[lbo-talk] Writing semiliterate English (advice)

Chris Doss lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com
Fri Jul 11 05:33:51 PDT 2008


Please no jokes about my own writing style. :)

There are a lot of very literate and linguistically trained people here, so I thought I'd ask for some advice. I'm translating part of Rasputin's Diary. This document is actually of disputed authenticity, and may either actually be the work of Rasputin or a forgery put out by the Cheka for propaganda purposed. Anyway this isn't relevant for my concerns.

Anyway, the document is written in semiliterate Russian. Especially, words are written spelled as they sound. I really don't know how to reproduce this in English -- I don't believe I have ever seen an example of semiliterate English in writing. If eye rite de wurdz like dis it lukz stoopid. Can anybody point me at an example of a similar English document (written by a semiliterate or somebody successfully pretending to be a semiliterate) that I can use as an example? The nearest I can think of off the cuff are some of Dickens' and Faulkner's dialogue, and I don't want Rasputin to sound like a cockney waif or like he lived in Mississippi in 1910.

Thanks!!!



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