me a little sometimes. If it
weren't for him I couldn't live.
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