Rustic Speech and Folk-Lore

by Elizabeth Mary Wright

We can best compare the phonology of the dialects with that of the standard language by examining the vowels and consonants categorically, and noting some of the differences in development. The following is merely a rough outline of the subject, and some of the phonological points noticed in the classification of the dialects will not here be repeated.

Phonology: Vowels

Vowels.—(1) a. The sound æ which is regular in lit. Eng. in close syllables such as back, thatch, is rare in the dialects, occurring chiefly in e. and s.Cy. The majority of the dialects have a in this position. The a in open syllables which has become ei in lit. Eng. as in name, shake, has become ē in Sc. n.Cy. and Midl. In s.Sc. and nearly all the other dialects it has become diphthongized to eə or iə, but ai [the sound in time] in Hrt. Lon. Ess. and se.Kent.

(2) e. O.E. e of whatever origin has in close syllables generally had the same development in the dialects as in the standard language, but in many of the s.Sc. e. and sw.Cy. dialects it has become æ [the sound in hat, man]. O.E. e of whatever origin, has in originally open syllables generally had the same development in Sc. n. and s.Cy. as in the standard language, i.e. it has become ī, but in the s.Midl. e.Cy. and sw.Cy. dialects it has mostly become ē, and in the other dialects it has generally been diphthongized into ei or iə, the former occurring especially in the w. and s. portions of Yks., in Lan. n.Stf. and Nhp., and the latter in the remaining portions of Yks. Lan. and in Lin. s.Oxf. and w.Wil.

(3) i. This vowel has generally had the same development in the dialects as in the standard language, but in s.Sc. n.Nhb. n.Cum. Der. and w.Som. it has become e. In most Sc. dialects except in the south, it has become a kind of mixed vowel somewhat resembling the e in German Gabe.

(4) u. This vowel has had the same development in Sc. n.Nhb. n.Cum. e. s. and sw.Cy. and in some of the s.Midl. dialects as in the standard language, but in the n.Cy. and many of the n.Midl. dialects O.E. u has generally remained unchanged. In some of the n.Midl. and many of the s.Midl. dialects it has become ù, a sound formed with the lips more open than for u, and which acoustically resembles an o-sound. It should be noted that those dialects which have ɒ or ù, generally also have it in those words where the standard language has u, as in bull, put.

(5) y. This vowel has generally had the same development as in the standard language, but in Ken. e.Sc. and e.An. it has regularly become e, which was a characteristic feature of these dialects already in the M.E. period.

(6) o. In close syllables. This vowel has generally had the same development in the dialects as in the standard language, but in the m.Sc. s.Midl. s. and sw.Cy. dialects there is a tendency to lengthen the vowel in monosyllables, and in some dialects there is also a tendency to change o to a especially before a following p and ft, as shap, tap, craft, lit. Eng. shop, top, croft.

o. In originally open syllables. In the development of this vowel the dialects differ entirely from the standard language. In the southern portions of Yks. and Lan. it has become oi (parallel with the development of e to ei, v. (2) above), but in all the other dialects it has become long close ō or has become diphthongized to uə (often written oə). It should be noted that in Lan. ne.Der. and all the dialects north of the Humber the development of O.E. o in open syllables and O.E. ā is still kept apart, whereas in all the other parts of England the two sounds have fallen together.