For information about
Hyde County, contact:
Becky Childs
Erik Thomas

Sociolinguistic Publications on Hyde County

NCLLP Documentary on Hyde County English:

Hyde Talk: the Language and Land of Hyde County, NC

Mainland Hyde County is a rural area of farmland and swampland surrounding North Carolina's largest natural lake, Lake Mattamuskeet, in the eastern part of the state. The principal industries are agriculture, fishing and tourism. It is a wildlife haven, containing all or parts of four national wildlife refuges. During the winter, large flocks of swans are a commonplace sight.

The main communities within inland Hyde County are Swan Quarter (the county seat) in the west, Englehard in the east, and Fairfield in the north. Other, smaller communities include Middletown, Nebraska, and the Lake Landing in the east and Rose Bay. History is one attraction of mainland Hyde County; many families can trace their ancestry in Hyde County to colonial times. The Lake Landing Historic District includes a driving tour of 19th century homes and other landmarks, and the Mattamuskeet Lodge (built 1915-16) is another attraction that draws many sightseers. More information is available from the Greater Hyde County Chamber of Commerce (1888-HYDE VAN).

The NCLLP has recently begun fieldwork in mainland Hyde County. Our aims here are: (1.) to compare the "brogue" accent of this area with that of the island communities of Ocracoke and Harkers Island; (2.) to compare the speech of African-Americans and whites, investigating whether sociological factors in Hyde County have affected the amount of linguistic differentiation between ethnicities as compared with other NCLLP communities; and (3.) to investigate the direction of linguistic change for each ethnicity. We plan to interview residents of inland Hyde County who represent a cross-section of the population, much as we have in other NCLLP research sites.