Twain's "A True Story, Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It"

In Twain's short story, the first linguistic feature that jumped out at me was in the letters, and lack thereof, in certain words. The most consistent and obvious to me was how any "th" was replaced by a "d" or was left off entirely. Likewise, many consonant endings such as the 'g' in "ing" were simply dropped while the vowel beginnings of some words were also dropped.

Other than sounds of words, syntactical things of note included very long, repetitive sentences; the word "and" (spelled "an'") was used again and again in a single sentence. Similarly to most English dialects, Aunt Rachel primarily used sentence with a subject-first, verb-after structure.

I also noticed the use of reflexive pronouns more frequently than I am used to hearing. For example, "De Gen'l he tole me...." (Twain).

The differences between the way I speak English and the way Aunt Rachel did are many. I am sure there are many more that I missed, did not understand, or did not know how to describe and explain. I look forward to learning more about why African American slaves in writing frequently are recorded as speaking in this particular dialect that is not completely different from that of Southern Americans today.

What should English teachers teach?

English teachers have tons of information to cover in their classes: everything from basic sentence structure and grammar to literature and poetry is expected. With everything else that needs to be covered in the roughly one hour allotted daily, what should English teachers be teaching about language and about the English language specifically?

I think one of the most useful things that teachers can easily address is where the English language comes from. The words used in English come from all over the world and many other languages. Just a basic knowledge of root words, suffixes and prefixes can improve one's vocabulary. Understanding not only what the root words mean but also where they originate from can help a person understand very basic words and phrases in languages other than their own. As we discussed in class, many of us here in the United States have very little ability to speak any language other than English, while most of the rest of the world has a grasp on at least two languages. Simply knowing the break down of words, what those mean, and where they come from can allow English speakers to stumble through other languages. It may even make learning a second language easier, especially in adulthood.

In your typical high school English class, "text-book" English and English grammar are taught, but how effective is that when the students, and likely the teacher as well, speak some dialect (depending on region, race, class, etc.) that incorporates many words, phrases, and sounds that differ from English? "Textbook" English is usually very different from both the vernacular English and from many written works that are used in class, for example, William Shakespeare's work. Teachers would be wise to discuss these differences and nuances of the English language to give students an understanding of why one language can be so different in so many ways. To promote thinking of why one region uses words differently than another or how language has evolved from what it was in Shakespeare's time to what it is today would be a good idea.

I do not know much about other languages, but I would imagine that many languages share similar struggles and changes to the English language.