East Midlands English

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In the East Midlands of England, (Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire (and Northamptonshire, see below) a dialect is spoken which is often mistaken for the Yorkshire or Tyke dialect, due to similarities with accents in the southern parts of Yorkshire. Traditionally it is spoken in those parts of Mercia lying East of Watling Street (the A5 London - Shrewsbury Road).

Like that of Yorkshire, the East Midlands dialect owes much of its grammar and vocabulary to Nordic influences, the region having been incorporated in the Norse controlled Danelaw in the late 9th century. For example, the East Midlands word scraight ('to cry') is thought to be derived from the Norse, skrike in modern Scandinavian, also meaning to cry.[1]

Though spoken less commonly today, the dialect of the East Midlands has been investigated in notable texts such as the affectionately titled Ey Up Mi Duck[2] series of books (and an LP) by Richard Scollins and John Titford. "Ey Up" is a greeting of uncertain origin used widely throughout the North Midlands and South Yorkshire, and "Mi Duck" is thought to be derived from a respectful Anglo Saxon form of address, "Duka" (Literally "Duke"), and is unrelated to waterfowl. Non-natives of the East Midlands are often surprised to hear men greet each other as 'Mi Duck.' [3]

One interesting difference between accents in the East Midlands and those in the southern parts of Yorkshire is to do with the use of was and were. Midlanders tend to always use was, even when Standard English dictates were; Yorkshire folk tend to always use were, even when Standard English dictates was.

The romantic English novelist, and East Midlander, D. H. Lawrence who was from the Nottinghamshire town of Eastwood wrote in the dialect of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Coalfield in several dialect poems as well as in his more famous works such as Lady Chatterley's Lover and Sons and Lovers. [4]

Although in the East Midlands, Northamptonshire dialect is influenced by the dialects of East Anglia, the West Midlands and the South. Its dialect is perhaps best classed as East Anglian. In the northern part of the county, the dialect of Corbian is spoken. [5]

Contents 1 Dialect Words 2 Grammar 2.1 Formal address 2.2 Personal pronouns 2.3 Reflexive pronouns 3 External links 3.1 East Midlands Dialect in Literature 4 Counties in which East Midlands English is Spoken

[edit] Dialect Words

In recent years, humorous texts such as Nottingham, As it is spoke[6] have combined phonetically spelt standard English words together in order to deliberately confuse non-natives to the region. However, there are many words in use in the traditional East Midlands Dialect which do not appear in standard English. The short list below is by no means exhaustive. More comprehensive 'dictionaries' exist within texts such as Ey Up Mi Duck by Richards Scollins and John Titford.

ay up! / ey up! a common greeting cob a bread roll (bap) gleg to look jitty/jetty alleyway larup to cover with mash to make a cup of tea nesh a weak person, or one who feels the cold puther to pour out uncontrollably

rammel rubbish/waste scraight to cry snap lunch/food snidered covered twitchel alleyway tabs ears yawp / yorp to shout

[edit] Grammar

Those who speak traditional regional dialects are not trying to speak Standard English and failing. East Midlands English follows a series of distinct gramatical rules. Some examples follow below.

[edit] Formal address

Up until the mid 20th century it was not uncommon to hear the use of informal forms of address, Thee and Thou, as compared to the more formal Yo or You. Use of the informal form of address is now uncommon in modern speech.

[edit] Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns differ from standard english as follows;

yorn yours mine mine

theirn theirs ourn ours

Example "It eent theirn it's ourn!" (It isn't theirs, it's ours!)

[edit] Reflexive pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are characterised by the replacement of Self with 'Sen' (From Middle English seluen)

Y'usen - Yourself, Mesen - Myself, Thisens - Themselves/Yourselves, Ussens - Ourselves

Example "We s'll ay to do it ussens." (We shall have to do it ourselves)

[edit] External links

[edit] East Midlands Dialect in Literature

• The Dialect Poems of DH Lawrence

• Dialect Poems from the English regions

• Dialect in the East Midlands - BBC East Midlands

[edit] Counties in which East Midlands English is Spoken

• Derbyshire
• Leicestershire
• Lincolnshire
• Nottinghamshire
• Rutland