Porch Talk: The Ocracoke Brogue with Walt Wolfram & Jeffrey Reaser

This event is rain or shine. 

Walt Wolfram directs the North Carolina Language and Life project at North Carolina State University. In 1993, Wolfram formulated the principle of linguistic gratuity, which states that "investigators who have obtained linguistic data from members of a speech community should actively pursue ways in which they can return linguistic favors to the community".  He has been involved in the production of television documentaries on dialect diversity (often in collaboration with Neal Hutcheson), the construction of museum exhibits, and the development of dialect awareness curricula for the schools and general public. His book, Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks (1997) was based on interviews with more than 70 Ocracoke residents of all ages. By tracing the history of island speech, he and his co-author, Natalie Schilling-Estes succeeded in opening a window into the history of the islanders themselves.

Jeffrey Reaser is Professor of English at…