SPECIMEN OF THE YORKSHIRE

DIALECT.

DICKY DICKESON's Address to't knawn world; from the first number of the Yorkshire Comet, published in 1844.

Dear Ivverybody,-Ah sudn't wonder bud, when some foak hear o' me startin' on a paper, they'll say, what in't world hez maade Dicky Dickeson bethink hizzen o' cummin' sich a caaper as that? Wah, if ye'll nobbut but hev hauf o't paatience o' Jobb, Ah'll try ta tell ya. Ye mun knaw, aboot six year sin', Ah wur i' a public hoose, wheare ther wur a fellur as wur braggin' on his larnin', an' so Ah axed what he knawed aboot ony knawledgement, an' he said he thowt he'd a rare lump moare information i' his heead ner Ah had i’ mine. Noo, ye knaw, Ah sudn't ha' been a quarter as ill mad if ther hedn't been a lot o' chaps in't plaace 'at reckoned ta hev noa small share o' gumption. Soa, as sooin as Ah gat hoame that neet, Ah sware ta oor Bet, 'at as suare as shoo wur a match-hawker, Ah wud leearn all't polishments 'at Schooilmaister Gill could teich ma.

Here we have Ah for I; sudn't for should not; bud for but; foak for folk; o' for of; startin' for starting; hizzen for himself; nobbut for only; hev for have; hauf for half; ya for you; ta for to; knaw for know; 'at for that; aboot for about; sin' for since; wur for were; wheare for where; fellur for fellow; heead for head; ner for than; hedn't for had not; sooin for

soon.

DIALECT OF EAST ANGLIA, OR THE EASTERN COUN

TIES.

§ 89. Under the term East Anglia are included the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and portions of other counties bounded upon them. The dialect of East Anglia, then, is the peculiar language of what are called "The Eastern Counties." FORBY remarks that "the most general and pervading characteristic of the pronunciation is a narrowness and tenuity, precisely the reverse of the round, sonorous, mouth-filling' tones of Northern English. This narrowness of utterance is, in some parts of this district, rendered still more offensive to ears not accustomed to it by being delivered in a sort of shrill, whining recitative. This has sometimes been called the Suffolk whine.' 6

SPECIMEN OF THE SUFFOLK DIALECT.

unasy

Dear Frinnd, I was axed some stounds agon by Billy Pour 'sesser at Mulladen, to make inqueration o' yeow if Master had pahd in that there money into the bank. Billy P— he fare keinda about it, and when I see him in church to-day he say, Jimmy, says he, prah ha yeow wrot. So I keinda wef 't um off, and I sah, says I, heent hard from Squire D as yet, but I dare sah I shall afore long. So prah write me some lines, an send me wahd, wutha the money is pahd a' nae. I don't know what to make of our Mulladen folks, nut I; but somehow or another, they are allers in dibles, an I'll be rot if I don't begin to think some on em all tahn up scaly at last; an as to that there fulla, he grow so big and so purdy that he want to be took down a peg; and I am glad to hare that yeow gint it to em properly at Wickhum.

DIALECT OF THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES.

§ 90. This may be considered as embracing the peculiarities of Sussex, Kent, and Hampshire, though there are variations in each. In Sussex, hasp is pronounced hapse; neck, nick; throat, throttle; choke, chock. In East Sussex, day is pronounced dee. Ow final is pronounced as er; as window, winder. In Kent, day is pronounced daie; how, who, and who, how.

SPECIMEN OF THE DIALECT OF KENT.

And certaynly our langage now used varyeth ferr from that which was used and spoken when I was borne, for we Englyshemen, ben borne under the domynacyon of the mone, which is never stedfaste, but ever waverynge, waxing one season, and waneth and dyscreaseth another season, and that comyn Englysshe that is spoken in one shyre, varyeth from another, insomoche that in my days happened that certain marchauntes were in a shippe in Tamyse for to haue sayled over the see into Zelande, and fra lacke of wynde thei taryed at Forland, and went to lande for to refreshe them. And one of theym, named Sheffelde, a mercer, cam into an hows and axyd for mete, and specyally he axyd after eggys; and the good wyf answerde that she coude speke no Frenshe, and the marchaunt was angry, for he also coude speke no Frenshe, but wolde have had eggys, and she understood hym not. And then, at laste, another sayd that he wolde have eyren. Then the good wyf sayd that

H

she understood hym wel. Loo, what sholde a man in theyse days now wryte, egges or eyren! Certaynly, it is hard to playse every man, because of diversite and chaunge of langage.-W. CAXON, 1490.

SPECIMEN OF THE SUSSEX DIALECT.

TOM CLODPOLE's Journey to Lunnun.
Last Middlemus I 'member well,
When harvest was all over,

Us cheps had housed up all de banes,
An stocked up all de clover.

I think, says I, I'll take a trip
To Lunnun, dat I wol,
An see how things goo on a bit,
Lest I shud die a fool.

For sister Sal, five years agoo,
Went off wud Squyer Brown;
Housemaid or summut; don't know what,
To live at Lunnun town.

Dey 'hav'd uncommon well to Sal,

An

ge 'ur clothes an dat;

So Sal 'hav'd nation well to dem,

An grow'd quite tall an fat.

I ax'd ol' Ben to let me goo,

Hem rum ol' fellur he,

He scratch'd his wig, "To Lunnun, Tom ?"
Den turn'd his quid, "I'll see."

So strate to mother home goos I,
An thus to ur did say,
Mother, I'll goo an see our Sal,
For measter says I may.

De poor ol' gal did shake her head,
Ah! Tom, 'twon't never do;
Poor Sal has gone a tejus way,
An must I now loose you?

Here we have banes for beans; dat for that; wol for will; summut for something; dem for them; rum for queer; measter for master; 'twon't for it will not; an for and.

DIALECT OF THE WESTERN COUNTIES.

§ 91. Among these counties, Cornwall, Devonshire, and Somersetshire may be particularly mentioned as having certain peculiarities, as compared with some other parts of England. In some parts of Cornwall and of some other counties, for to milk they say to milky; for to squint, to squnny; for know, knaw; for horses, hosses; for pictures, picters; for with, weth.

SPECIMEN OF THE CORNISH DIALECT.

The Cornwall Schoolboy.

An ould man found, one day, a yung gentleman's portmantle as he were a going to his dennar; he took'd it en and gived it to es wife, and said, "Mally, here's a roul of lither: look, see, I suppoase some poor old shoemaker or other have los'en; tak'en, and put'en a top of the teaster of tha bed; he'll be glad to hav'en agen sum day, I dear say." The ould man, Jan, that was es neame, went to es work as before. Mally then open'd the portmantle, and found in it three hunderd pounds. Soon after this, the ould man, not being very well, Mally said, "Jan, l'ave saaved away a little money, by-the-by, and as thee caan't read or write, thee shu'st go to scool." (He was then nigh threescore and ten.) He went but a very short time, and comed hoam one day, and said, " Mally, I woin't go to scool no more, 'caase the childer do be laffen at me; they can tell their letters, and I caan't tell my A B C, and I wud rayther go to work agen." "Do as thee wool," ses Mally. Jan had not ben out many days afore the yung gentleman came by that lost the portmantle, and said, Well, my ould man, did'ee see or hear tell of sich a thing as a portmantle?" "Portmantle, sar! was't that un sumthing like thickey?" (pointing to one behind his saddle): "I found one the t'other day zackly like that." "Where is it?" "Come along; I carr'd'en in, and given to my wife Mally; thee sha't av'en. Molly, where is that roul of lither that I gived tha the t'other day?" "What roul of lither?" said Mally. "The roul of lither I bro't in and tould tha to put'en a top of the teaster of the bed, afore I go'd to scool." "'Drat tha imperance," said the gentleman," thee art betwotched; that was before I were born."-Specimens of the Cornish Dialect, by UNCLE JAN TREENOODLE.

Here we have et for it; gived for gave; los'en for lost; hab'en for have; dear for dare; ould for old; hunderd for hundred; wud for would; thickey for this; sha't for shalt, &c.

SPECIMEN OF THE DEVONSHIRE DIALECT.

JOHN CHAWBACON and his wife MOLL cum up t'Exeter to zee the railway opened, May 21, 1847.

66

Lor, Johnny! Lor, Johnny! now whativur is that,
A urn'ng along like a hoss upon wheels?

'Tis as bright as yer buttons, and black as yer hat;
And jist listen, Johnny, and yer how 'a sqeals!"
"Dash my buttons, Moll, I'll be darn'd if I know!

Us was vools to come yere and to urn into danger;
Let's be off! 'a spits vire! Lor, do let us go!

And 'a holds up his head like a goose at a stranger.

"I be a bit vrightened; but let us bide yere ;

And hark how 'a puffs, and 'a caughs, and 'a blows!
He edden unlike the old cart-hoss last yer-
Broken-winded; and yet only zee how 'a goes!"

"'A can't be alive, Jan-I don't think 'a can."

"I baen't sure o' that, Moll; for jist lookee how
'A breathes like a hoss, or a znivell'd old man;
And hark how he's bust out a caughing, good now!
"I wouldn't go homeward b'm-by to the varm

Behind such a critter: when all's zed and dun,
We've a travell'd score miles, but we never got harm,
Vor ther's nort like a market-cart under the zun."

THE COCKNEY DIALECT.

I. Phonology.

§ 92. 1. The LONDONER or COCKNEY pronounces w for v, and v for w; weal for veal; vicked for wicked. He seems not to have understood why the consonant u of the Latins, which was not distinguished in writing from the vowel u, should be pronounced v (=bh), while the consonant u of the Anglo-Saxons, which had a distinct character from the vowel u, was pronounced w. And it must be confessed that the rule is somewhat arbitrary. This interchange of w and v is the most offensive peculiarity of the Cockney dialect.

2. The Londoner is also accustomed to omit the sound of h at the beginning of words, and to pronounce it where it does not belong; as, art for heart; harm for arm.