To find out if other people thought the Bermudian way of speaking was disappearing, The Royal Gazette spoke with experts on Bermuda culture, to find out their take on the matter.Progressive Labour Party MP Dale Butler who has authored many books on Bermuda and Bermudians, said he did think our dialect was fading.“It is disappearing because of television and satellite and the fact that we travel,” said Mr Butler. “And also all around us we have other nationalities. Plus, parents and teachers please, encourage children to speak better.”In 1996, one community in Oakland, California attempted to put textbooks into a black dialect they called “ebonics” in an effort to better reach certain students. Mr Butler thought it would be a bad idea to try to do the same with textbooks for Bermuda’s students.“Parents and teachers should never do this,” he said.He believed students needed to master the standard dialect to get ahead in the world.Chris Broadhurst, who is famous on the Island for parodying Bermudian language and culture through music and productions such as ‘Not the Um Um Show’ believed the Bermudian dialect was evolving, not disappearing.“There are old words that disappear, and new words that develop,” he said. “I think you don’t hear people refer to someone as ‘champ’ much anymore. A real older Bermudian would say that.“I have heard the word ‘squigglys’ in reference to a girl you are seeing. We had used that in one of our shows. The dialect is evolving, like any dialect. Words like ‘ace boy’ are still around, but it is not used [as often] as it used to be.”Author Cha’Von Clarke said many Bermudians were deliberately trying to change the way they spoke, due to societal pressures.“I believe that many Bermudians are so consumed with the desire to ‘fit in’ that they move away from our dialect and concentrate on speaking ‘proper’, which would mean with more of an English accent,” she said.Ms Clarke said something typically Bermudian would be to say ‘vich’ instead of ‘which’. Many Bermudians switch their Ws and Vs so that video becomes wideo and violin, becomes wiolin. It is not unusual to hear a Bermudian talking about going ‘down de road’ or say ‘wur yu lots goan’.“I don’t necessarily remember my parents or grandparents speaking that way because I was taught to speak differently but I know other Bermudians speak that way or used to speak that way,” said Ms Clarke.She said Bermudianisms sometimes slip into her writing, but she edits them out. She believed it was okay to speak with a Bermudian dialect at home, but that children should also know the more standard way of speaking.“We don’t frown upon other dialects,” she said. “Many are actually embraced, like the Jamaican dialect or the British, but as long as we move away from all Bermudian things, eventually we won’t have anything unique to the world.”