Colloquialism

The dialog in Wright's "Bright and Morning Star" is written in a colloquial form, emphasizing the pronunciation of words uttered both by a stereotypical Southern person as well as by a stereotypical African American living in the South. Wright uses this form not only to portray the tone of the South but also because he believed in a very realistic documentation of life. If people talked with an accent, muffling words, skipping over consonants, then that is what he would write. Examples of the dialog as written are the words "yuh" for you, "astin" for asking, "ernuff' for enough.

Within this colloquialism is also the use of non-standardized English grammar. Examples include "Don yuh wish you knowed?" (for Don't you wish you knew?); "Yuh done did ernuff sass fer one night" (for You have done enough sass for one night); and "Whut she wans?" (for What does she...