Everything about East Midlands English totally explained
East Midlands English is a
dialect traditionally spoken in those parts of
Mercia lying East of
Watling Street (the A5 London - Shrewsbury Road). Today this area is represented by the counties of the
East Midlands of
England, (
Derbyshire,
Leicestershire,
Lincolnshire,
Nottinghamshire,
Rutland and
Northamptonshire, see below).
Origins
Like that of
Yorkshire, the East Midlands dialect owes much of its grammar and vocabulary to Nordic influences, the region having been incorporated in the Norse controlled
Danelaw in the late 9th century. For example, the East Midlands word
scraight ('to cry') is thought to be derived from the Norse,
skrike in modern Scandinavian, also meaning to cry.
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East Midlands Dialects in Literature
The romantic English novelist, and East Midlander,
D. H. Lawrence who was from the Nottinghamshire town of
Eastwood wrote in the dialect of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Coalfield in several dialect poems as well as in his more famous works such as
Lady Chatterley's Lover and
Sons and Lovers.
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Though spoken less commonly today, the dialect of the East Midlands has been investigated in notable texts such as the affectionately titled
Ey Up Mi Duck(External Link) series of books (and an LP) by
Richard Scollins and
John Titford. These books were originally intended as a study of Derbyshire Dialect, particularly the distinctive speech of
Ilkeston and the
Erewash valley, but later editions acknowledge similarities in vocabulary and grammar which unite the East Midlands dialects and broadened their appeal to the region as a whole.
"
Ey Up" is a greeting of uncertain origin used widely throughout the
North Midlands and
South Yorkshire, and "Mi Duck" is thought to be derived from a respectful
Anglo Saxon form of address, "Duka" (Literally "Duke"), and is unrelated to waterfowl.
(External Link) Non-natives of the East Midlands are often surprised to hear men greet each other as 'Mi Duck.'
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Dialect Words
In recent years, humorous texts such as
Nottingham, As it's spoke(External Link) have combined phonetically spelt standard English words together in order to deliberately confuse non-natives to the region. For example:
Aya gorra weeya?:is the wife with you?
;It's black uvver Bill's mother's:it looks like rain
Thiz summat up wee im:I think he may be ill
However, there are many words in use in the traditional East Midlands Dialect which don't appear in standard English. The short list below is by no means exhaustive. More comprehensive 'dictionaries' exist within texts such as Ey Up Mi Duck by Richards Scollins and John Titford.
badly:hungover/ill
;belt-job:defunct coal-mining definition for an "easy" job such as sleeping whilst watching a conveyor belt
bonny:Overweight (in Leicester and Nottingham) » (Not to be confused with the
Scots word meaning 'beautiful')
Clouts:trousers (usually pronounced claarts)
;Croaker:doctor
Croggie:an (illegal) crossbar ride, "two-up" on the crossbar of a man's bicycle
;cob:a bread roll (bap), to throw
Duck's necks:bottle of lemonade
;jitty/jetty:alleyway
mardy: grumpy, sulky
;mash: to make a pot of tea
nesh:a weak person, or one who feels the cold
;paste: to beat often used interchangeably with larrup
piggle:to pick at a scab or a skin irritation
;puddled/puddle-drunk:intoxicated
puther:to pour out uncontrollably
;pot:a plaster cast
rammel:rubbish/waste
;scraight/scraitin':to cry/crying
snap:lunch/food
;snidered/snided:covered
sucker:Iced Lolly
;twitchel:alleyway
tabs:ears
Grammar
Those who speak traditional
regional dialects are not trying to speak
Standard English and failing. East Midlands English follows a series of distinct grammatical rules. Some examples follow below.
Formal address
Up until the mid 20th century it wasn't uncommon to hear the use of informal forms of address,
Thee and
Thou, as compared to the more formal
Yo or
You. Use of the informal form of address is now uncommon in modern speech.
Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns differ from standard English as follows;
yorn:yours
;mine:mine
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theirn:theirs
;ourn:ours
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Example
"It eent theirn it's ourn!" (It isn't theirs, it's ours!)
Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are characterised by the replacement of
Self with
'Sen' (From Middle English
seluen)
Y'usen -
Yourself,
Mesen -
Myself,
Thisens -
Themselves/Yourselves,
Ussens -
Ourselves
Example
"We s'll ay to do it ussens." (We shall have to do it ourselves)
Dialect Variations within the Region
Although
Northamptonshire is located in the East Midlands, and has historically harboured a dialect comparable to other forms of East Midlands English, particularly among the older generation, the linguistic distinctiveness of
Northamptonshire has significantly eroded. This is represented by the dialect of
Kettering which is influenced by the dialects of western parts of
East Anglia, the
West Midlands, and the
South as well as the 'Watford Gap
Isogloss', the demarcation line between southern and northern English accents. In Kettering (north of the Watford Gap) the word 'glass' rhymes with 'mass' whereas in Northampton, only 14 miles further south but south of the Watford Gap, the pronunciation of 'glass' rhymes with 'farce'. Contrary to popular belief, the Watford in question is Watford Village and not the town of Watford which borders the north of London.
Also of note is the anomalous dialect of
Corbyite spoken around
Corby in the north of
Northamptonshire, which relects the migration of large numbers of
Scottish and
Irish Steelworkers to the town during the 20th Century. The dialect is often compared to
Glaswegian.
Lincolnshire is, in a sense, separated from the remainder of the
East Midlands. East of the Wolds, in the southern part of the county, the Lincolnshire dialect is closely linked to
The Fens and
East Anglia, and, in the northern areas of the county, the local speech has characteristics in common with the speech of the
East Riding of Yorkshire. This is largely due to the fact that the majority of the land area of Lincolnshire was surrounded by sea, the
Humber Estuary, marshland, and the wolds; these geographical circumstances permitted little linguistic interference from the East Midlands dialects until the nineteenth century when canal and rail routes penetrated the eastern heartland of the county .
Further Information
Get more info on 'East Midlands English'.
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