Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay is only a 90-minute ferry ride from the mainland of Virginia and Maryland, but residents there speak a unique dialect of English.
Christine Mallinson, assistant professor of language, literacy and culture, shared her thoughts on the origin of the dialect and the reasons for its persistence with WAMU for a story entitled “Tangier Islanders Retain Unique Dialect.”
“Language is always changing and always developing and the Tangier Islanders have also come up with their own unique innovations and variations that make the dialect their own,” she says.
The story, which ran on June 27, can be read and heard here.
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