The reader approaches both Eatonville and the muck as an outsider and soon discovers patterns in the language of the characters. Initial and final consonants are frequently dropped. "You" becomes "yuh," occasionally "y'all," a plural. "I" is invariably "Ah." Vowel shifts also occur often. For example, "get" becomes "git." The final "r" is "ah." "Us" may occur as the nominative, and verbs, especially auxiliary verbs, are generally left out. A double negative such as "Nobody don't know" gives emphasis. Distortions of the past tense also occur. For example, "knew" becomes "knowed." Because "–ed" is a sign of the simple past, it is logical in dialect to add "-ed" to make a past tense verb. The reflexive pronoun "himself" becomes "hisself." A final "th" is spoken as "f," and although the final "r" is softened in some words, it is added to others. In addition to patterns of dialect, Janie and her friends speak a language rich in a vocabulary of localisms and folklore references. These features are also characteristic of regional speech and help make dialects distinctive.
The character of Tea Cake is to some extent characterized by his language. He is the only character who consistently uses "us" as a nominative; perhaps it is Hurston's subtle way of suggesting that Tea Cake is of a lower class than Joe or the porch sitters.
