Larrikin isn't simply a dialect or accent, but an attitude. The 70s
nationalist renaissance in theatre characterised itself as "larrikin",
meaning anti-authoritarian, profane, loud, rambunctious, notably (at
the time, England still being the Home Country) anti-English.
Associated with a certain kind of physical theatre that actually
derives from commedia dell'arte, but these days is mostly seen in
Circus Oz.
xA
On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 4:54 AM, Robin Hamilton
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi, Catherine
>
>
>> Willing to ask as someone with absolutely no idea, but how is
>> "larrikin" any different from other dialect poetry (except for the
>> dialect)?
>
> Larrikin would be specifically Australian, and, strictly, cant or slang
> rather than dialect.
>
>> Is it more pc if it is a white dialect, showing influence of another
>> language group? You know, how the Cape Cod, Mass., US, dialect bears
>> a close resemblance to 1600s Cockney?
>
> Hm ... Wish I had any idea how something as specific as Cockney sounded in
> the 1600s . <g> Also, I wonder whether the term "cockney" could apply that
> early? This though kinda does link into something that I'd like to pursue
> sometime, a possible link between (specifically) 1780s Dublin speech and
> current AAE. It's all a bit odd.
>
> As to some dialects being acceptable and others not ... I think the
> exclusion is as much against urban dialects per se, which are usually
> working-class, as against black speech. Certainly this was the case in
> Scotland in the sixties, when the School of Scottish Studies was recording
> any and every rural language use and as a matter of policy ignoring urban
> speech.
>
> As to why me and Larrikins ... 'Non-standard' speech of all kinds tends to
> be excluded in various ways, thus up till recently cant, black 19thC speech,
> and urban dialects. Just happens that what I'm working with is the lineage
> of cant stemming from England in the 1550s, and this doesn't link into black
> American speech directly (except possibly "De Nite Afore Larry Was
> Stretched"). The lexis of Larrikin speech may -- dunno yet, as I've only
> recently come on it.
>
> (I'm also separately interested in the historical suppression of black 19thC
> American language, but that's a different issue.)
>
>> Also, too, since a big chink of
>> American pomes are considered unworthy of study because in dalect
>> (largely African-American English).
>
> Is this really the case? Other than the virtually universal "Outraged From
> Chelmsford" reaction to anything other than standard language? Are you
> thinking of rap, slam poetry, or what here?
>
>> I am on the page ridiculing Hayles about her use of "creole" etc. as
>> per MEZ and some other of English proper and computer languages
>> (generally not a single lang., but signs, symbols, and English-based
>> scripting ... English...
>
> Um ... I don't really understand this. Could you amplify a bit on this?
>
>> and also because I read Lola Ridge's dialect poems particularly
>> harshly -- and she is an Irish - Kiwi - American.
>
> Do you dislike them because they're in dialect or because they're bad
> poetry?
>
>> These are honest questions; I just don't know & want info.
>
> Ditto.
>
> Best,
>
> Robin
>
--
Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
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