In:Register and Discourse through the Lens of Corpus Linguistics
Edited by Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, Dolores González-Álvarez and Esperanza Rama-Martínez
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 127] 2026
► pp. 91–122
Chapter 4Studying the historical enregisterment of ain’t in nineteenth-century American
newspapers
Published online: 24 March 2026
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.127.04and
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.127.04and
Abstract
In this chapter, I investigate whether and how we can trace the historical enregisterment of nonstandard features in
historical newspaper data. The nineteenth century provides rich evidence of the increasing stigmatization of
ain’t in American English, through various text types that were common in newspapers at the time. In
these texts, characterological figures are constructed as speakers of the nonstandard, involving the negative contraction
ain’t plus a host of other features. Over time, these characterological figures consolidate and become
recognizable stereotypes that are imbued with social meaning, leading to the stigmatization of a complete register of
linguistic features and their speakers — processes that can only be reconstructed with much qualitative, historical background
work.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Method
- 3.Enregisterment and literary dialect
- 4.Some characterological figures
- 4.1The Yankee
- 4.1.1Major Downing of the Downingsville Militia
- 4.1.2Sam Slick of Slicksville
- 4.1.3Petroleum Vesuvius Nasby
- 4.2Our Little Newsboy
- 4.3Black stereotypes
- 4.3.1Free Soil Party
- 4.3.2Other depictions of Black speakers
- 4.3.3News from Maine
- 4.1The Yankee
- 5.Conclusion
Notes References Transcriptions of newspaper articles
References (49)
AHN. America’s Historical Newspapers.
Retrieved on 30 May 2025 from [URL]
Anderwald, L. (2016). Language
between description and prescription: Verb categories in nineteenth-century grammars of
English. Oxford University Press.
(2017). ‘Vernacular
universals’ in nineteenth-century grammar writing. In T. Säily, A. Nurmi, M. Palander-Collin, & A. Auer (Eds.), Exploring
future paths for historical
sociolinguistics (pp. 275–302). John Benjamins.
(Forthcoming). The
enregisterment of ain’t as a non-standard marker in nineteenth-century American English: Functional
pressures vs. social indexicality. In V. Werner, O. Schützler, J. Schlüter, G. Knappe, L. Sönning, & F. Vetter (Eds.), Variation
and change in English: Integrating the study of internal and external factors. Mouton de Gruyter.
Blair, W. (1983). Introduction. In W. Blair & R. I. McDavid (Eds.), The
mirth of a nation: America’s great dialect
humor (pp. ix–xxvii). The University of Minnesota Press.
Blair, W., & McDavid, R. I. (Eds.). (1983). The
mirth of a nation: America’s great dialect humor. The University of Minnesota Press.
Bogle, D. (2016). Toms,
coons, mulattoes, mammies, and bucks: An interpretive history of Blacks in American
films (5th
ed.). Bloomsbury.
Cockrell, D. (1997). Demons
of disorder: Early blackface minstrels and their world. Cambridge University Press.
Dana, C. A. (1885). Charles
A. Dana. In A. T. Rice (Ed.), Reminiscences
of Abraham Lincoln: By distinguished men of his
time (pp. 362–376). North American Publishing Company.
DARE. (2013). Dictionary of
American Regional English, digital version. Harvard University Press. Retrieved on 30 May 2025 from [URL]
Donaher, P., & Katz, S. (Eds.). (2015). Ain’thology:
The history and life of a taboo word. Cambridge Scholars.
Edwards, W. F. (2004). African
American vernacular English: Phonology. In E. W. Schneider, K. Burridge, B. Kortmann, R. Mesthrie, & C. Upton (Eds.), A
handbook of varieties of English (Vol 1:
Phonology, pp. 383–406). Mouton de Gruyter.
Ellis, M. (2016). Mapping
southern American English, 1861–1865. Journal of Linguistic
Geography, 4, 1–14.
Hadler, J. (1998). Remus
orthography: The history of the representation of the African-American voice. Journal
of Folklore
Research, 35(2), 99–126.
Haliburton, T. C. (1852). Traits
of American humour, by native authors. Edited and adapted by the author of “Sam Slick,” “The Old Judge,” “The English
in America,” &c. &c. In three volumes. Colburn & Co.
Harris, J. C. (1881). Uncle
Remus: His songs and his sayings. The folk-lore of the old plantation. D. Appleton.
Honeybone, P., & Maguire, W. (Eds.). (2020). Dialect
writing and the north of England. Edinburgh University Press.
Isa, M. (2017). The
great oyster craze: Why 19th century Americans loved oysters. MSU Campus Archeology
Program. Retrieved on 30 May 2025 from [URL]
Jacobson, B. (1997). Literary
cross-dressing in old New York: Ann Sophia Stephens as Jonathan
Slick. In S. L. Linkon (Ed.), In
her own voice: Nineteenth-century American women
essayists (pp. 113–125). Garland.
Lanehart, S. L. (Ed.). (2015). The
Oxford handbook of African American language. Oxford University Press.
Locke, D. R. (1885). David
R. Locke. In A. T. Rice (Ed.), Reminiscences
of Abraham Lincoln: By distinguished men of his
time (pp. 444–453). North American Publishing Company.
McWhorter, J. (2020). The
‘aks’ of its day? Revisiting invariant am in early Black
English. In R. Blake & I. Buchstaller (Eds.), The
Routledge companion to the work of John R.
Rickford (pp. 90–99). Routledge.
Milroy, J., & Milroy, L. (1999). Authority
in language: Investigating standard English (3rd
ed.). Routledge.
Minnick, L. C. (2010). Dialect
literature and English in the USA: Standardization and national linguistic
identity. In R. Hickey (Ed.), Varieties
of English in
writing (pp. 163–195). John Benjamins.
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2018). Newsies. Digital
history. Retrieved on 30 May 2025 from [URL]
Morris, L. A. (1988). Women
vernacular humorists in nineteenth-century America: Ann Stephens, Francis Whitcher, and Marietta
Holley. Garland.
Nguyen, T. T. T., & Hajek, J. (2022). Making
the case for linguicism: Revisiting theoretical concepts and terminologies in linguistic discrimination
research. International Journal of the Sociology of
Language, 275, 187–220.
OED. Oxford English dictionary
online. (n.d.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 30 May 2025 from [URL]
Paulsen, I. (2022). The
emergence of American English as a discursive variety: Tracing enregisterment processes in nineteenth-century U.S.
newspapers. Language Science Press.
Peterson, J. B. (2015). The
(re)turn to Remus orthography. In S. L. Lanehart (Ed.), The
handbook of African American
language (pp. 691–705). Oxford University Press.
Pilgrim, D. (2014). Understanding
Jim Crow: Using racist memorabilia to teach tolerance and promote social justice. PM Press.
Rädiker, S., & Kuckartz, U. (2019). Analyse
qualitativer Daten mit MAXQDA: Text, Audio und Video
[Analyzing qualitative data with MAXQDA: Text, audio and
video]. Springer.
Rice, A. T. (Ed.). (1885). Reminiscences
of Abraham Lincoln: By distinguished men of his time. North American Publishing Company.
Shorrocks, G. (1996). Non-standard
dialect literature and popular culture. In J. Klemola, M. Kytö, & M. Rissanen (Eds.), Speech
past and present: Studies in English dialectology in memory of Ossi
Ihalainen (pp. 385–441). Peter Lang.
Smith, N., & Haabo, V. (2008). Suriname
creoles: Phonology. In E. W. Schneider (Ed.), Varieties
of English (Vol. 2: The Americas
and the
Carribean (pp. 339–382). Mouton de Gruyter.
Smith, S. (1835). The
letters of J. Downing, Major, Downingville militia, second brigade, to his old friend Mr. Dwight of the New-York Daily
Advertiser. John Murray.
Stein, D. (1994). Sorting
out the variants: Standardization and social factors in the English language
1600–1800. In D. Stein & I. Tieken-Boon van Ostade (Eds.), Towards a
standard English
1600–1800 (pp. 1–17). Mouton de Gruyter.