Family Reunion

I have a large family. My dad is one of ten children and my mom is one of seven. My family is the only one to live in St. John's so my dialect is different from the rest of my family. Whenever we would go to family reunions or even just spend a weekend with my grandparents I always noticed how they all spoke differently  than me. My father would often correct my grammar so I was in shock when he got home and it seemed like he lost his own sense of proper grammar. When talking to my family, there were a lot of changes in English.

"House" became "Ouse"

/t; d/ deletion was insane. I'm pretty sure I didn't hear a [θ] or a [ð] the entire duration.


Another thing I noticed was how my family makes two words become one.
"What odds" is a saying used to tell someone not to worry about something. Coming from my family it was [wədɑdz]
"at all" would become [ətɑl]

Finally, everything was referred to by gender. People, animals and inanimate objects.
"Look at she" my aunt would say pointing to my baby cousin
"He's a beauty" my uncle would say referring to the fish he just caught
"She ain't got much time left, she don't" a cousin would say about his old bike.

To this day I still think about the things my family says. Usually when I use NLE it's because I'm joking. Hearing people talk like that everyday is very interesting.