Question

Read this excerpt from Hamlin Garland's "The Return of a Private":"I hope to God it will! I bet I've chawed hardtack enough to shingle every house in the coolly. I've chawed it when my lampers was down, and when they wasn't. I've took it dry, soaked, and mashed. I've had it wormy, musty, sour, and blue-mouldy. I've had it in little bits and big bits; 'fore coffee an' after coffee."This excerpt is an example of __________.

Answer 1

Taking into account the statement above: "Read this excerpt from Hamlin Garland's "The Return of a Private":"I hope to God it will! I bet I've chawed hardtack enough to shingle every house in the coolly. I've chawed it when my lampers was down, and when they wasn't. I've took it dry, soaked, and mashed. I've had it wormy, musty, sour, and blue-mouldy. I've had it in little bits and big bits; 'fore coffee an' after coffee."This excerpt is an example of __________"

The answer is: dialect.

This is an example of when the authors write a character talking as they pronounce the words. There are few or some author's that don't do that; there are situations in which authors say that if they write in their native language, anyone could understand it.

Chawed sounds like it it might mean chewed, or eaten, in this person's dialect. Lampers, I have no idea what that is, or coolly but it's obviously slang.