Peculiarities of British Dialects

Slape: slippery - скользкий

Wick: lively – активный, энергичный (Relates to quick, originally meaning "alive")

    Forms like mafted and nithered come from verbs that have passed out of use.

Adverb

Appen: perhaps – возможно, наверное (like Shakespeare's haply)  

    Some words in Yorkshire dialect at first sight seem to be Standard English but, as Kellett⁹ points out, "they do not mean what they appear to mean". He gives the following examples:

Flags - not banners to be waved, but paving stones – не развивающиеся знамёна, а булыжники

Gang - not a group of people, but the verb ‘to go’ – не группа людей, а глагол "идти"

Real - a description of something good or outstanding, not genuine – описание чего-то значительного или выдающегося, а не реального

Starved - relating to feeling cold rather than a state of hunger – ощущение холода, а не голода

Sharp - used in the sense of ‘quickly’ rather than having a point or edge – быстро, но никак не связанное с острием или лезвием

Right - employed not only to indicate direction but as an intensifier in the sense of ‘very’ – используется не только для указания направления, но и усиление значения слова "очень"  

      Yorkshire dialect is rich in idiomatic expressions. The following examples are taken from Kellett:

Allus at t’ last push up - always at the last moment – Всегда в последний момент

Nobbut a mention - just a small amount – Всего лишь малое количество

It’s nut jannock - it’s not fair – Это не честно

’e wor ’ard on - he was fast asleep – Он спал крепким сном

Livin’ tally / ower t’ brush - living together as man and wife but not married – Жить вместе в гражданском браке

Tek a good likeness - be very photogenic – Быть очень фотогеничным

It caps owt - it beats everything – Это ни с чем не сравнить

Goin’ dahn t’ nick - ill and not going to get better – Безнадёжно больной

A reight gooid sooart - a really kind person – Очень добрый/добряк

Ah wor fair starved - I really was cold – Я действительно замёрз 

Grammar.

All the following examples of Yorkshire dialect grammar are taken from Arnold Kellett’s  "Basic Broad Yorkshire"¹⁰. The text below contains only a small example of basic grammar and it does not include all the varieties of form and construction.

Verbs

Present tense

The following examples show verb formation together with examples of personal pronouns.

to laik (play)

                               Ah/Aw   (I)                    laik              Wer/wi  (We)                 laik

                                  Tha/Thoo (You)           laiks               Yer/Yo(u)  (You)             laik

                                    ’e  (He)                        laiks               Thet/ther/the’  (They)         laik

                                    Shoo/sher/sh’  (She)     laiks 

Future tense

Indicated by ‘bahn’ or ‘off ti’. For example:

Ah’m bahn ter side them pots                               ’e’s off ti shut t’ yat

I’m going to put those dishes away                      He’s going to shut the gate

Я собираюсь  убрать эту посуду                        Он собирается закрыть ворота

Past Tense

Some of the participles used in the formation of the past tense are a retention of earlier forms of English:

                                         gat/getten           Got            frozen       frozen

                                         fahned/fan/fun   Found       putten       put

Negatives

‘Nut’ and ‘nooan’ are the equivalents of ‘not’ Yorkshire speech:

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

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

Вы ничиго не найдёте                 Я не иду туда 

Double negatives are quite common in dialect:

’e nivver said nowt neeaways ti neean on ’em  

He never said anything at all to anybody

Он никогда  никому ничего не говорил 

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns do not differ greatly from those of Standard English:

                                       mi/ma         my  mine/mahne      mine

                                       thi/thy       your thine                  yours

                                        ’is              his          ’is                  his

                                    ’er              her          ’ers                  hers

                                      wer/ahr        our           ahrs                  ours

                                      oor               our          oors                 ours

                                     yer           your yours                 yours

                                    the’r             their theirs                theirs 

Plurals

Plural forms are not normally used when referring to periods of time or to quantities:

six pund                        two week owd 

six pounds                        two weeks old

шесть фунтов                  двухнедельной давности

Plurals of some nouns exist in their older form. For example:

childer children (дети)               hosen               stockings (чулки) 

spice           sweets (конфеты)              shoon/shooin      shoes (ботинки) 

Prepositions

Some prepositions differ very much from those of Standard English:

aboon above (выше, ранее)              behunt/behint    behind (сзади, позади) 

afooar before (вначале, прежде)         fra/frev              from (от, из) 

baht          without (без)                           ter/tul/tiv              to (к, на)

Demonstrative Adjectives

When used in dialect the demonstratives (that, this) are normally accompanied by ‘theeare’ (there) or ’ere (here):

that theeare pig                 this ’ere cannle 

that pig                          this candle 

Phonetics.

Trudgill¹¹ considers that one of the most important features of this dialect is the fact that such words as long, wrong, strong, etc are pronounced with a short <a> instead of an <o>, (i.e. Lang, wrang, strang, etc.) and that find, blind, etc. are realized with a short <i> (finnd, blinnd, etc.). Such pronunciations, he says, link back to the original Anglo-Saxon realizations. Similarly, the employment of a monophthong (i.e. a pure vowel) by Northern speakers in such words as house, out, and cow (i.e. hoos, oot and coo) is the retention of the original medieval pronunciation.

Trudgill further observes that, in some areas of the North, a modified version of the Anglo-Saxon long <a> is preserved in such words as home and stone, their pronunciations being

hee-am and stee-an. Likewise, spoon, fool, etc. are realized as spee-oon, fee-ool, and so on.

Other important features of Yorkshire dialect are: -ing which is pronounced as -in'

(e.g. walkin', talkin', etc.); the use of the short <a> (as in cat) in words like bath and dance; and the dropping of word-initial <h> (e.g. 'appy, 'orrible, etc.).

      Kellett remarks that the er sound is modified so that thirst, for example, becomes thust or thost.

Diphthongs

aa  thus naame (roughly nay-em) for name  

ooa  (roughly oo-er) so that words such as floor, door and afore become flooar, dooar and               

                                                                                                                                        afooar 

ow   as in browt, owt and nowt (i.e. brought, anything and nothing). The realization of this     

           sound is not equivalent to the Standard English pronunciation of now but more like aw-oo oi   used in such words as coit, throit and 'oil (i.e. coat, throat and hole) 

eea   appears in words like again, death and street (pronounced ageean, deeath and streeat) 

• SCOUSE

Scouse is the dialect of English found in the northern English city of Liverpool and adjoining urban areas of Lancashire and the Wirral region of Cheshire. "The Beatles" made this dialect famous. The adopted Merseysider and language expert Fritz Spiegl once described the Liverpool dialect as "one-third Irish, one-third Welsh and one-third catarrh".

    The dialect of Merseyside is highly distinctive, and wholly different from those of neighbouring regions of Lancashire and Cheshire. The word Scouse was originally a variation of lobscouse -the name of a traditional dish of mutton stew mixed with hardtack eaten by sailors.

      The influence of immigrants from Ireland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Scotland, other parts of northern England, and the Caribbean in the XVIII and XIX centuries was very strong.

The characteristic features of Scouse are:

• A fast, highly inflected manner of speech, with a range of rising and falling tones not typical of most of northern England.
• The final letters of many words are often lost in a glottal stop:    'get' becomes gerr
• The tongue tends to be swallowed, cutting off nasal passages and making it sound as if the speaker has a cold.

 

    Irish influences include the pronunciation of the letter 'h' as 'haitch' and the plural of 'you' as 'yous'. The pronunciation of 'th' as 'd' ('there' becomes dere), and the 'ere' sound in 'there' as 'urr', are encountered in Northern Ireland. The dropping of the 'g' sound at the end of 'ing', hence 'doing' becomes 'doin' is also commonplace in Dublin. There are also idioms shared with Hiberno-English, such as "I know where you're at" ("I know who you are").

     Welsh influences include the distinctive rolling 'ck' sound, pronounced as in the Scots 'loch'. The letter 'r' is rolled, similar to Scots.

     Expressions include 'la' that is equal to lad – друг, приятель, товарищ, e.g. "Yer arright den, la'?" ("You all right then, lad?"). The interjection 'eh!' is equivalent to 'hey!' or 'oi!' in other parts of the UK.

     There are a few features of southern dialects, e.g. using a "f" or "v" sound instead of "th", as in "bruvver" – brother and "baf" - "bath".

     The vocabulary of this dialect is quite numerous and differs from others, e.g.

Baird – girlfriend, wife – подружка, жена

Boss – excellent – отличный, превосходный

Blower – telephone - телефон

Burr'I . – But I… - Но я ....

To buzz – to ring – позвонить ("Give us a buzz" - Ring me)

Carzy/crapper/bog – toilet – туалет, уборная

Char – tea – чай

Cop shop – police station – полицейское управление

Do – party – вечеринка

Gunnite – good night –спокойной ночи

Last – awful – ужасный

Moby – mobile phone – мобильный телефон

Nimps – easy – легко

Pezzie – gift, present – подарок

Tirraah – Good bye – До свидания

Ullo – Hello – Привет

Yeared? – Have you heard? – Вы слышали? 

1.2. Midlands English

Midlands English includes dialects of: Derbyshire, Nottingham, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Black Country, Birmingham, Norfolk, etc.

1.2.1. East Midlands

The East Midlands is famous for its distinctive dialects from the Derbyshire drawl to Nottingham's no-nonsense style of talking. Despite the fading of old traditions and huge shifts in how people communicate globally, it appears that dialects are still going strong in the East Midlands. Much of the dialects developed in rural communities and in the industrial heartlands of the region. Mining communities in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire were renowned for their use of dialects. At a time when regions are losing some of their traditional dialect, the East Midlands is keen to retain its cultural identity and linguistic style. Although some words are dying out, East Midlanders are keen to celebrate their local language. Here are some phrases of East Midlanders:

It's black uvver Bill's mother's - it looks like rain – это похоже на дождь

Coggie - swimming costume – купальный костюм

Croaker – doctor - врач

Duck's necks - bottle of lemonade – бутылка лимонада

Gorra bag on - in a bad mood – в плохом настроении

Laropped – drunk - пьяный

Nesh – cold - холодный