Ocracoke: US Island That Speaks Elizabethan English

Native Americans, English sailors and pirates all came together on Ocracoke Island in North Carolina to create the only American dialect that is not identified as American.

Credit: Visit Ocracoke

In an effort to put his "America first" stamp on the nation's speech, US President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order making English the country's official language. It marks the first time in the US's nearly 250-year history that the nation has had an official language. Yet, on this small 9.6-square-mile island surrounded by the swirling waters of the Atlantic, residents still speak what is arguably the most English version of English in the country - and many Americans don't understand it.

As the island's official website proudly proclaims: "With origins dating back to the 1600s, Ocracoke brogue is about as American as it gets." Located 20 miles from the North Carolina mainland, Ocracoke Island is fairly isolated and if you want to go there, it has to be by boat. In the late 1600s and early 1700s, that meant Ocracoke was a perfect hideaway for pirates, as no soldiers were going to search 16 miles of remote beaches and forests for wanted men.

"It's the only American dialect that is not identified as American," said Dr Walt Wolfram, a North Carolina State University professor who studied the Ocracoke dialect for more than two decades. "That's fascinating to me. You can find pronunciation, grammar structures and vocabulary on Ocracoke that are not found anywhere else in North America."

Electricity didn't arrive at the island until 1938 and a ferry service didn't start until 1957, leaving the islanders cut off except for the occasional supply trip to the mainland. Even today, things are a bit different for the island's 676 residents than on mainland North Carolina. Local teashops, spice markets and other family-owned stores take the place of chain supermarkets. Cars are allowed on the 16 mile-long island, but most people just park them and walk everywhere. The island's children all attend one school, while residents work as everything from fishermen to brewery owners to woodworkers.

But with each generation, the dialect is starting to disappear. "What's happening is that some of these small dialects that thrive on isolation are dying because isolation is a thing of the past," said Dr Wolfram. "They still pick up terms and vocabulary, but when a kid from the island retains a strong dialect, that was the norm and now it’s an exception."

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