Black Boy: Dialect 1 key example

The Hoffmans have a strong Slavic accent, indicated most conspicuously by the "w" sounds being replaced with "v" sounds. This inflected speech continues throughout the scene, culminating in Richard going to the store next door to get a can of chicken à la king. He doesn't understand what Mrs. Hoffman is saying, so he asks her to write it down, at which she snaps, "I can't vite!" Richard hears the name as "Cheek Keeng Awr Lar King," and embarrasses himself when he asks the neighbors for a can of it. This is the strongest accent of any kind depicted in the book. Wright, in contrast to many other writers of Black characters at this time, does not typically use African American Vernacular English in this memoir. (Wright's Native Son, on the other hand, uses A.A.V.E. extensively.) Here Richard learns that these Eastern European Jews are, in some ways, just as ostracized as he is. Richard, up to this point in the memoir, is only familiar with a few social groups: White people and Black people, Northerners and Southerners. Here Richard learns that there are more types of people in the world than he previously thought.