A few examples of Sussex speech, mainly drawn from Mr. Parish's Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect will help to add the true flavour to these pages. Mr. Parish's little book is one of the best of its kind; that it is more than a contribution to etymology a very few quotations will show.
THE SUSSEX RULES
Mr. Parish lays down the following general principles of the Sussex tongue:—
a before double d becomes ar; whereby ladder and adder are pronounced larder and arder.
a before double l is pronounced like o; fallow and tallow become foller and toller.
a before t is expanded into ea; rate, mate, plate, gate, are pronounced rêât, mêât, plêât, gêât.
a before ct becomes e; as satisfection, for satisfaction.
e before ct becomes a; and affection, effect and neglect are pronounced affaction, effact and neglact.
Double e is pronounced as i in such words as sheep, week, called ship and wick; and the sound of double e follows the same rule in fild for field.
Having pronounced ee as i, the Sussex people in the most impartial manner pronounce i as ee; and thus mice, hive, dive, become meece, heeve, and deeve.