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2. Genre / subgenre
Military novel
3. Brief synopsis
Describes hardships and frustrations of military life, but with strong focus on the
benefits of comradeship.
4. Overview of varieties / dialects
On the whole, non-standard or dialect representation occurs as a social variety
(officers‘ dialogue is rendered in standard English, while the troops‘ dialogue is
marked for accent or dialect); an interesting exception is the military doctor, O‘Toole,
whose Irish accent / dialect is marked.
5. Variety # 1: troops in conversation
5a. Sample of dialect
―I ain‘t got no patience with him! What would become of us all if he was to break his
neck? Why it wouldn‘t be like the same regiment without him!‖
―I wouldn‘t serve another day in a troop but his,‖ said another; ―not if they was to
make me sergeant-major of it!‖
―Well done, sir! Hooray for the Cap‘en! He‘s reached Mr. Molter.‖
―Well done, sir!‖
―He‘s letting him down by the rope.‖
―My eye! what a almighty smash the Cap‘en would come now if he was to lose his
hold!‖
―And as I‘m a sinner, he‘s only got a piece of lead piping to hold on to with one hand!‖
―Och! Holy Frost! he‘d ought to be an Oirishman for the loikes ‗o that!‖
―Well, Mr. Molter, wotever took you up there? You‘ve got to thank the Cap‘en for
getting‘ you down again.‖ (p.80)
5b.1 Orthography
Elision Cap‟en; o‟
Eye dialect wotever
Respelling loikes; Oirishman
5b.2 Grammar
Non standard conjugation not if they was
Non standard determiner a almighty
Non standard auxiliary verb order he‟d ought to be
Double negative I ain‟t got no patience
5b.3 Vocabulary
Idiom My eye! Holy Frost!
Lexis Och;
5c. Dialect area(s) represented
Social (generic ‗troops‘) + ‗Oirish‘
5d. Density of dialect representation
Lightly marked
5e. Location of dialect
Variety occurs only in dialogue
5f. Characteristics of dialect speakers
Male characters, peripheral, manual /semi-skilled
5g. Consistency of representation
Dialogue of un-named troops remains fairly consistent
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