Peculiarities of British Dialects

Harnser – heron - цапля

Hold yew hard! - Hang on a moment! – Подождите минутку!

Loke – lane, alley – тропинка, аллея

Lummox - clumsy or ungainly person – неловкий, неповоротливый человек

Mavish – thrush - дрозд

Mawkin – scarecrow – пугало, чучело

Mawther – girl/young woman – девочка/ девушка

Old year’s nyte -New Year's Eve – канун Нового Года

Rum - curious, strange, funny – любопытный, странный, смешной

Titty - totty - very small – очень маленький

Warmint - varmint or vermin, troublesome person – преступник, шалопай

Zackley - exactly - именно 

Many words beginning with V take a W start in Norfolk - warmint and willage among them. There are also examples of the letter being changed in the middle of the word i.e. aggravating becomes aggraweartin (раздражающий, ухудшающий).  

    Do is characteristically used in the sense of "otherwise" ("Don’t you take yours off, do you’ll get rheumatism") and time is used to mean "while" ("Go you and have a good wash time I git tea ready"). 
 
 

Phonetics.

Norfolk is popularised as a yod-dropping dialect where /ju:-/ is pronounced /u:-/ . Other features of Norfolk are that "here" and "hair" (and "hare") are homophones while "daze" /de:z/ and "days" /dæiz/, "nose" /nu:z/ and "knows" /näuz/ are not.

        In such combination as a+nd vowel is pronounced as [o:], e.g. candle [ko:ndl], land [lo:nd].

The initial "h" is dropped from the beginning of words. 

1.3. Southern English

Such dialects as: Estuary English, Cockney, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, etc. represent a group of Southern English.

• ESTUARY ENGLISH

"Estuary English" is a term coined in 1984 by British linguist, David Rosewarne¹². It is widely spoken in and around London and, more generally, in the southeast of England and along the river Thames and its estuary. Most people consider EE to be a variant (accent) of Standard English that is rapidly spreading in England. Crystal¹³ (1995: 327) argues, "the variety is distinctive as a dialect not just as an accent" because apart from pronunciation, what distinguishes EE speakers from others are grammatical and lexical features (an essential condition for a variety to be called a dialect). David Britain¹⁴ (2003b) calls Estuary English "a relatively new regional dialect of the south-east of England" because of its geographical distribution.

    The Sunday Times, one of Britain’s most famous newspapers, has described it as a dialect existing between "Cockney and the Queen" and the Tory (Conservative) Minister of Education condemned it as a "bastardized version of Cockney dialect".

    Estuary English, as the advanced speech of the young, has been characterised by the older generation as slovenly and debased.

Vocabulary.

Rosewarne sees certain lexical changes within EE pronunciation. Cheers is often used in place of "thank you" (спасибо), but it’s also possible for it to mean "good-bye" (до свидания). The word basically is used frequently in conversation. An increased use of Americanisms can also be seen in EE and evidenced by such examples: There you go being used in place of the more standard "Here you are" (продолжим, поехали, вот, пожалуйста) and There is acts as an invariable form of usage in both singular and plural contexts. In addition, "sorry" (извините) is often replaced with excuse me and engaged, in the context of the telephone it has been replaced by the word busy. 

Grammar.

• Certain negative forms, such as never referring to a single occasion (I never did, No I never). Less likely is the use of the double negative, which is still widely perceived as uneducated.
• The omission of the -ly adverbial ending, as in You're turning it too slow or They talked very quiet for a while.
• Certain prepositional uses, such as I got off of the bench or I looked out the window.
• Generalization of the third person singular form (I gets out of the car), especially in narrative style; also the generalized past tense use of was, as in We was walking down the road.

 

Some of these developments are now increasingly to be heard in the public domain, such as on the more popular channels of the BBC, and some have even begun to penetrate into the British Establishment. Glottalization, for example, will be heard on both sides of the House of Commons, and has been observed in the younger members of the royal family.

Phonetics.

• L-vocalization, pronouncing the l-sound in certain positions almost like [w], so that "milk bottle" becomes 'miwk bottoo', and "football" becomes 'foo'baw'.
• [j]-yod-dropping even before a stressed /u:/ (Chooseday – Tuesday)
• Glottalling, using a glottal stop [?] instead of a t-sound in certain positions, as in take it off , quite nice . This is not the same as omitting the t-sound altogether, since "plate" [plei?] still sounds different from "play" [plei]. Nevertheless, authors who want to show a non-standard pronunciation by manipulating the spelling tend to write it with an apostrophe: take i' off, qui'e nice. The positions in which this happens are most typically syllable-final -- at the end of a word or before another consonant sound. London's second airport, Gatwick, is very commonly called "Ga'wick".
• HappY-tensing, using a sound more similar to the [i:] than to the [i] at the end of words like happy, coffee, valley. In strong syllables (stressed, or potentially stressed) it is crucial to distinguish [i:] from [i], since "green" must be distinct from "grin" and "sleep" from "slip". But in weak syllables this distinction does not apply - the precise quality of the final vowel in "happy" is not so important.
• H-coalescence, using [t∫] (a ch-sound) rather than [tj] in words like "Tuesday", "tune", "attitude". This makes the first part of "Tuesday" sound identical to "choose", [tSu:z]. The same happens with the corresponding voiced sounds: the RP [dj] of words such as "duke", "reduce" becomes Estuary [dʒ], making the second part of reduce identical to "juice" [dʒu:s]. At the beginning of words h isn’t replaced, it’s simply dropped ('and on – hand on, 'eart - heart)
• Th-fronting (think [fiŋk], mother [mÙvə]).
• 'Vowel fronting' means producing some vowels and diphthongs differently to RP, which can lead to homophones like: way = why , say = sigh, pulls – pools.
• Sounding the diphthong vowel sounds of words like "I" as [ɑɪ], the diphthong in words like "brown" as [æʊ], and the diphthong in words like "face" as [ʌɪ].

 

• COCKNEY

One of the best known Southern dialects is Cockney, the regional dialect of London. A Cockney, in the loosest sense of the word, is a working-class inhabitant of the East End of London. According to one old tradition, the definition is limited to those born within earshot (generally taken to be three miles) of the Bow bells, i.e. the bells of St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside. Cockney is also an old rhyming slang dialect, which originated from the East end of London. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the first use of the word in its accepted meaning was in 1521, by a writer Whittington. Cockney speakers have a distinctive accent and dialect, and frequently use Cockney rhyming slang.

      Although no one speaks fluent Cockney any more, residents in this area of London still use a lot of words. But many Cockney words have slipped into the English language and are used in everyday speech all over England. The etymology of “Cockney” has long been discussed and disputed. One explanation is that “Cockney” literally means cock’s egg, a misshapen egg such as sometimes laid by young hens. During the 1700’s the term, used by country folk, was applied to town’s folk who were considered ignorant of the established customs and country ways. This term in due course became synonymous with working class Londoners themselves and has now lost its once denigrating qualities. Despite the current definition of a Cockney, to most outsiders a Cockney is anyone from London itself. Natives of London, especially in its East End use the term with respect and pride.

      Cockney is lively and witty and its vocabulary – imaginative and colourful. Its specific feature not occurring anywhere else is the so-called rhyming slang, in which some words are substituted by other words rhyming with them. Boots, for instance, are called daisy roots.

Vocabulary.

Adam and Eve – to believe - верить

Almonds – socks - носки

Apples and pears  - stairs – лестница

Barnet fair – hair - волосы

Bees and Honey – money - деньги

Bird – prison – тюрьма (from bird lime = time)

Boat race – face - лицо

China - mate/friend – товарищ/друг (from China plate = mate)

Dickie bird – word - слово

Dog and bone – phone - телефон

Dustbin lids - kids/children - дети

Elbows and knees – trees – деревья

Elephant's trunk – drunk – пьяный

Jam jar – car – машина

Loaf of bread – head – голова

Mince pies – eyes - глаза

North and south – mouth – рот

Pig’s ear – beer - пиво

Plates - feet – ноги (from plates of meat = feet)

Pride and Joy – boy – мальчик

Rabbit and pork – to talk - говорить

Rosie Lea – tea - чай

Skin and blister – sister- сетра

Trouble – wife – жена (from trouble and strife = wife) 

Imagine a conversation like:

"Got to my mickey, found me way up the apples, put on me whistle and the bloody dog went. It was me trouble telling me to fetch the teapots."

which really means,

"Got to my house (mickey mouse), found my way up the stairs (apples and pears), put on my suit (whistle and flute) when the phone (dog and bone) rang. It was my wife (trouble and strife) telling me to get the kids (teapot lids)." - "Я добрался до дома, поднялся по лестнице, одел костюм, когда зазвонил телефон. Это была моя жена. Она сказала чтоб я забрал детей".

Grammar.

The grammar of Cockney is almost unchanged.

• Use of ain't instead of "isn't" or "am not".
• Use of multiple negation, e.g. I ain’t never done nothing
• Another form of reflexive pronouns, e.g. ’E'll ’urt ’isself or That’s yourn.
• Use of adverbs without –ly, e.g. Trains are running normal.
• The possessive pronoun my is changed to me, e.g. Where’s me bag?

Phonetics.

The Cockney dialect involves very little lip movement. Some features:

• The pronunciation of the letter ‘t’ as ‘d’ (the /ðƏ/ becomes /dƏ/).
• The pronunciation of the letter ‘l’ as ‘w’ (all /Ɔ:l/ becomes /Ɔ:w/).
• The omission of the letter ‘h’ (his /hiz/ becomes /iz/, house becomes /aus/).
• Diphthongs change, sometimes dramatically: time /toim/, brave /braiv/.
• there are also an amazing number of glottal stops and swallowed syllables in the dialect, e.g. Wa’erloo - Waterloo, Ci’y - City, A li'le bi' of breab wiv a bi' of bu'er on i' - A little bit of bread with a bit of butter on it, Sco'land – Scotland, sta'emen – statement, ne’work – network.
• Another very well known characteristic of Cockney is th-fronting, e.g. fin – thin, bruvver – brother, free – three, barf – bath.
• Vowel lowering, e.g. dinna – dinner, marra – marrow.
• Very often letter ‘a’ is pronounced as [Ù] (cat /kÙt/, apple /Ùpl/).
• The inflexion –ing is pronounced as [in] or [n] rather than [ŋ].

 

• CORNWALL

The dialect of Cornwall is named Cornish. This dialect differs very much from the other British dialects.

    The Cornish dialect is usually spoken, not written, and the spellings in the following vocabulary are the pronunciations.

Vocabulary.

Alantide - AII Saints Day – День всех святых

Allish – pale - бледный

All-on-a-nupshot - in a great hurry - наспех

Ampassy – etcetera – и так далее

Arry – any - любой

Avise/advise – good – хороший

Bamfer - to worry - беспокоиться

Barning - phosphorescent ("The sea is barring"- море светится) - фосфоресцирующий, светящийся

Bearn - a child - ребёнок

Bender - very large – очень большой

Betwix – between - между

Biskey - a biscuit - печенье

Brush - a nosegay – букетик цветов

Bucca/buckaboo - a ghost/hobgoblin/scarecrow – привидение/домовой/пугало

Buddy - friend - друг

Bye – lonely - одинокий

Carrots - nickname for red-haired person - рыжеволосый

Cats and dogs - the catkins of the willow – серёжки ивы

Centry - church or glebe – церковь или приходская земля

Chets – kittens - котята

Criss-cross/row - the alphabet - алфавит

Dido - a noise; row or fuss – шум; гул или суматоха

Ear – year - год

Fower – four - четыре

Fuzzy-pig - the hedgehog - ёжик

Game - go on - продолжать

Giglet/giglot - a giddy girl – легкомысленная девочка

Hilla – nightmare - кошмар

Horse-adder - the dragonfly - стрекоза

Mate – meat - мясо

Night t'ee - goodnight to you - Спокойной тебе ночи

Riders – circus - цирк

Tantarabobus - the devil - дьявол

Tie – bed - кровать

Tribe – family - семья

Yet – gate - ворота