Re: YAEDT? Syntax in dialects of English (was: Of accents & dialects (was: Azurian phonology))

Hi Eliott, 

I’d say, rather than a generally British thing the “I was sat in the pub”
construction is predominantly northern. 

Here are some constructions from Lancashire:

 

{a three or four week sin’} ‘three or four weeks since’

{that were a six hours a did} ‘I did six hours of work’, or ‘I worked a six
hour shift’

 

{thou had thy dinner} [D& ad DI “dIn8`] ‘you had dinner’ (general statement)

{I’ve broken my head off my hammer} [av “bOkN mI jEd O:f mI “Om8`] “I’ve
broken the head off my hammer”

 

{them their days} [DEm DI8` de:z] “in those days”

{these here haulmen} [Di:z I8` “O8lmEn] “these hauliers here”

{are for to take this here coal} [8 f8`? tEk DIs I8`ko:l] “are to take this
coal here”

{in yon stable} [I jOn “ste:b8l] “into that stable”

 

{our Bill’s sun his wife} “Bill’s sun’s wife”, “the wife of Bill’s sun”

{our lad here who’s courting with the wench there} “our son who is going out
with that girl”

 

Older people may still be heard saying “five-and twenty” for “twenty five”,
but anyone under 70 is unlikely to say that.

 

Contractions with “thou”

/d{ kOn/                               “thou can”

/”kOntt8/, /kOnt/              “can thou?”

/”kOtnt/                               “can thou not?”

/”kUtnt/                               “could thou not?”

/D{:`t/                                    “thou art”

/”{:`tnt/                                 “art thou not?”

/”wUtnt/                             “would thou not?”

/dUst/                                   “does thou?”

/”dUsnt/                              “does thou not?”

/wIlt/                                    “will thou?”

 

{and her’s three year older than thee isn’t her} “and she’s three years
older than you, isn’t she” [an 8:`z Tri: j8:r 3Yd8` D8n Di: In 8:`]

 

{he couldn’t give him it} [i: “kUdnt gI Im I?] “he couldn’t give it to him”

{I tan it her back} [a tan It 8:` bak] “I took it back to her”

 

{so it come} [so: i? kUm] “as it happened” 

{it were often come off as} [Iß w8` “O:fn kUm Of 8z] “it had often come
about that”

{them as weren’t} “those who weren’t”

 

Just a few examples….

Dan

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Elliott Lash
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2008 3:38 AM



"I am not a native speaker of british english, so my observatiions may not
count as much. However, I have lived in England for about two and half years
or so. I have observed that people from Lincolnshire have a very intriguing
cleft construction which is very different than what I would use as an
American English speaker from New York. So, instead of saying something
like:

 

'He's a good man is Tony Blair.'

 

I would say 'Tony Blair is a Good man'

 

similarly with a wide variety of clefts like:

 

'It's a cold country is Iceland' or 'That's a good beer is Becks' 

 

As for more general British dialects, it is common to say 'I am/was sat in
the pub drinking a beer' as opposed to standard British/American English 'I
was sitting in the pub drinking beer.'  If any native British speaker would
like to counter these assertions, please do so - as I have only had a
limited experience of these sorts of constructions.

 

-Elliott."

 

 

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