"Many of the regional colloquialisms in Oklahoma!, as well as the spellings meant to suggest pronunciation, come from Green Grow the Lilacs. And Lynn Riggs knew whereof he wrote."
Thanks for pointing that out. I think the main reason some people have a problem with the spellings meant to suggest pronunciation is that, for whatever reason, they tend to look odd and/or patronizing when written out that way. But we should bear in mind that those spellings are meant as guides for the actors, and if the actors can pull off the dialect in a way that sounds natural, that's great :-)
Similar situation in several other works, including SOUTH PACIFIC (Bloody Mary's speech) and PORGY AND BESS, though in the latter case, DuBose Heyward did live among the people he was writing about even if he was not one of them, whereas in the case of SOUTH PACIFIC, both Michener and Hammerstein were outside observers, for whatever difference one feels that makes. |
