KZIONradio

I found a funny article in the Salt Lake Tribune today called Talk of the morning, Never trah to melka wahldboll.



It’s about Utah English and how its roots came from the pioneers.



“All that’s required to hear English the way the pioneers spoke it is to go ‘farth’ to the Mormon ‘wahrd’ and listen to others—perhaps yourself—talk between mouthfuls of ‘carn’ on the cob.”



I grew up in California and have spent time all over the west and I’ve tried really hard to keep from picking up the Utah lingo. But its been difficult.



“’What we have is really a Southern system [of speech] floating in the West,’ Bowie says. ‘If you actually listen to Utah English, you can tell the sound pattern of the words is Southern.’



“Another quirk: Practitioners of Utah English cotton to a form of Southern vowel pronunciation. For example, some Utahns are still prone to ask others, ‘What ‘tahm’ [time] is it?’ and say things like, ‘Ahm [I’m] going to the BYU.” Even so, most utterers of Utah English are neither rubes nor rustics. And Bowie says the dialect should be celebrated, not discouraged.’”



Fer now on ahm gonna fil proud when I tok like a Utahn.