Survey of Yorkshire and Geordie dialects

 

Verbs

 

Adjectives

 

Adverbs

 

Common phrases and greetings

 

Grammar

Possessive pronouns

    Probably the most noticeable feature of Geordie grammar is a confusing difference in pronoun forms. The term us is used to indicate a singular "me", while the plural form for "us" is wu or even wuz. So give us it means 'give me it' and give wu it means 'give us it'.

    "Our" is pronounced wor. Typical members of the family thus include:

wor lass  'wife'

wor kid  'younger brother'

wor fatha  'father', etc.

    In Yorkshire Dialect possessive pronouns do not differ greatly from those of Standard English. 

 

Demonstrative Pronouns

    In Yorkshire speech the pronouns this, that, these, those, are used dialectically much in the manner of standard English, except that yon is generally substituted for 'that,' and them for 'those,' as yon man (that man), them yows (those ewes). Yon is seldom used with a plural noun; though, in order to give them a more demonstrative force, yonder is frequently added, as: them bo'ds yonder (those birds there). In Geordie speech they use them instead of those. For example:

Them days you didn’t, you didn’t live with lasses

’ve got flat-irons here, haven’t you? Yes, there they are, them are my mothers, look at the candlestick are these the same ones?

Plurals

    Either in Yorkshire or in Geordie, plural forms are used without ending -s.:

Geordie                              Yorkshire                           

six pound                        two week owd 

six pounds                        two weeks old

    But in Yorkshire plurals of some nouns exist in their older form. For example:

childer children               hosen               stockings  

spice           sweets                       shoon/shooin     shoes

Prepositions

    Some prepositions differ very much from those of Standard English:

 

Present tense

    In Geordie Dialect Present Simple tense is formed with the suffix <s> which is added to all forms of the verb (I goes, we says goes, they asks). In Yorkshire Dialect the suffix <s> is added to singular forms of the verb.

Negatives

    ‘Nut’ and ‘nooan’ are the equivalents of ‘not’ Yorkshire speech, but in Geordie speech they use ‘neet’ instead of ‘not’:

Thoo’ll nut finnd owt                    Ah’m nooan bahn yonder

You’ll not find anything                I’m not going there

Yee winnet find owt.                      Ah’m neet ganin thor.

    Double negatives are quite common in Yorkshire Dialect:

’e nivver said nowt neeaways ti neean on ’em  

He never said anything at all to anybody

2.1 The decline of traditional Yorkshire and Geordie Dialects

    The available literature suggests that the main sources of pressure on traditional dialect are: the media, social change, geographical mobility, the educational system and social attitudes.

Media

    Trudgill claims that, with regard to the products of national and international companies, the language of advertising in the media tends to display a uniformity of vocabulary relating to the objects advertised. Local words have a greater chance of survival where neighborhood companies and shops remain in business preparing and selling goods locally /18, 125/. Today's teenagers are also more likely to copy TV slang or adopt American urban street talk rather than use their own dialect.

Social Changes

    Trudgill claims that many dialect words were associated with rural life and non-mechanized working methods employed in agriculture /18, 125/. As these techniques disappear so do the words.

Geographical mobility

    Trudgill suggests that geographical mobility, resulting from improvements in transport facilities, is responsible for the loss of “regional diversity” /18, 126/.

Education

    Cheshire and Milroy claim that, within the educational system, recent thinking has emphasized the importance of teaching Standard English in schools, the aim being to broaden the pupils “linguistic repertoire” by furnishing them with the ability to use Standard English forms in addition to the non-standard forms encountered locally /3, 17/. The main consideration is that the individual child, by possessing such ability, will not be disadvantaged in “those situations where the standard is customarily used” and will accordingly not “find many areas of importance in our society closed to them”. Cheshire and Milroy suggest that “as things stand currently, proficiency in standard English conveys distinct social and economic advantages” /3, 25/. They conclude that “ignorance, prejudice and lack of understanding of the nature of standard and non- standard varieties have tended to compound the problems of linguistic and social inequality in the British Isles” /3, 31/. This view appears to be supported by the social attitude of many native English speakers.

Social attitudes

    Hughes and Trudgill refer to the fact that Standard English, which they describe as “the dialect of educated people of the British Isles” and as “the most prestigious British dialect”, is used for writing, for teaching throughout the education system, and as the language of radio and television /12, 9/. In relation to the notion of prestige, Cheshire and Milroy observe that although the standard variety has achieved importance and social prestige, it is not necessarily superior, linguistically speaking, to any of the others /3, 14/. They view it as more a question of social acceptability. Standard forms, both spoken and written, are used by people in positions of power and influence and are perceived to be indicative of education and culture, a view reinforced by the opinion that such forms are “correct” and “proper”. They consider that such perceptions have been internalized by “almost all native speakers of English” whether or not they are users of standard forms. Conversely, use of nonstandard forms such as I were or he knowed are seen to be bad English and thus devalued. Furthermore nonstandard forms of syntax and morphology are considered to be grammatical corruptions. With regard to this theme of social attitudes Cheshire and Edwards observe, in relation to accent, that speakers of Received Pronunciation (British Standard English which has no regional variation and which is sometimes referred to as “BBC English”) are seen to be more competent and intelligent than speakers of regional dialect, a perception shared by both speakers of Standard English and non-Standard English alike /3, 42/. Trudgill claims that it is “still considered acceptable to discriminate against people, especially young people, on the grounds of their dialect” /18, 126/.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CONCLUSION

    The most widespread language in the world is English, which is considered to be the international language. During many centuries English was exposed to the influence of different cultures and underwent many changes. That is why this is not surprising that British English has so many dialects. Dialect is a complete system of verbal communication (oral or signed but not necessarily written) with its own vocabulary and/or grammar. It is used by people from a particular geographical area the size of which can be arbitrary. It follows that a dialect for a larger area can contain plenty of (sub-) dialects, which in turn can contain dialects of yet smaller areas, etc.

    According to the studied materials we have come to such conclusions:

•       The term dialect refers to a specific variety of a language, which differs systematically from other varieties in terms of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, but which is still generally comprehensible to speakers of other dialects within that language. Varieties of dialects can be distinguished not only by their vocabulary and grammar, but also by differences in phonology. There are two types of dialects: geographical and social. Geographical are used by people of some particular territory. Social are used in one and the same social class or educational group.
• As England is a big country, the dialects there seize 3 territories: Northern, Midlands and South. In these territories the dialects are spoken differently due to the impact of different languages and cultures.
• There is a great difference between Standard English and dialect speech. Thus two people from different counties of one and the same country cannot understand each other in spite of the fact that their mother tongue is English. Some words and constructions of sentences are absolutely incomprehensible.

    Language by its very nature is dynamic and constantly evolving, new words and expressions are almost daily being absorbed and some older words are falling into disuse and it is happening now not with Yorkshire and Geordie dialects but with the dialect all over the world.

    With communication and travel nowadays being so easy and fast, language is evolving more rapidly now than at any other time and some people are commuting daily over greater distances than they would have considered travelling for an annual holiday 50 years ago. People are moving house more often, they settle in new areas and thus the regional lines are becoming blurred. In the course of time dialects are mixing and their number reduces progressively. But this does not mean that dialects will die out someday. They will continue to exist and develop with people’s help. That is why it is very important to study and keep dialects.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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17. Simpson David. The Millennium History of North East England. Sunderland: Leighton, 1999.
18. Trudgill P. The dialects of England, Oxford: Blackwell, 1990.
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