The North Carolina Language and Life Project

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for more information on
Smith Island, contact:
Natalie Schilling-Estes


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Smith Island

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Smith Island

Smith Island is a small insular community located in the Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland. Similar to Ocracoke Island in size and geography, the Smith Island community is not influenced by the same degree of outside contact, given its lack of a popular tourism industry. Curiously, however, Smith Island speakers still produce dialect features similar to those produced by speakers of the Ocracoke Brogue.