English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present DaySkeat, Walter W. (Walter William)
History
English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day
Skeat, Walter W. (Walter William)
English language -- Dialects
(_b_) Ten groups: 1. Lincolnshire. 2. S.E. Lancashire, N.E.
Cheshire, N.W. Derby. 3. S.W. Lancashire, S. of the Ribble.
4. Mid Lancashire, Isle of Man. 5. S. Yorkshire; to the S.W. of
the Wharfe. 6. Most of Cheshire, N. Staffordshire. 7. Most of
Derby. 8. Nottingham. 9. Flint, Denbigh. 10. E. Shropshire,
S. Stafford, most of Warwickshire, S. Derby, Leicestershire.
(_c_) Five groups: 1. Cambridge, Rutland, N.E. Northampton.
2. Most of Essex and Hertford, Huntingdon, Bedford, Mid Northampton.
3. Norfolk and Suffolk. 4. Most of Buckingham. 5. Middlesex,
S.E. Buckingham, S. Hertford, S.W. Essex.
N.B. S.W. Northampton is Southern; see (_e_), 4.
(_d_) Two groups: 1. W. and S. Shropshire (W. of Severn). 2. Hereford
(except E.), Radnor, E. Brecknock.
(_e_) Ten groups. 1. Parts of Pembroke and Glamorgan. 2. Wiltshire,
Dorset, N. and E. Somerset, most of Gloucester, S.W. Devon. 3. Most
of Hampshire, Isle of Wight, most of Berkshire, S. Surrey, W. Sussex.
4. N. Gloucester, E. Hereford, Worcester, S. Warwick, N. Oxford,
S.W. Northampton. 5. Most of Oxford. 6. N. Surrey, N.W. Kent.
7. Most of Kent, E. Sussex. 8. W. Somerset, N.E. Devon. 9. Most of
Devon, E. Cornwall. 10. W. Cornwall.
CHAPTER XII
A FEW SPECIMENS
There is a great wealth of modern dialect literature, as indicated
by the lists in the _E.D.D._ Some of these dialect books are poor
and inaccurate, and they are frequently spelt according to no
intelligible phonetic principles. Yet it not unfrequently happens,
as in the works of Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens, that the
dialectal scraps indicate the pronunciation with tolerable fidelity,
which is more than can be said of such portions of their works as are
given in the normal spelling. It is curious to notice that writers in
dialect are usually, from a phonetic point of view, more careful and
consistent in their modes of indicating sounds than are the rest of
us. Sometimes their spelling is, accordingly, very good. Those who are
interested in this subject may follow up this hint with advantage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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