What did you think of this episode?

What did Appalachian English sound like before anyone could hit “record”?

In this episode revisit from Season 1, I’m doing a little linguistic time travel using letters instead of audio. I take a close look at two personal letters written nearly a century apart:
• one from 1862, during the Civil War, and
• one from 1954, written by a woman in Lee County, Virginia

On the surface, they’re just everyday letters. But read closely, they’re packed with clues about how people actually spoke.

We're using a method called content analysis, which is a fancy name for paying very close attention to spelling, grammar, and word choice. Before audio recording, and before widespread formal schooling, many people wrote the way they talked. That means these letters preserve dialect features we’d otherwise never hear.

So, what sticks around? What changes? And what can a pair of ordinary letters tell us about Appalachian speech across nearly 100 years?

In this episode, we’ll talk about:

• How linguists study speech from the past without recordings
• Why “nonstandard” spelling is actually a goldmine
• Appalachian dialect features that show up again and again
• What language continuity tells us about place, community, and identity

Voice work: Brock Davidson (Civil War Soldier) and Addison Hutchison (Lee County woman)

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*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review the podcast (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support the podcast on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: talkingappalachianpodcast@gmail.com or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Freight Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

In this edited episode revisit, we talk about Old Christmas (or "Little Christmas) that many Appalachians still celebrate on January 6th. We'll also talk about favorite New Year's foods for luck (like Hoppin' John) and how to avoid bad luck (don't do laundry or sweep.) Then we'll talking about the word "untelling," as in "It's untelling what 2026 will bring, but I hope it's all good things!"

Happy Old Christmas and Happy New Year!

Support the show

*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review the podcast (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support the podcast on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: talkingappalachianpodcast@gmail.com or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Freight Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

In this episode, I'm joined by an Appalachian artist and fourth-year UVA-Wise student Bailey Lantman who shares her journey of discovering the academic study of her regional dialect and heritage. We talk about the importance of preserving Appalachian voices, the influence of family and regional history on her identity, and the experience of embracing her dialect in various settings (including New York Fashion Week.) Bailey reads her published poem 'Bless Your Heart and Other Acts of Rebellion,' which reflects the inherent literary quality of Appalachian speech. The episode concludes with listener stories about their *voiceplaces and the impact of dialect on their lives.

00:00 Introduction and Poetry

01:49 Bailey's Appalachian Heritage

03:59 Academic Journey and Inspirations

07:06 Appalachian Identity in New York

08:24 Voice Place and Code Switching

17:13 Bailey's Poem: Bless Your Heart

27:12 Listener Responses

Share your own voiceplace via audio or email at talkingappalachianpodcast@gmail.com

*"Voiceplace" is a word created by Kentucky author George Ella Lyon

Support the show

*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review the podcast (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support the podcast on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: talkingappalachianpodcast@gmail.com or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Freight Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain