Speaker Sessions: Dr. Amy Clark on “Ain’t” to “I Swan!”: The History of Appalachian Speech & Why It Still Matters

Join us on Tuesday, December 8 at 7 p.m. for a conversation with Dr. Amy Clark about Appalachian accents and language. The Appalachian region is home to a rich language heritage shaped over centuries, blending distinctive pronunciations, vocabulary, and grammatical patterns that continue to thrive today. From the Carter Family’s music (performed the same way they spoke) to literature and today’s social media, Appalachian speech has proven remarkably resilient as a powerful expression of identity and culture. In this talk, Dr. Clark explores how Appalachian Englishes developed, how they have been preserved, and what the future might hold. Special thanks to the United Company Foundation for their support of this program. Date: Tuesday, December 8, 2026 Time: 7 p.m. ET Location: In-person in the museum’s Performance Theater and streaming via Radio Bristol’s YouTube Cost: Free and open to the public, RSVPs are requested RSVP HERE Amy Clark is Professor of Rhetoric and Applied Linguistics at UVA’s College at Wise and Co-Director of the Center for Appalachian Studies. She is co-editor and author of the book Talking Appalachian: Voice, Identity, and Community (University Press of Kentucky, 2013). Clark’s third book, The Cyclone of Rye Cove: a Community’s Tragedy and the Carter Family Ballad, is forthcoming in 2027 from UVA Press/Rivanna. Clark is also host and producer of the podcast Talking Appalachian (recently featured in The Atlantic), and her writing about the region and its dialects has appeared in The New York Times, Salon, Oxford American, and Harvard University Press’s blog.