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Ward, Mrs Humphry, The History of David Grieve
Ward, Mrs Humphry, Robert Elsmere
Ward, Mrs Humphry, Marcella
Ward, Mrs Humphry, Sir George Tressady
Wilson, Alexander Johnstone, The Rise and Progress of Sir Timothy
Buncombe: An Extra-moral Biography
ANNOTATED CATALOGUE
Bullough Collection No. 14 The Coral Island by R.M. Ballantyne
1. Publication details
Author: Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
Author dates: 1825-1894
Title: The Coral Island
Publication: London: Nelson, [19--?]
First published: 1858
2. Genre / subgenre
Fiction, boys‘ adventure story
3. Brief Synopsis
15-year-old hero, Ralph Rover, apprentice sailor, shipwrecked on Pacific Island,
together with companions: Jack Martin (18) and Peterkin Lee (13). Narrative of
survival, discovery, adventure (encounters with ‗savages‘, pirates etc).
4. Overview of varieties / dialects
First-person narration, focalised through Ralph Rover. The three main characters‘
dialogue is almost entirely standard (although see note at 9), but several less central
characters (sailors / pirates) have marked varieties.
5. Dialect #1: un-named sailors
5a. Sample of dialect
"Cape Horn," said one, "is the most horrible headland I ever doubled. I've sailed round
it twice already, and both times the ship was a'most blow'd out o' the water."
"An' I've been round it once," said another, "an' that time the sails were split, and the
ropes frozen in the blocks, so that they wouldn't work, and we wos all but lost."
"An' I've been round it five times," cried a third, "an' every time wos wuss than another,
the gales wos so tree-mendous!" (p. 14)
5b.1 Orthography
Elision a‟most blow‟d; an‟; o‟ (apostrophe marks each instance)
Eye dialect wos; tree-mendous; blow‟d
Respelling wuss for worse
5b.2 Grammar
Non standard conjugation we wos; the gales wos (although note the sails were
split)
Non standard tenseblow‟d for blown
5b.3 Vocabulary
Idiom I ever doubled
5c. Dialect Area represented
Occupational (generic ‗seafaring‘) rather than regional or social
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