Using Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Please think about an answer to this question during announcements:

Why do authors employ dialects in their writing?

To make characters realistic To make a narrative historically accurate To indicate the social, economic and

educational level of a character To indicate the age, culture or geographic

background of a character To create humor To educate his or her readers

What is the definition for dialect? Dialect is a way of expressing a variation

in pronunciation, meaning or usage from standard language whose origin may be attributed to geography, class or culture.

How do you pronounce the beverage that most humans drink everyday?

Some say waaahter Others say worter Can you think of

some other examples of variations in pronunciation?

Gas pronounced as

Syrup pronounced as

Coffee pronounced as

Tomato pronounced as

geahs (NJ) or gaz (Philadelphia) Searup (NJ and?) or

Sirrup (Somewhere in New England through the Midwest)

Cawfee (NJ) or Cahfee (Midwest)

Tomahtos (UK) or tomaytos (northern US)

A class is a group or cohort of people who share a common background

Social Economic Age or generation Educational

A word for your mother’s sister

A word for a vessel to hold flowers

Ahnt or Annt

Vayz or Vahz

What if your friend said, “Hey let’s go get a sandwich at a deli?”

What would you expect to eat?

Hoagie, bomber sub/submarine, grinder, torpedo, hero, baguette

Bap or Panini

What do you call the space inside your house immediately inside the front door?

Hallway Foyer Entryway Living room?

What do you pour on your spaghetti?

Some people say sauce

Some Italians say gravy

What do you say to your family when asking them to come back for Thanksgiving next year?

“See you again!” “See you next time!” “You should make sure to come back

next year.” “You all come back next year.” “Y’all come back now, ya hear?”

To show regional and geographic differences between characters

To show different educational levels and social classes between characters

To further social and political criticism To show different ages of his characters To create humor

Look for patterns and clues in the language Change and add letters if you notice a pattern For example: look for apostrophes and try

adding on common word endings (-ed and –ing)

Consult a dictionary and look up the word, words or expressions that are unfamiliar to you

Do some research. If you are reading a text centered in a culture, region or time period different from your own, research that culture, region or time period

Miss Havisham might sound something like this…

The convict might sound similar to this… Joe might sound something like this…

What do you understand about some of the characters you’ve met so far in the novel, Great Expectations?