On Dialect in Lancashire and Yorkshire.
The district of England which during the Heptarchy was, and since has been known by the name of Northumbria, which consists of the territory lying to the north of the rivers Humber (whence the name North-humbria) and Mersey, which form the southern boundaries, and extending north as far as the rivers Tweed and Forth, is generally known to vary considerably in the speech of its inhabitants from the rest of England. Considering the great extent and importance of this district, comprising as it does more than one-fourth of the area and population of England, it seems surprising that the attention of philologists should not have been more drawn to the fact of this difference and its causes. From an essay on some of the leading characteristics of the dialects spoken in the six northern counties of England (ancient Northumbria) by the late Robert Backhouse Peacock, edited by the Rev. T. C. Atkinson, 1869, we learn that, when addressing themselves to the subject of dialect, investigators have essayed to examine it through the medium of its written rather than its spoken language. The characteristics to be found in the language now spoken have been preserved in a degree of purity which does not appertain to the English of the present day. It is therefore from the dialect rather than from any literary monuments that we must obtain the evidence necessary for ascertaining the extent to which this Northumbrian differs from English in its grammatical forms,—not to speak of its general vocabulary.
The most remarkable characteristic is the definite article, or the demonstrative pronoun—"t," which is an abbreviation of the old Norse neuter demonstrative pronoun "hit"—Swedish and Danish "et." That this abbreviation is not simply an elision of the letters "he" from the English article "the," which is of old Frisian origin, is apparent from the fact that all the versions of the second chapter, verse 1, for instance, of Solomon's Song, "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys," the uniform abbreviation for all parts of England is the elision of the final letter "e," making the into "th"; on the other hand, out of fourteen specimens of the same verse in Northumbria, eight give the "t" occurring three times in the verse, thus, "I's t' rooaz o' Sharon, an' t' lily o' t' valleys."
The districts where the Scandinavian article so abbreviated prevails are found in the versions to be the county of Durham, Central and South Cumberland, Westmorland; all Lancashire, except the South-eastern district, and all Yorkshire; an area which comprehends on the map about three-fourths of all Northumbria.
The next leading feature is the proposition—i, which is used for in. This is also a pure Scandinavianism, being not only old Norse, but used in Icelandic, Swedish and Danish of the present day. Two instances occur in the 14th verse of the same chapter, where for "O my dove, thou art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, etc.," we have idiomatic version: "O my cushat, 'at 's i' t' grikes o' t' crags, i' t' darkin' whols o' t' stairs."
Another word which occurs in six of the Northumbrian versions is also Scandinavian, viz., the relative pronoun at for that. From this illustration of a short verse and a half of Scripture, we have established the Norse character of the dialect as distinguished from common English, of five of the most ordinary words in the English language, namely, the representatives of the words the, in, that, art and am. These instances from the Etymology of the Dialects help to establish the following canon: That when a provincial word is common to more than one dialect district (that is, districts where in other respects the dialects differ from each other), it may, as a rule, be relied upon, that the word is not a corruption but a legitimate inheritance. Those referred to, we have seen, are the inheritance of a whole province, that province being formerly an entire kingdom.
Proceeding in the usual order of grammars, having disposed of the article, we come next to the substantives. These differ from the ordinary English in that they recognise only one "case" where English has two. The Northumbrian dialect dispenses with the possessive or genitive case almost entirely, and for "my father's hat," or "my uncle's wife's mother's house," say, "my faddher hat," and "my uncle wife muddher house." Upon which, all that need be remarked is that they have gone further in simplifying this part of speech than the rest of their countrymen, who have only abolished the dative and accusative cases from the parent languages of their speech. Extreme brevity and simplicity are eminently Norse and Northumbrian characteristics. We have already seen some remarkable instances in the versions of Solomon's Song, where we saw that the first three words, "I am the," are expressed in as many letters, namely, "I's t'"; and again in verse 14, "thou art in the," by "at 's i t'." We have here another instance in the abolition of the genitive case-ending, out of many more that might be added.
In pronouncing the days of the week we find: Sunnda for Sunday, Thorsda for Thursday, and Setterda for Saturday, always with the short da. The remaining days as in ordinary English.
In pronouns we find "wer" for "our," in the possessive case, from old Norse vârr.
Relative—At for who, which, that.
Demonstrative—T' The.
That theyar—that one.
Thoer—these or those.Indefinites—Summat=something, somewhat. From old Norse sum-hvat, somewhat.
The two following are common at Preston and adjacent districts:
Sooawhaasse=whosoever.
Sooawheddersa=whethersoever.
Correlative adjectival pronoun:
Sa mich=so much.
Swedish, Sâ mycket.
Adverbs from Scandinavian:
Backerds—backwards.
Connily—prettily, nicely.
eigh—yes; forrùt, forrud—forwards;
helder—preferably; i mornin—to-morrow;
i now—presently; lang sen—long since;
lowsley—loosely; neddher—lower nether;
neya—no; noo—now;
reetly—rightly; sa—so; sen—since;
Shamfully—Shamefully.
Shaply—shapely; sooa—so.
tull—to; weel—well; whaar—where.
Interjections.
Ech!—exclamation of delight.
Hoity-toity!—what's the matter: from old Norse "hutututu."
Woe-werth!—woe betide.