TT: Dialectful

JANE: Yesterday, I talked about The Secret Garden, a novel that had a great

Land of Many Dialects

influence on my life. One of the main elements in the novel is Mary’s desire to learn the Yorkshire dialect which is spoken by the people in the area where she is now living.

So, Alan, as our resident Yorkshireman, what did you think about the use of your native tongue?

ALAN: The Yorkshire aspects in the novel were very authentic and added a lot to the atmosphere of the story.

One curious thing that struck me – not very far into the book, Mrs. Medlock uses the word “marred” and then there is an authorial intrusion which says “Marred is a Yorkshire word which means spoiled and pettish”. I would have used the word “mardy” (or possibly “marredy” — I honestly don’t know how to spell it) instead of “marred.” However I’m quite happy to accept “marred.” Words do vary across Yorkshire; even villages right next door to each other will often have slightly different vocabularies. When I walk down an alleyway I’m never sure if I’m walking down a ginnel, a snicket, or a twitchell…

One thing I *did* object to. Throughout the book, the word “the” is rendered as “th'”. That’s just plain wrong. A much more accurate rendering would be the simple “t'” I’ve just jumped to a random page where I see the dialogue:

“One o’ th’ kitchen gardens.”

Just try saying that out loud. One of two things will happen. Either you will elide the “th” into “the” or you will say “th” and then pause before you say “kitchen”. Both are wrong and both give far too much emphasis to “th”. A much better depiction of how it would sound is:

“One o’ t’ kitchen gardens.”

Even that is not quite right, but it’s much closer. The “o'” and the “t'” would actually be slurred together and the “t'” would be barely pronounced. The “t'” is actually more of an absence than a presence. It’s not pronounced with the tip of the tongue (which gives an unwanted emphasis). It’s more at the back of the throat, and you slide over it rather than say it out loud. It’s easy to demonstrate, but very hard to describe…

JANE: From watching episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, I have the impression that different dialects go with different British stereotypes. So, what is the stereotype attached to Yorkshire?

ALAN: Gruff and self-contained but with a heart of gold and a certain dry, mocking wit. How can you tell if a Yorkshireman is teasing you? His lips are moving…

There’s also a myth that Yorkshire people are just like the Scots, but without the generosity! We have a saying: “If tha’ does owt for nowt, do it for thysen.” And while there’s a superficial truth to that, there’s obviously much more to it.

Do you have dialects in America? You obviously have regional accents, but a dialect is more than just an accent. It has its own vocabulary and grammar. For example, did you know that when I were nobbut a lad I’d oft go laikin’ taws on’t causey?

JANE: You lost me somewhere around “laikin.” Do I get a translation?

ALAN: Nobbut a lad — nothing but a child (i.e. just a child). Oft go laikin’ – often go playing (the verb to laik means to play). Taws – marbles (I vaguely recall Tom Sawyer using this word in Mark Twain’s novel. Was Mark Twain a secret Yorkshireman?). On’t causey – literally on the causeway. A causeway is a footpath (you’d probably call it a sidewalk). So, when I was just a little boy I’d often play marbles on the footpath. Easy, eh?

JANE: Easy when you translate it, maybe…

By the way, I think we distinguish between “footpaths” or simply “paths” as unpaved, while “sidewalks” are paved. Both, however, are established walkways, so if you cut across a field, even if you leave a trail, this is not a “path.” It only becomes a “path” when lots of people use it.

As for dialects… No. I don’t think we Americans have them to the same extent. (By the way, if a reader wants to disagree, I’d welcome comments!)

That doesn’t mean that strong regional accents don’t lead to different speech patterns. I grew up in Washington, D.C., but summered in an area in southern Maryland called Shady Side. The two areas were within about an hour’s drive of each other, but in Shady Side there was a distinct local accent. “Baltimore, Maryland,” for example, came out much closer to “Balmer, Merlin.”

Another marked difference was that in Shady Side “y’all” functioned neatly as a second person plural, a part of speech I think English – British or American – is sorely lacking. However, when I went to college in the Bronx, New York, the more common second person plural was “youse” or “youse guys.”

ALAN: I agree that we need a second person plural and don’t have a convenient one. I’ve noticed “youse” occasionally in Antipodean speech patterns, but I don’t think British English (or Yorkshire!) has one. On the other hand, Yorkshire does often use the second person singular thee/thou.

JANE: Another regional difference in speech patterns is speed. A friend of mine loved to tell tales of how when, after college, she moved from New York to Tennessee, she had trouble making herself understood – and understanding. She simply spoke – and “heard” – too quickly, so that even though the words were the same, she couldn’t understand them.

Here in New Mexico, there’s a lot of Spanish mixed into daily use, but I don’t think locals think about it much. You just pick it up. After a while if someone suggests you might want to go take a seat on the banco near the horno, you just do so. It would actually sound weird if someone said “go take a seat on the built-in bench near the traditional-style oven.”

So, no dialects, but, who knows? If the United States had been settled as long as England without the “leveling” influence of mass communications, we might have developed distinct dialects as well.

ALAN: English seems to absorb loan words very well. There are a lot of Maori loan words in New Zealand English. I think pretty much everyone would understand you if you said something like “I’m visiting the whanau this weekend”. Whanau (pronounced far-now) means extended family. Words like this are in common everyday use – you see them in newspapers and hear them on the radio and TV and nobody thinks there’s anything odd about it at all.

JANE: Loan words would be another fascinating thing to talk about. I’d love to hear more about what words the New Zealanders have adopted from their Maori neighbors – and even more, why this has happened. After all, why not just say “extended family”? Let’s take that up next time.