FROM SHOE-CROPS TO MOSQUITO HAWKS: LABRADOR ENGLISH IN THE ONLINE DIALECT ATLAS OF NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR

Abstract

NEWFOUNDLAND ENGLISH IS WITHOUT DOUBT the best-described of any variety of Canadian English. Yet though this observation may be true for the island portion of the province, research into the English spoken in Labrador has lagged considerably. Fortunately, this situation is changing, as for example in the recent and ongoing work of Memorial university Linguistics graduate students (e.g. Thorburn 2014; Edwards this volume). Likewise, the new online Dialect Atlas of Newfoundland and Labrador (www.dialectatlas.mun.ca), launched by the English Language Research Centre in October 2013, offers insights into the traditional spoken English of Labrador. In this paper, I present some Labrador findings from the online Atlas.