This New Book Proves Wor Dialects Are 'Alreet'

So an idea was formed for an up-to-date description of North East English, proving that well-known dialect features (which are sometimes seen as old fashioned) are alive and kicking – at least amongst football fans. Mike’s book, North East Vernacular English Online, is the most detailed description of the region’s English published since the 19th century. The book is packed with examples from Ready to Go and also focuses on attitudes towards regional dialects.

Mike’s research uncovered lots of interesting things. ’North East English has often been regarded as a conservative variety, and this was – to a certain extent – borne out in relation to the message board, where there was plenty of evidence to suggest that many people regularly use features which were once found more widely across Northern England, but which now are only found in the North East or parts of Scotland,’ he continues.

‘For example, “wor” (as the equivalent of the more standard form “our”) is now regarded as stereotypical of the North East (particularly Tyneside and Northumberland) but earlier dialect surveys, such as the groundbreaking Survey of English Dialects which was carried out in the 1950s and ‘60s, recorded “wor" across the Northern counties and even as far south as Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. The Sunderland message board also recorded instances of a feature which is rarely found in current British English – pronouns and determiners such as “thou”, “thee”, “thine” and “thy” (though these forms seem to be limited to County Durham and are not found across the region).’

Mike found it fascinating to see how words which were recorded in 19th-century dialect dictionaries and grammars (and which go back much further than that in the history of the English language) are being used by posters on the message board. ‘They are still clearly part of the living vernacular,’ he says. ‘For example, I discovered hundreds of examples of people using traditional dialect words. I also found more recent additions to the region’s vocabulary, drawn from a variety of sources.’ This included words drawn from Romani. ‘“Has he chored some more wine to quaff on his way from work?”, “what a prize doylem you are man”, and “your crack is ladgeful”.’

Like all dialects, North East English changes over time. ‘New forms and pronunciations arise while others are lost,’ Mike explains. ‘But this region is perhaps more likely to preserve older forms than other parts of England due to historical, geographical and demographic factors. The North East’s relative isolation and its limited immigration from other parts of the UK and beyond, its close-knit and somewhat insular communities are significant factors in this respect.