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Black Country dialect

January 01, 1970

The Black Country dialect is spoken by many people in the Black Country, a region covering most of the four Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton.[1] The traditional dialect preserves many archaic traits of Early Modern English and even Middle English[2] and may be unintelligible for outsiders. This dialect is distinct from and maintains more traditional characteristics than the dialect of Birmingham, which has been more influenced by standard English due to having been urban for a longer time. It has also influenced the accents of the towns and villages in the counties to the north, south and west of the region.

Black Country dialect
Native toUnited Kingdom
RegionBlack Country
Early forms
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone
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An example of a male speaker from West Bromwich (Frank Skinner).
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Phonology edit

In general, the Black Country dialect has resisted many of the changes from Middle English that are seen in other dialects of British English, resembling particularly Northern English and West Country English.

  • There is no trap-bath split, so there is no /ɑː/ in words like bath, grass, etc., so to rhyme with math(s), gas, etc.
  • Like most British accents (except Received Pronunciation), there are glottal stops.
  • /æ/ is uniformly pronounced as [a].
  • There is no foot-strut split, so that cut rhymes with put, and both use either /ʊ/ or /ɤ/.[3]
  • There is no NG-coalescence, so singer rhymes with finger, with both commonly pronounced with [ŋg~ŋk]. Indeed, the accent can be analysed as lacking the phoneme /ŋ/ with that sound instead being regarded as an allophone of /n/.
  • The Black Country accent is non-rhotic, and draw and drawer are nearly homophones.[4]
  • Final unstressed vowels are further reduced, such as /wɪndə/ for window and /fə/ for far.[5]
  • Final fricative consonants can be voiced and so /s/ is pronounced as [z] and /f/ as [v], for example, bus is pronounced buzz.
  • The LOT vowel is typically realised as being [ɒ] , but is also commonly realised as an unrounded [ä].[6]
  • Many <-ook> words, such as 'book', may keep the historic pronunciation of [uː].[7][8]
  • The FACE vowel is realised as [æɪ].

The general intonation exhibits notable similarities to that of the West Country dialects, characterised by a distinctive undulating contour. However, this contrasts with the Brummie dialect, where intonation is generally monotonous, often descending in tone towards the end of sentences.

Grammar edit

Pronouns thee, thy and thou are still in use, as is the case in parts of Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire. "'Ow B'ist," meaning "How are you?" is a greeting contracted from "How be-est thou?" with the typical answer being "'Bay too bah," ("I be not too bad"), meaning "I am not too bad." "I haven't seen her" becomes "I ay sid 'er." Black Country dialect often uses "ar" where other parts of England use "yes" (this is common as far away as Yorkshire). Similarly, the local version of "you" is pronounced /joʊ/, rhyming with "so."

Among older speakers, ye is used for you, as it is in most northern parts of England and Scotland. It is also common for older speakers to say "Her" instead of "She" ("'Er day did 'ah?", meaning "She didn't did she?"). The local pronunciation "goo" (elsewhere "go") or "gewin'" is similar to that elsewhere in the Midlands. It is quite common for broad Black Country speakers to say "agooin'" where others say "going". This is found in the greeting "Ow b'ist gooin?" (“How are you, How’s it going?”), to which a typical response would be "Bostin ah kid" ("Very well our kid"). Although the term yam yam may come from ya'm (you am),[9] ya/ye is an archaic form of you and in many areas ye (pronounced like yea or ya) is used: "Owamya aer kid? — Ar ah'm owkay ta."

Vocabulary edit

  • "Orroight" = "Alright"
    • Used as a questioning greeting, short for "Am yow orroight?"
  • "Yow" = "You"
  • "Yam" = "You are"
    • From "Yow am" or "Yowm".
    • This is the origin of "Yam Yams", a term designated by "Brummies" for the people from Wolverhampton who use this expression.
  • "Am" = "Are"
  • "Ar" = "Yes"
  • "Arm" = "I'm"
  • "Bin" = "Been", "Are" or "Am"
  • "Bay" = "Not"
  • "Dow" = "Doesn't"
  • "Day" = "Didn't"
  • "Her/'Er" = "She"
  • "Cowin" = "Extremely"
  • "Gewin/Gooin" = "Going"
  • "Thay" = "They"
  • "Oss" = "Horse"
  • "Tekkin" = "Taking"
  • "Cut" = "Canal"
  • "Ay/Ayn" = "Ain't"
  • "Ova" = "Over"
  • "Cud" = "Could"
  • "Cor/Car" = "Cannot"
  • "Wammal" or "Scrammel" = "Dog"
  • "Warra" = "What a"
  • "Worrow" = "Hello"
  • "Wossant" or "War/Wor" = "Wasn't"
    • E.g. "It wor me"
  • "Blartin" = "Crying"
  • "Babbie/Babby" = "Baby"
  • "Me/Mar" = "My"
  • "Kaylied" = "Drunk"
  • "Arl" = "I'll"
  • "Doe" = "Don't"
  • "Tat" = "Junk"
  • "Tattin" = "Collecting scrap metal"
  • "Tatter" = "Scrap collector"
  • "Werk" = "Work"
  • "Loff/Laff" = "Laugh"
  • "Yed" = "Head"
  • "Jed" = "Dead"
  • "Tar" = "Thanks
  • "Ah'm" = "I'm"
  • "Aer Kid" or "Kidda" = A young relative, sibling, or friend
  • "Arr" = "Yes"
  • "Nah" = "No"
  • "Saft" = "Stupid"
  • "Summat" = "Something"
  • "Mekkin" = "Making"
  • "Med" = "Made"
  • "Sayin" = "Saying"
  • "Wench" = "Girlfriend" or "Girl"
  • "Missis" = "Wife"

The neighbouring city of Birmingham may be called "Brum-a-jum" (Birmingham's colloquial name is Brummagem, a corruption of its older name of Bromwicham[10][citation needed] and hence West Bromwich) or Birminam (missing the "g" and "h" out and saying it the way it is spelt). Natives of Birmingham (Brummies) meanwhile often refer to their Black Country neighbours as "Yam Yams", a reference to the use of "yow am" instead of "you are". However its unlikely yam yam comes from yow'm, as the sound is totally different; it's more likely from ye (archaic form of you), as in yer'm, which when said quickly sounds like yam, as in "yam gooin daft" "you're going silly", or "don't be so stupid" in translation. How many still say this ye'm form is unknown. "Ye" for you sounds different from "ya" (which is spoken with a schwa vowel), which also means you. "Yo" can also be used in the same sentence as "ye/ya" e.g. "Yo ay gooin agen am ya?" Some areas also use "yo'me" and "yow'm", depending on location and local dialect, and phrases as with Birmingham can differ from area to area, so there is dialect variation across the Black Country without differing in the basic Black Country words. Quick speech and blended words as in "shutyarow up" (shut your row up, meaning be quiet) can seem hard to understand and can even sound like "shutchowrow up". The blendings are to be thought of as products of Black Country pronunciation, not separate dialectal words.

In popular culture edit

A road sign containing local dialect was placed at the A461/A459/A4037 junction in 1997 before the construction of a traffic island on the site. The sign read, If yowm saft enuff ter cum dahn 'ere agooin wum, yowr tay ull be spile't!!, which means,[11] "If you're soft (stupid) enough to come down here on your way home, your tea will be spoilt".[12][13]

In 2008, an internet video The Black Country Alphabet, described the whole alphabet in Black Country dialect, boosting the dialect's perception.[14]

Authentic recordings edit

The Survey of English Dialects recorded several traditional dialects from in and around the Black Country, which can be heard on the British Library Sound Archive website.

Notes edit

  1. ^ "What and where is the Black Country?". BBC. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  2. ^ Staff and Agencies Wolverhampton researches Black Country dialect Guardian Unlimited, 27 January 2003
  3. ^ Trudgill, P; Chambers, J (1998). Dialectology. p. 110. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511805103. ISBN 9780521593786.
  4. ^ Our changing pronunciation
  5. ^ "Black Country Dialect". Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  6. ^ Manley (1971). p. 31. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ^ Clark, Urszula (2008). Mrs. p. 145.
  8. ^ Hughes, Arthur; Trudgill, Peter (1996). p. 55. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ^ Michael Pearce, “The Ethnonym Geordie in North East England” Names, Vol. 63 No. 2, June 2015, 75-85
  10. ^ The Church Warden's Book of St John's Parish Church, Halesowen, includes an early reference to an amount paid "to the organ builder of Bromwicham".
  11. ^ Dee-Organ (27 January 2003). . Submitresponse.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 September 2006.
  12. ^ Clark 2013, pp. 92–94.
  13. ^ "A collection of weird news stories from around the world". Meldrum.co.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2009.
  14. ^ "Black Country – Entertainment – Watch: The Black Country Alphabet Song". BBC. 15 December 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
  15. ^ "Himley, Staffordshire - Survey of English Dialects - Accents and dialects | British Library - Sounds". sounds.bl.uk. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  16. ^ "Hilton, Shropshire - Survey of English Dialects - Accents and dialects | British Library - Sounds". sounds.bl.uk. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  17. ^ "Romsley, Worcestershire - Survey of English Dialects - Accents and dialects | British Library - Sounds". sounds.bl.uk. Retrieved 24 May 2021.

External links edit

  • Black Country Slang - a collection of Black Country dialect and slang words

References edit

  • Clark, Urszula (2013), Language and Identity in Englishes, Routledge, pp. 92–94, 140, ISBN 9781135904807

Further reading edit

  • Clark, Urszula (2013), West Midlands English: Birmingham and the Black Country, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0748685806
  • Mathisen, Anne Grethe (1999), Foulkes, Paul; Docherty, Gerard (eds.), "Sandwell, West Midlands: ambiguous perspectives on gender patterns and models of change", Urban Voices: Accent Studies in the British Isles, London: Arnold, ISBN 0340706082

January 01, 1970
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia s quality standards The specific problem is Text under Commonly used words requires attention to orthography grammar additional sources would be beneficial Please help improve this article if you can August 2017 Learn how and when to remove this message The Black Country dialect is spoken by many people in the Black Country a region covering most of the four Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley Sandwell Walsall and Wolverhampton 1 The traditional dialect preserves many archaic traits of Early Modern English and even Middle English 2 and may be unintelligible for outsiders This dialect is distinct from and maintains more traditional characteristics than the dialect of Birmingham which has been more influenced by standard English due to having been urban for a longer time It has also influenced the accents of the towns and villages in the counties to the north south and west of the region Black Country dialectNative toUnited KingdomRegionBlack CountryLanguage familyIndo European GermanicWest GermanicIngvaeonicAnglo FrisianAnglicEnglishBritish EnglishWest Midlands EnglishBlack Country dialectEarly formsOld English Mercian Middle English Early Modern EnglishLanguage codesISO 639 3 GlottologNoneThis article contains IPA phonetic symbols Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols instead of Unicode characters For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA Speech example source source source An example of a male speaker from West Bromwich Frank Skinner Problems playing this file See media help Contents 1 Phonology 2 Grammar 3 Vocabulary 4 In popular culture 5 Authentic recordings 6 Notes 7 External links 8 References 9 Further readingPhonology editIn general the Black Country dialect has resisted many of the changes from Middle English that are seen in other dialects of British English resembling particularly Northern English and West Country English There is no trap bath split so there is no ɑː in words like bath grass etc so to rhyme with math s gas etc Like most British accents except Received Pronunciation there are glottal stops ae is uniformly pronounced as a There is no foot strut split so that cut rhymes with put and both use either ʊ or ɤ 3 There is no NG coalescence so singer rhymes with finger with both commonly pronounced with ŋg ŋk Indeed the accent can be analysed as lacking the phoneme ŋ with that sound instead being regarded as an allophone of n The Black Country accent is non rhotic and draw and drawer are nearly homophones 4 Final unstressed vowels are further reduced such as wɪnde for window and fe for far 5 Final fricative consonants can be voiced and so s is pronounced as z and f as v for example bus is pronounced buzz The LOT vowel is typically realised as being ɒ but is also commonly realised as an unrounded a 6 Many lt ook gt words such as book may keep the historic pronunciation of uː 7 8 The FACE vowel is realised as aeɪ The general intonation exhibits notable similarities to that of the West Country dialects characterised by a distinctive undulating contour However this contrasts with the Brummie dialect where intonation is generally monotonous often descending in tone towards the end of sentences Grammar editPronouns thee thy and thou are still in use as is the case in parts of Derbyshire Yorkshire and Lancashire Ow B ist meaning How are you is a greeting contracted from How be est thou with the typical answer being Bay too bah I be not too bad meaning I am not too bad I haven t seen her becomes I ay sid er Black Country dialect often uses ar where other parts of England use yes this is common as far away as Yorkshire Similarly the local version of you is pronounced j oʊ rhyming with so Among older speakers ye is used for you as it is in most northern parts of England and Scotland It is also common for older speakers to say Her instead of She Er day did ah meaning She didn t did she The local pronunciation goo elsewhere go or gewin is similar to that elsewhere in the Midlands It is quite common for broad Black Country speakers to say agooin where others say going This is found in the greeting Ow b ist gooin How are you How s it going to which a typical response would be Bostin ah kid Very well our kid Although the term yam yam may come from ya m you am 9 ya ye is an archaic form of you and in many areas ye pronounced like yea or ya is used Owamya aer kid Ar ah m owkay ta Vocabulary edit Orroight Alright Used as a questioning greeting short for Am yow orroight Yow You Yam You are From Yow am or Yowm This is the origin of Yam Yams a term designated by Brummies for the people from Wolverhampton who use this expression Am Are Ar Yes Arm I m Bin Been Are or Am Bay Not Dow Doesn t Day Didn t Her Er She Cowin Extremely Gewin Gooin Going Thay They Oss Horse Tekkin Taking Cut Canal Ay Ayn Ain t Ova Over Cud Could Cor Car Cannot Wammal or Scrammel Dog Warra What a Worrow Hello Wossant or War Wor Wasn t E g It wor me Blartin Crying Babbie Babby Baby Me Mar My Kaylied Drunk Arl I ll Doe Don t Tat Junk Tattin Collecting scrap metal Tatter Scrap collector Werk Work Loff Laff Laugh Yed Head Jed Dead Tar Thanks Ah m I m Aer Kid or Kidda A young relative sibling or friend Arr Yes Nah No Saft Stupid Summat Something Mekkin Making Med Made Sayin Saying Wench Girlfriend or Girl Missis Wife The neighbouring city of Birmingham may be called Brum a jum Birmingham s colloquial name is Brummagem a corruption of its older name of Bromwicham 10 citation needed and hence West Bromwich or Birminam missing the g and h out and saying it the way it is spelt Natives of Birmingham Brummies meanwhile often refer to their Black Country neighbours as Yam Yams a reference to the use of yow am instead of you are However its unlikely yam yam comes from yow m as the sound is totally different it s more likely from ye archaic form of you as in yer m which when said quickly sounds like yam as in yam gooin daft you re going silly or don t be so stupid in translation How many still say this ye m form is unknown Ye for you sounds different from ya which is spoken with a schwa vowel which also means you Yo can also be used in the same sentence as ye ya e g Yo ay gooin agen am ya Some areas also use yo me and yow m depending on location and local dialect and phrases as with Birmingham can differ from area to area so there is dialect variation across the Black Country without differing in the basic Black Country words Quick speech and blended words as in shutyarow up shut your row up meaning be quiet can seem hard to understand and can even sound like shutchowrow up The blendings are to be thought of as products of Black Country pronunciation not separate dialectal words In popular culture editA road sign containing local dialect was placed at the A461 A459 A4037 junction in 1997 before the construction of a traffic island on the site The sign read If yowm saft enuff ter cum dahn ere agooin wum yowr tay ull be spile t which means 11 If you re soft stupid enough to come down here on your way home your tea will be spoilt 12 13 In 2008 an internet video The Black Country Alphabet described the whole alphabet in Black Country dialect boosting the dialect s perception 14 Authentic recordings editThe Survey of English Dialects recorded several traditional dialects from in and around the Black Country which can be heard on the British Library Sound Archive website G Brooke b 1888 market gardener from Himley Staffordshire in the Black Country 15 Snead Ted b 1881 retired farm labourer from Hilton Shropshire a few miles west of the Black Country 16 William Wagstaffe b 1876 retired labourer and smallholder from Romsley Worcestershire a few miles south of the Black Country 17 Notes edit What and where is the Black Country BBC Retrieved 28 May 2014 Staff and Agencies Wolverhampton researches Black Country dialect Guardian Unlimited 27 January 2003 Trudgill P Chambers J 1998 Dialectology p 110 doi 10 1017 CBO9780511805103 ISBN 9780521593786 Our changing pronunciation Black Country Dialect Retrieved 28 January 2015 Manley 1971 p 31 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a Missing or empty title help Clark Urszula 2008 Mrs p 145 Hughes Arthur Trudgill Peter 1996 p 55 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a Missing or empty title help Michael Pearce The Ethnonym Geordie in North East England Names Vol 63 No 2 June 2015 75 85 The Church Warden s Book of St John s Parish Church Halesowen includes an early reference to an amount paid to the organ builder of Bromwicham Dee Organ 27 January 2003 The Black Country Submitresponse co uk Archived from the original on 24 September 2006 Clark 2013 pp 92 94 A collection of weird news stories from around the world Meldrum co uk Retrieved 2 June 2009 Black Country Entertainment Watch The Black Country Alphabet Song BBC 15 December 2008 Retrieved 7 July 2011 Himley Staffordshire Survey of English Dialects Accents and dialects British Library Sounds sounds bl uk Retrieved 24 May 2021 Hilton Shropshire Survey of English Dialects Accents and dialects British Library Sounds sounds bl uk Retrieved 24 May 2021 Romsley Worcestershire Survey of English Dialects Accents and dialects British Library Sounds sounds bl uk Retrieved 24 May 2021 External links editBlack Country Slang a collection of Black Country dialect and slang wordsReferences editClark Urszula 2013 Language and Identity in Englishes Routledge pp 92 94 140 ISBN 9781135904807Further reading editClark Urszula 2013 West Midlands English Birmingham and the Black Country Edinburgh University Press ISBN 978 0748685806 Mathisen Anne Grethe 1999 Foulkes Paul Docherty Gerard eds Sandwell West Midlands ambiguous perspectives on gender patterns and models of change Urban Voices Accent Studies in the British Isles London Arnold ISBN 0340706082 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Black Country dialect amp oldid 1194543474, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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