Scotch-Irish Americans

==Customs==
Archeologists and folklorists have examined the folk culture of the Scotch-Irish in terms of material goods, such as housing, as well as speech patterns and folk songs. Much of the research has been done in [[Appalachia]].<ref>Audrey J. Horning, "Myth, Migration, and Material Culture: Archeology and the Ulster Influence on Appalachia", ''Historical Archaeology'' 2002 36(4): 129–149</ref>

The border origin of the Scotch-Irish is supported by study of the traditional music and folklore of the [[Appalachia|Appalachian Mountains]], settled primarily by the Scotch-Irish in the 18th century. Musicologist [[Cecil Sharp]] collected hundreds of folk songs in the region, and observed that the musical tradition of the people "seems to point to the North of England, or to the Lowlands, rather than the Highlands, of Scotland, as the country from which they originally migrated. For the Appalachian tunes...have far more affinity with the normal English folk-tune than with that of the Gaelic-speaking Highlander."<ref>Olive Dame Campbell & Cecil J. Sharp, ''English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, Comprising 122 Songs and Ballads, and 323 Tunes'', G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1917, p. xviii.</ref>

Similarly, elements of mountain folklore trace back to events in the Lowlands of Scotland. As an example, it was recorded in the early 20th century that Appalachian children were frequently warned, "You must be good or Clavers will get you."  To the mountain residents, "Clavers" was simply a [[bogeyman]] used to keep children in line, yet unknown to them the phrase derives from the 17th century Scotsman [[John Graham, 1st Viscount of Dundee|John Graham of Claverhouse]], called "Bloody Clavers" by the Presbyterian Scottish Lowlanders whose religion he tried to suppress.<ref>Samuel Tyndale Wilson, ''The Southern Mountaineers'', New York: Presbyterian Home Missions, 1906, p. 24.</ref>

===Housing===
In terms of the stone houses they built, the [[hall and parlor house|"hall-parlor" floor plan]] (two rooms per floor with chimneys on both ends) was common among the gentry in Ulster. Scotch-Irish immigrants brought it over in the 18th century and it became a common floor plan in Tennessee, Kentucky, and elsewhere. Stone houses were difficult to build, and most pioneers relied on simpler log cabins.<ref>Carolyn Murray-Wooley, "Stone Houses of Central Kentucky: Dwellings of Ulster Gentry, 1780-1830", ''Journal of East Tennessee History,'' 2006 77 (Supplement): 50–58</ref>

===Quilts===
Scotch-Irish quilters in West Virginia developed a unique interpretation of pieced-block quilt construction. Their quilts embody an aesthetic reflecting Scotch-Irish social history—the perennial condition of living on the periphery of mainstream society both geographically and philosophically. Cultural values espousing individual autonomy and self-reliance within a strong kinship structure are related to Scotch-Irish quilting techniques. Prominent features of these quilts include: 1) blocks pieced in a repeating pattern but varied by changing figure-ground relationships and, at times, obscured by the use of same-value colors and adjacent print fabrics, 2) lack of contrasting borders, and 3) a unified all-over quilting pattern, typically the "fans" design or rows of concentric arcs.<ref>Fawn Valentine, "Aesthetics and Ethnicity: Scotch-Irish Quilts in West Virginia", ''Uncoverings'' 1994 15: 7-44</ref>

===Language use===
Montgomery (2006) analyzes the pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammatical distinctions of today's residents of the mountain South and traces patterns back to their Scotch-Irish ancestors.<ref>Michael Montgomery, "How Scotch-Irish Is Your English?" ''Journal of East Tennessee History'' 2006 77 (Supplement): 65–91</ref> However, Crozier (1984) suggests that only a few lexical characteristics survived Scotch-Irish assimilation into American culture.<ref>Alan Crozier, "The Scotch-Irish Influence on American English", ''American Speech'' 1984 59(4): 310–331</ref>