It is a fact, and one worthy of all commendation, that every Yorkshireman considers the dialect spoken in the immediate locality wherein he was reared, as being not only the best, but the purest. Doubtless in some cases this is quite correct, but not in all. Contiguity to other counties has a deteriorating influence, which naturally extends across both borders, and is sometimes very far-reaching in its effect. Owing to this and other causes, many of my readers will find the pronunciation of some words, as given both in the Glossary and throughout the work, not quite in tune with the sound in which they daily hear such words uttered. This difficulty presented itself at the very commencement of the work. A rule had to be adopted to obtain something approaching uniformity and conciseness. To accomplish this, area has been chosen; i.e. in all cases in which a word has several pronunciations, those given in the Glossary and elsewhere, so far as the writer knows, are the pronunciations most generally in use throughout the riding. It may be noted, as we approach the West Riding and South Lancashire, that the vowel sounds ofa,e, andohave a growingtendency to broaden in sound, often becomingu. This, however, should be carefully guarded against in writing the dialect of the North Riding113, as there is ample proof that over a very wide area the original sound of eighty years ago was the same as now used in Cleveland. These gradual local alterations form in time what botanists call sports.
Many words in such places are to-day passing through a transitional stage. E.g. let us compare a few words as spoken eighty years ago in two places I well know, viz. Bedale and Great Ayton. The former is much nearer the West Riding than the latter, and very forcibly shows the gradual alteration in pronunciation some words have undergone since 1800.
Pronunciation.
As used in the North Riding, 1898.As given in a Glossary published at Bedale, 1800.As pronounced in Bedale, 1898.As pronounced in the West Riding, 1898.Meaning.ChetchChŭchChurchDeearDoourDoorTo’nTŭ’nTurnStorSturrStirFo’stFustFirstEzUzAsFau’kFooakFolkNeeazeNooazNoseCleeaseClooaseCloseKenorKernChenorChunChurnDizDuzDoesWarkWurrkWorkWarorWorWuzWasorwereAx’dAst, AssedAskedClais, CleeasClooazClothesDeean’tDooan’tDon’tFleearFlooarFloorGahin’organningBown BahnGoing
The Glossary contains many words common to other dialects114, especially the folk-speech of North Lincolnshire, Cumberland, Westmoreland, North Lancashire, and East Anglia.
It may be of interest to note over what a wide area the dialect of the North Riding is understood and in the main spoken. As an entertainer, I come in touch with the country people of many places, and I have often been surprised at the quickness with which the various points in my dialect sketches have been seized by those of other counties. Naturally I am able to indulge much more freely, both in dialect and idiom, in some places than in others.
The North and West Riding dialects widely differ not only as to vocabulary, but in drawl and intonation; e.g. take the following sentences:—
North Riding.Noo, mun, wheear’s ta gahin’ teea? Ah’s gahin’ doon t’ toon.West Riding.Nah, lad, whor’s ta bahn tew? Ah w’ bahn dahn t’ tahn.
North Riding.Noo, mun, wheear’s ta gahin’ teea? Ah’s gahin’ doon t’ toon.
West Riding.Nah, lad, whor’s ta bahn tew? Ah w’ bahn dahn t’ tahn.
Hear each sentence uttered by men of their respective ridings, and my readers will better understand my meaning than from pages of written explanation. There is also another difference. Whilst many titled people, and members of the best families in the North and East Ridings, can, when they have a mind to, speak the dialect fluently, of only a few of the leading families in the West Riding whom I have met am I able to say the same thing. There seems to be a feeling that in some way it would beinfra dig.to admit ability to speak a word of their own folk-speech.
Referring to the wide area over which the dialect of the North and East Ridings is spoken, granting without questioning slight variation in pronunciation, the addition of new words, and the loss of familiar ones as we pass along, we find that practically the same dialect exists amongst the country folk inside the following rough boundary line. Draw right-lines commencing at Boston Spa, Lincolnshire, and connecting the following places, Doncaster, Harrogate, Lancaster, along the coast-line to Carlisle, thence to Darlington, Stockton, Middlesborough115, and along the north-east coast. By so doing you wall in what may be aptly termed, ‘the north-east folk-speech,.’ But far over this imaginary line, in certain directions, the dialect is understood and appreciated. This is not surprising when we remember the same races overran and peopled the whole of the country from the Wash to the Tyne and thence north-westward.
They may be easily traced by their place-names—the by’s, thorpes, cliffs, wicks, dales, &c.
But if we compare the folk-speech of the district so walled in, with that of the Danes and their kinfolk, then its Norse origin is seen at a glance. E.g. take the few following words—scores of the like could have been given:—
North and East Riding.Cumberland and Westmoreland.Danish.Scotch.Standard English.MowdywarpMowdywarpMuldvarpMoudieMoleBeckBeckBæk...A small streamLakeLakeLege...PlayBeealBeelBjæle...BellowBieldBieldBylja (Swedish)...A shelterGah, ganGa, gangGaaeGaGoNeeafNeifNæveNeiveFistBinkBinkBænkBinkBenchGliffGliffGlippeGliffQuick glanceGeslingGezlingGjæslingGeslingGoslingGloorGlowerGloGlowerStareSkrikeSkrikeSkrigeSkreichScreamTeeamTeemToommeToom (to empty)Pour outFeck,n.abilityFeckless,adj.FecklessFik is the past tense of faa, to get116, imp. tense, feckFecklessIncapable of providing for oneself
The Danish, Norwegian, Lowland Scotch, and north-east folk-speech are closely allied. We must not, however, compare the spelling, but the general sound of the words. Take the two first lines of the Danish national song—
Danish.Kong Christian stod ved hoien mast.North Riding.King Christian steead byv t’ heegh mast.Danish.I’ Rog117og damp.North Riding.I’ roke an’ reek.
Danish.Kong Christian stod ved hoien mast.North Riding.King Christian steead byv t’ heegh mast.Danish.I’ Rog117og damp.North Riding.I’ roke an’ reek.
Danish.Kong Christian stod ved hoien mast.North Riding.King Christian steead byv t’ heegh mast.
Danish.Kong Christian stod ved hoien mast.
North Riding.King Christian steead byv t’ heegh mast.
Danish.I’ Rog117og damp.North Riding.I’ roke an’ reek.
Danish.I’ Rog117og damp.
North Riding.I’ roke an’ reek.
Again, take two lines from a poem in Modern Friesic published in 1834. The centre lines are from the poem, with the modern North Riding dialect above and standard English below.
North Riding.What be’st thoo, leyfe?Friesic.Hwat bist dhow, libben?Standard English.What art thou, life?North Riding.Fra t’ scepter’d king ti t’ slaave.Friesic.Fen de scepterde kening ta da slave.Standard English.From the sceptred king to the slave.
North Riding.What be’st thoo, leyfe?Friesic.Hwat bist dhow, libben?Standard English.What art thou, life?North Riding.Fra t’ scepter’d king ti t’ slaave.Friesic.Fen de scepterde kening ta da slave.Standard English.From the sceptred king to the slave.
North Riding.What be’st thoo, leyfe?Friesic.Hwat bist dhow, libben?Standard English.What art thou, life?
North Riding.What be’st thoo, leyfe?
Friesic.Hwat bist dhow, libben?
Standard English.What art thou, life?
North Riding.Fra t’ scepter’d king ti t’ slaave.Friesic.Fen de scepterde kening ta da slave.Standard English.From the sceptred king to the slave.
North Riding.Fra t’ scepter’d king ti t’ slaave.
Friesic.Fen de scepterde kening ta da slave.
Standard English.From the sceptred king to the slave.
For a list of words common to the English, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages, seeTrans. Phil. Soc.part i. 1858.
Much that is written and spoken at the present day is quite over the heads of our country people. Take the following, from one of our best authors:—‘He who performs every part of his business in due course and season, suffers no part of time to escape without profit. And it is well always to regard the quality rather than the quantity of your work, and bear in mind, if you delay till to-morrow what ought to bedone to-day, you overcharge to-morrow with a burden which belongs not to it,’ Our country folk would fully grasp the above if put to them something like the following:—‘Him ’at diz a daay’s wark iv a daay, dizn’t waste his tahm, an’ mannishes ti git a bit foor hissel. An’ yan awlus owt ti aim ti deea t’ bit ’at yan diz deea fo’st-class, mair ’an aiming ti clash thruff a seet o’ wark onny road; an’ think on, if ya lig o’ yah sahd whahl ti morn what ya owt ti-deea ti daay, ya saddle ti morn wiv a boddun ’at it’s neea call ti bear.’
Hah am the rose o’ Sharon and the lily o’ the valley.
Hah am the rose o’ Sharon and the lily o’ the valley.
In a work kindly lent me by my friend Dr. Johnson of Lancaster, and published some years ago for the Philological Society, the author, quoting fromLatham on the English Language, gives the above as a specimen of North Riding dialect—nay, more, of Cleveland itself. Surely the writer can never have spent a day in any part of Cleveland, for the sentence given contains but twelve words, seven of which are distinctly not Clevelandic.
The country people, when speakingnaturally, rarely use the aspirate, except as an intensive. Otherwise they have little use for it. And when ‘H’ is preceded by the definite article, they do not drop it in the sense generally understood; the fact is they cannot well sound it, for this reason—the definite article is ‘t’, ‘the118’ being but rarely used. They could not say ‘t’ horse,’ ‘t’ house,’ ‘t’ hamper,’ &c.; with them it is, ‘t’ hoss,’ ‘t’ hoos,’ ‘t’ hamper,’ pronounced ‘toss,’ ‘toos,’ ‘tamper.’
‘The horse is yoked,’ ‘the hamper is in the wagon,’ and ‘the whip is under the wheels,’ as spoken, would sound to unfamiliar ears as if the speaker had said ‘toss is yoked,’ ‘tamper’s i’ twagon,’ and ‘twip’s unner tweels.’
The definite article, to those unaccustomed to our folk-speech, seems to be entirely wanting. Certainly beforeb,m, andnit is only very slightly sounded, and it becomes the merest touch of the tongue against the palate when preceding words commencing withdort. ‘Shut the door, the bacon and the beans are on the table,’ would sound to a stranger as though the speaker said, ‘Shut deear, bacon an’ beeans is on table’; the speaker having in reality said, ‘Shut t’ deear, t’ bacon an’ t’ beeans is on t’ table.’
To return, however, to the line from Solomon’s Song, given as a specimen of Cleveland dialect. Let us see what the rendering should have been.
Hah am the rose o’ Sharon and the lily o’ the valley.Ah’s t’ roase o’ Sharon an’ t’ lily o’ t’ valley.
Hah am the rose o’ Sharon and the lily o’ the valley.Ah’s t’ roase o’ Sharon an’ t’ lily o’ t’ valley.
Hah am the rose o’ Sharon and the lily o’ the valley.
Ah’s t’ roase o’ Sharon an’ t’ lily o’ t’ valley.
The lower line is North Yorkshire and pure Cleveland, the upper line is said to be so.
It has been remarked that the aspirate is almost unknown—so it is as a letter, but not as an intensive. The aspirate, when misplaced by those speaking naturally, is only used to add greater force. ‘He’s mah henemy foor hivver,’ leaves no doubt that the injury sustained is of an unbridgeable character. Such a sentence, however, holds quite a different place in grammar, too. ‘Hi hallers taike shagar i’ my tea.’ The first example is Yorkshire intensified, minus any adjectives, the first‘H’ expressing or suggesting some such feeling as implacable, and the ‘hever’ meaning for ever and ever. The latter is the vile and affected speech of the upper circles of Yorkshire flunkeys and maids, who try to improve upon their mother tongue. It holds no place in our folk-speech. It is hateful, and is only indulged in by those of whom the old people say, ‘When they start ti knack an’ scrape ther tungs, what they saay’s nowther nowt na summat,’ i.e. ‘When they begin to talk affectedly, what they say is neither one thing nor another.’
There is one other peculiarity which must be noticed—the possessive case. I should imagine a hundred years ago its disuse was universal in both ridings. My reason for so thinking lies in the fact that in any old books wherein the owners have inscribed their names—and they usually did (books were valued in those days)—the names are never written in the possessive case. It is always ‘Tom Smith book,’ ‘Ann Scott book.’ Even to-day in many places, when speaking, the observance of the case is conspicuous by its absence. E.g. in the Boroughbridge and other districts they would not say ‘Jack Wilson’s dog bit Smith’s calf,’ and ‘Peggy’s cat flew through Nanny’s window,’ but ‘Jack Wilson dog bit Smith cauf,’ and ‘Peggy cat flew throw Nanny window.’ Such sentences as ‘Ho’d t’ hoss heead,’ ‘Pull t’ pig lug,’ and ‘Twist t’ coo tail,’ &c., are still universal in both ridings. The instances in which the possessive is used, and vice versa, are now about equal in the North Riding. The peculiar forms of redundancy are many and curious. ‘Ah nivver at neea tahm sed nowt aboot nowt ti neeabody,’ simply means, ‘I never said anything to any one. I think the following example, which I overheard one Yorkshireman say to another just before the train moved out of Guisborough station, is the finest on record. ‘Whya,’ said he, ‘thoo mun saay what thoo ’ez a mahnd teea, bud think on, thoo knaws, ’at Ah knaw ’at he knaws, ’at thoo knaws ’at Ah knaw, all aboot ivverything ’at’s ivver been deean an’ ‘at’s ivver ta’en pleeace.’ I heard a man say a short time ago, ‘Ah s’ be agate ti git agate ti set agate Tom fo’st thing ti morn at morn’; i.e. ‘Ah s’ be agate,’ I shall be about; ’ti git agate,’ to commence work; ’ti set agate,’ to set Tom to work; ‘fo’st thing ti morn at morn,’ first thing in the morning. Said one to another, ‘Noo Ah’ll tell ya what, hard eneeaf, he war neean ower-suited when he fan oot ’at he’d ’ev ti ’ev ’t ower wi’ ma owther thruff or by. An’ noo when Ah’ve fetched him up ti t’ scrat, he sez ’at he’s putten t’ dog oot o’ t’ road; bud Ah’s satisfied o’ yah thing, t’ dog rave mah britches, an’ Ah s’all leeak ti him ti mak ’em good agaan, foor he ’ez a reet ti owther deea that or ’livver summat up i’ lieu on’t; bud Ah reckon nowt o’ what he sez, an’ that’s t’ len’th on ’t.’ i.e. ‘Noo Ah’ll tell ya what,’ now I assure you; ‘hard eneeaf,’ without doubt; ‘he war neean ower-suited,’ he was not over-pleased; ‘when he fan oot,’ when he discovered; ‘’at he’d ’ev ti ’ev it ower wi’ ma,’ that he would have to talk it over with me; ‘owther thruff or by,’ either one way or the other; ‘an’ noo when Ah’ve fetched him up ti t’ scrat,’ and now when I have made him toe the mark; ‘he sez ’at he’s puttent’ dog oot o’ t’ road,’ he says that he has killed the dog; ‘bud Ah’s satisfied o’ yah thing,’ but I am certain of one thing; ’t’ dog rave mah britches,’ the dog tore my trousers; ‘an’ Ah s’all leeak ti him ti mak ’em good agaan,’ and I shall expect him to replace them; ‘foor he ’ez a reet ti,’ for he ought to; ‘owther deea that or ’livver summat up,’ either do that or give something; ‘i’ lieu on ’t,’ in place of it (them); ‘bud Ah reckon nowt o’ what he sez,’ but I place no confidence in anything he says; ‘an’ that’s t’ len’th on ’t,’ and that is the extent of it.
If the reader masters the abbreviations and elisions facing page 1, thepons asinorumwill have been crossed, and the reading of our folk-speech found to be a thing easy of accomplishment and a delightful acquisition.
It will be well to remember, when reading aloud, that a consonant with an elided vowel must be joined either to the word preceding or following, as ’t’ hoss,’ ’t’ hens,’ ‘t’ wax,’ the horse, the hens, the wax, which would be pronounced ’toss,’ ‘tens,’ ‘twax.’ Again, ‘Sha’s i’ t’ sulks’ would be ’shas it sulks,’ and ‘Oot wi’ ‘t, put tane ti t’ ither,’ would be rendered as ’oot wit, put tane ti tither,’ ‘Ah’ve deean noo, t’ ink’s ommaist dhry i’ mah pen, seea this’ll ’a’e ti be
T’ LAP UP ON ‘T.’
OXFORD: HORACE HARTPRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY