HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1975-07-03, Page 13[gb ChOUl students
urvey shows t t u ro n residents
don't waste words when talking
By Chris Zdeb
Huro dunty...people dont.
Waste words when they talk. In
fact, they get to the point of
What they have to say Hauch
faster than frost people living
*Other parts of the province.
English teacher, Terry
O'Neil -says it is no surprise that
ople in the area are straight-
Ikers - "it falls in with their
rural' way of life."
Mr. O'Neil and seven of his
grade 10 students at Central
Secondary School are in
the, final stages of compiling.,
this and other bits ofin-
formation
-
formation -that they
collected during the first
historical word geography
study of the Clinton region. The
study concentrates its in-
vestigation on the language
used in the 18754900- time
period,' and was` undertaken as
aCentennial project.
"We decided to focus on .those
; years because the people who
were alive at the turn of the
century are going to be in the
ground soon and the wealth of
inforniation they possess will
he lost," -Mr. O'Neil said.
Huronview. residents of sound
mid 90 -years -old and over,
..pr vided the researchers their
study material. Armed with
-prepared questionnaires and a
tape recorder, students Trina
Connolly, Marg Anne Cum-.
intrigs,
�. Elizabeth Davidson,
Glenna EEllis,, Barb Lawson,
Sandy Marshall, and Michelle
Smith invaded. the County's
Senior Citizens' Horne, to
finally emerge several in -
interviews later with 60 hours
df recordings.
,"Every hour oL.ta►pe requires
l. said : and is die several
_O'Neil.
'ft:,of"p +�'thu ham •
�'`� �hundfr�d
been replayed so far. he has
come -titre-Ss quite a few =in-
" fisting facts. .
'Did you know pat people
used to be 'married plain' with
no.aittendants and no cake?" he
asked. "And did you also know'
that they were married at 5 in
the morning so that they could
catch the 6 a.m. train out of
" Stratford for their honeymoon
?"
'
tripWhat about the terra 'path -
master?' Before there was a
Department of Highways, you
had to look after the road in
front of your farm. 0 you
didn't, the pathmastef would
come along with a work crew
and look after it for you, but
charge, you with the bill for
doing it."
And if anyone appreciated
this upkeep of the roads, it must
have been the, highwayman (a
robber mounted on horseback
who ambushed highway
travellers), who was quite
active in pioneer days
throughout the County.
In addition, Mr. O'Neil has
Wand that "gravel running",
fluence a regional dialect, he
said.
• "i n.. southern' parts . of
Newfoundland, you can . find
people whine speech is, similar
to Elizabethan dialects.
Each region has three levels
of dialect; "prestige,"
"standard," and "folk" which
reflect the amount .of- formal
education a person has had.
Word ° studies. like the one
that was conducted by Mr.
O'Neil and his- students have
been going on for 75 years in
Canada, "and .unintentionally
for much longer," he said.
"In the 1700's, a, group of
amateur linguists (people
studyWords),'went toAustralia
to study ' the dialect of the
Pygmies. They went about
' pointing at different things and
• asking the natives to tell them
what they were ' called. One
day, they saw this big, creature
with a pouch hopping around,
and pointing to -- it asked a
_ (drinking while driving through Pygmie what the beast , was
the countryside) is a word
unique to this area but its use
has spread because regions of
peoplearen't isolated from
-eachother like they used tabe.
"Regional dialects" (manners
ofpeech), are -beginning to
disappear. with people
travelling snare and radio and
television having become more
b, prevalent in our society,,, he
said. "Bit dialects still exist
and vary for each region.
Mr. O'Neil claims dialect is
more distinct than fingerprints
" and said that boundaries could
even be drawn around areas
within Huron which pronounce
their words differently.
"People think that regional
dialects . come , from . one :r'oot,.
tint th it's nonSense 'fake the-,
-for"
le.
' la;,, frtp .
E is
n 1a
', `i6ta
l of
the
urns
e.
I � d
of
4
s
up
• dialects."
" .Geography. the standard of
living and Ieestry all iia=
called. The little fellow replied.
"kanga roo," and that's howwe
got the name•for"a kangaroo,'
Mr. O'Neil said.
"Anotherstudy of the Pygmy
language done sonieWhat later
by a - group of professional)
linguists discovered that the
Pygmy word "kanga roo,"
translated as "I'm sorry, but I
don't understand what you're
asking me," which is, exactly
what that little •guy was trying
to tell the amateurs."
Even so, he, added that the
Maritimes had been studied
and that several, other surveys
were still progressing
throughout the country.
"We hope eventually to
cornp i le all'of ..the data into a
ii guistic atlas of Canada'."
_., . t Li�.
: k
The TOktet,,„y4. ,�.�
•Was,''" the `nd Ora state
in the'Cli group'sresear h;;
but4he aVailt le' infprrnatiotifi
far from being exhausted, Mr.
O'Neil said. There is a
possibility that the survey may
continue next year ifenough
students show da interest in
learning about the history of
their language.
"In studying variations of
past dialects we can determine...
bow word and letter sounds
have changed and how they will
continue to change in the '
future." he said.
"People get upset when they
see the language change, but
the only way to stop it from
changing, is to stop speaking."
• It's highly .improbable that
. people wouldever do that, -but it
could happen in I4uron where
even now people are quite
stingy with their words.
and
. ,
Miep Van Altena Is the real doll
I>riis picture, though she is Fucshaed hello the background by the
-M�• Van Akena made. -a total of 100 Cen-
. ti+vo bhond-haired, blue-eyed dolls.. in the fomgroux�. _
tennial dolls since she started on the Prole:Urn January. (News -Record photo)
dressed dolls bring Centennial attve
13V CHRIS ZDElt VanAnne-Marie, "M1ep •
Altena watched as her husband
Frank took 16 bluereyed,-rosy-
«marvel flowers on top of &m,
but wholesalers won't accept
an order under a 1,000 spoons
and I, just couldn't afford that
heeked young ladies glued many," she said.
on a dress.for a real person.that
she, got the idea for scaling
down her sewing to doll -size.
"Sewing"WW'S more in my line
of work, and since it is Cen-
tennial year, I decided I could
get ordinary dolls and dress
them in old fashioned clothes,"
Mrs. Van Altena ordered 100
brain dolls. at a cost of $2 apiece and
n�ltnton a since the manufacturers have
discontinued • making that line
th .00
.wi �
- 1ti0 E~ ,,.
..d tfae
e I
sof 4
.% l orip0 ones to-atteRt her .taienwa as
r.
rti�
k
.,mea
�tati,
� yam,
.v ,
: dolluc lits. , cel s
,. thinkingot.w -Each Cell ass' u..me�veabie head
At � first I was - r
.,taking spoons :nd....,putt"ir and�-arins andtinnes'dressed in
c +
their feet t� blocks of wood and . �' It was while she was working
put them on public display in
the window of his barber shop.
All of this could have gottela
Frank in trouble with the
-authorities if .the "ladies" '
hadn't turned out to be little
dolls.
The foot -high cutlets', dressed
in Centennial garb are the
child of Mrs. Van Altena
of Dunlop Street i
seamstress, who put her talents
th i `oik e$eiiyt 'weekend -Ai*
to
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a bonnet, dress and apron.
"I used the dresses Worn on
the television show, "The Little
House on the Prairie", as a
model, . for making the doll
outfits,' r she said.
The 55 -year-old native of
Holland and her husband have
lived in Clinton for 22 years,
and June 23 marked the 24th
anniversary of their arrival in
Canacfa.
Although "Mrs. " Van Altennr,.
sewed all of the doll dresses
herself, the final souvenir
product' is the result of a joint
effort:
"I sewed the outfits. Mr. Jack
lumtree made the block
�. ,'rand, ,Frank : glued" the
site said .
-tit sh.,�.
Oe ever hinder pijeel
becoming tedious?
'I never got bored snaking
the dresses. I did it as a hobby
and using nine different pat-
terns of material kept the ,job
fun, she said.•
Mrs. Van Altena is selling the
dolls for $7.90, a price that is
said to be far below what the
little figures are really worth.
There are only 100 though, and
with Centennial celebrations
still three weeks away, they're
selling quite well. ,
'I took 100 dolls to, represent
the 100 years of' Clintons
Centennial," she said.
And, a Centennial doll seems
to be about the nicest moment°
person could have to
remember a once 'n a lifetime •
In
tven#,�-because tduse u th.
e,.
�. ••. foer�:t T.
town's bicentennial.
How well do you kflOWCIlfltOl1
How well do you know'
Clinton? Many readers will
know the history of the town
very well. some will be less
familiar with her past and
present.
As part of- a fust way to spark
some more interest in the
Clinton Centennial, Chris Zdeb,,
a student reporter with the
News -Record, created and
designed a crossword puzzle
DOWN
2. Area MP
1. Not l th-Heavenlyloud
4. Hockey Hall of a r
5. Reeve
'6. Clinton's Age
Known for baked goods
9. Clinton has largest of these fair
10. Founder of organa factory
15:Nickname of Hill at north end o
16. Centennial Co`rnrnittee Chaim
17. catholic Church
18. Deputy -Reeve ti
11.Oply Woman on Town Council
2. High School
24. Colour "ofwn flag
. i. Ball team •
Wcisley- --
.! . Clinton is celebrating this
29. Street name
.t0. Police Chief
32 First Mayor
34. Editor's nickname
39. Roan in Clii tem Hotel
3; . Will lead Paaraalat... ,
;➢. Main stavet
41. Founder. f Clinton Pubi csp.anal
0, 43 R60
based solely on Clinton.
Some of the answers. are
easy, some will take sometime
to complete. But don't let that
bother you, try it just for fun or
if you think you have it down
pat.a mail or bring your com-
pleted puzzle into the News -
Record by Tuesday noon. July
8.1975. .
The . Judges at the News -
Record will pick out a winner
s in Ontario
f town
an
and fiar• ''st prize will be a lovely
Centennial. oriented prize with
second and third prize winners
taking home a year's sub, •
scription to the News -Record.
But dpn't forget, we must
• have the puzzles by noon on
July 8th.. The answer will be
published next week,, ,
Sharpen your pencil&nd your
brain and go!
ACROSS
1 Mayor
Ai "rhe of -Huron County
s - rhd'Game Club
• 10 Ha II or Kay
11 Service Club 4
1 e 'Sales --.—
i 3 llanZe' S3'
14 1•:1 m1 S1nirt
19 Victinia Street as Highway
Cam Proctor's title
.'3 Nre.a MPP
NeaAN%ID rang,town
.t0 Form Reeve
11 T't. r
of these objects are on the.town crest
• 13 One of the Clubs involved in -Monster Bingo
Nark ata me of arta soutb41,f the tracks
3s (oror er) Wore
410 - $radeord a�
4" Small tend-nniarth of Clinton
44 A 4'N'.attka ." who owned a tavern
Xi' Town rounder
411 Piano foil"tiwy,,,.,L.n
4a Cuaraat
45, Papulation
n+