As the linguistic legend goes, the #Appalachian ⛰️ dialect is so odd and archaic, hundreds of years out of step with the rest of the English-speaking world, that it’s the oldest living English dialect—older than the speech of Shakespeare, closer to Chaucer. Isolated from the outside world by natural barriers, they have preserved the language of #ElizabethanEngland. It’s a myth repeated frequently by linguaphiles, but is it true? Language has an important place in the #folklore of #Appalachia and one of the ways Appalachian communities show solidarity and belonging. Perhaps it’s evolved to become its own entity, but the romanticised past is a story all its own. JSTOR by linguist #ChiLuu Photo: Tony Barber, Getty Images #FolkloreThursday #WorldMountainDay #language