A Frenchman once said to me, ‘I could understand you English people, if you did not speak so quickly.’ Aye, just so, and so would many another body from other counties understand a great deal of what our country folk say if each word was uttered separately, but with us, as in standard English, very frequently no pause is made between commas; so the difficulty increases tenfold, when a stranger strives to follow a fairly classical dalesman or woman. Take, for instance, a few words which the other day I heard a woman shout across a village street to her daughter. Firstly, as they sounded when uttered, then the same as they would be written, and thirdly, the translation.
As spoken. Teggattenlaadsitwinner.
As written. T’ egg at t’ ‘en laad’s i’ t’ winner[99].
Standard English. The egg (that) the hen laid is in the window.
Number.
This, with only a few exceptions, follows the ordinary rule of grammar.
Case.
The possessive case is noted elsewhere.
Gender.
The same as in standard English, with this slight deviation: many things which are neuter are spoken of as being of the feminine gender. Ex.—‘Sha’s a fine stack;’ ‘Sha’s a bit rough ti-daay,’ speaking of the sea; ‘Sha’s gitten a fine bole on her,’ speaking of an oak. There can be no rule given for guidance, because in a compound sentence the same noun is sometimes both feminine and neuter. A man speaking of his watch said, ‘It’s yan ov t’ best ’at Ah ivver ’ed; sha’s a good un,’ i.e. ‘It is one of the best that I ever had; she is a good one.’