Colloquialism/Colloquial Langauge 

What's the difference between colloquial and vernacular?

Colloquialisms are the informal words and expressions used in everyday conversation, while vernacular encompasses the broader language characteristics, including colloquialisms, of a specific region or group. Vernacular is like the larger "language world" of a community, while colloquialisms are the specific words and phrases within that world that people use in casual conversation.

Colloquial Language in Literature

"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee:

"Yessir, I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more'n the rest of 'em—"

In this passage, the character Calpurnia uses colloquial language with contractions like "Yessir" and "more'n" to reflect the informal speech of the characters in the American South during the time of the novel.

"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger:

"I'm always saying 'Glad to've met you' to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though."

The main character, Holden Caulfield, uses colloquial expressions like "glad to've met you" and "stuff" to capture the conversational tone and the voice of a teenage narrator.

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain:

"I lit out, mighty quick, for the river; I reckoned I would have a good head start."

Mark Twain's novel is filled with colloquial language to depict the dialect and speech patterns of characters in the American South during the 19th century, such as "I lit out" and "reckoned."

"Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck:

"We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us."

The characters in Steinbeck's novel often use colloquial expressions like "gives a damn" to convey the informal speech of itinerant laborers during the Great Depression.

These examples demonstrate how authors use colloquial language in literature to create authentic and relatable characters and settings, adding depth and realism to their narratives.