(1) Scottish, including n.Nhb. and n.Cum. Here literary English a has a tendency to become à before a single nasal in such words as can, man. The sound is generally represented in books by o, as con, mon. O.E. æ (a) in originally open syllables and O.E. ā have fallen together, as name, hame (O.E. nama, hām), lit. Eng. name, home. O.E. o in originally open syllables and O.E. ā are still kept apart, as kōl, hame (O.E. colu, hām), lit. Eng. coal, home. O.E. i and u have not been diphthongized before a following nd as in lit. Eng. O.E. u has become ɒ [the sound in sun] as in lit. Eng. O.E. ū has generally remained, but in s.Sc. it has become ɒu [the sound in cow] when final. In Sc. medial d has disappeared after n in such words as cinder, wonder. Final l has generally disappeared after a guttural vowel, as ā, fū, lit. Eng. all, full. r is strongly trilled in all positions.
(2) North-country, meaning Nhb. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. (except sw. and s.Yks.), and the northern portion of Lancashire. O.E. i has remained before nd, e.g. a word like blind rhymes with lit. Eng. wind sb. O.E. u has generally remained, and also when followed by nd. In words like cup, summer, pound (O.E. pund), the u has the sound of the u in lit. Eng. pull. O.E. ū has generally remained as in hūs, ūt, lit. Eng. house, out. r is uvular in Nhb. and parts of Dur. This is called ‘the Northumberland burr’.
(3) North Midland, meaning sw. and s.Yks., the southern portion of Lan. I.Ma. Chs. n.Wal. Stf. Der. Not. Lin. Rut. Lei. Shr. O.E. a has become e before g in parts of Yks. and Lan. as dreg, reg, lit. Eng. drag, rag. O.E. a(o) has in several of these dialects become u or ɒ before ng in such words as long, wrong. This pronunciation has been taken over into the standard language in among, -monger, mongrel. O.E. e in originally open syllables, Germanic ǣ and O.E. ǣ (= i-umlaut of ā) are still kept apart in several dialects, whereas in lit. Eng. they have fallen together, e.g. steal, sleep, heal (O.E. stelan, slǣpan, hǣlan beside hāl).
(4) South Midland, meaning Nhp. War. Wor. Hrf. Mon. s.Wal. Glo. Oxf. Bck. Bdf. Hrt. Mid. Hnt. O.E. a(o) has become u or ɒ before ŋ in long, wrong, &c. O.E. a has become ā before sp, ss, st, as in lit. Eng. gasp, grass, fast. Initial shr has become sr, as in srimp, srivel, lit. Eng. shrimp, shrivel.
(5) East-country, meaning Cmb. Nrf. Suf. Ess. O.E. a has become ā before sp, ss, st. O.E. y has become e, as pet (O.E. pytt), lit. Eng. pit, but this e is rapidly disappearing through the influence of the standard language. It has been adopted into lit. Eng. in evil, fledge, merry (O.E. yfel, -flycge, myrige). O.E. ȳ has become ī, as mīs (O.E. mȳs), lit. Eng. mice.
(6) South-country, Ken. Sur. Sus. Brks. O.E. a has become ā before sp, ss, st. O.E. æ(a) in originally closed syllables has become e in parts of Kent, as bek, thet (O.E. bæc, þæt), lit. Eng. back, that. Initial þr has become dr, as drī, lit. Eng. three. Initial and medial v has become w in Ken. and e.Sus.
(7) South-west-country, meaning I.W. Hmp. Wil. Dor. Som. Dev. Cor. O.E. æ(a) has become ǣ before sp, ss, st. O.E. or in the combination or + consonant has become ā in such words as corn, storm. This also occurs in Group 6 above. O.E. i has generally become e before ng or nk, especially in Wil. and Dev. as theng, drenk, lit. Eng. thing, drink. A d has been developed between l—r, r—l, n—r, as pālder, mādl, tailder, kānder, lit. Eng. parlour, marl, tailor, corner. Initial f and s have become v and z in native words in Wil. Dor. Som. Dev. Initial þ [the sound in thin] has become ð [the sound in then] in sm. Hmp. I.W. Wil. Dor. Som. Dev. e.Cor. Initial þr has become dr.
Phonology
The above are the main distinguishing features of the phonology of the dialects as taken in groups, but no such list can adequately represent the range of pronunciation in the dialects taken individually. The extent of this range can be shown by taking a list of common standard English words, where the number of different ways in which they are known to be pronounced in the various dialects has been carefully counted and registered, e.g. all (20), both (27), chamber (23), close (33), clothes (29), coat (20), cold (31), cow (20), cucumber (35), daughter (36), do (17), done (24), earth (44), father (35), gate (30), good (21), have (24), hold (37), home (44), house (29), night (22), oats (30), old (42), one (21), potato (46), so (24), through (29), whole (33), wrong (22).
The evidence of the pronunciation of words in the different English dialects is of great importance to the student of English philology, as he is thereby often enabled to explain anomalies in the standard language. To take only one instance: philologists have been at a loss to explain why the word oven in lit. Eng. does not rhyme with cloven. The O.E. recorded form is ofen parallel to the past participle clofen, yet while the latter word has followed the normal development, the former has the development not of an original O.E. o, but of u. Now the collected evidence of the dialects goes to show that there must have been beside the recorded O.E. ofen an unrecorded form *ufen from which lit. Eng. oven is quite regularly developed, for the o representing an older u is no more than the old French spelling with which we are familiar in such words as love, come, son, &c.