Different English Dialects in England Survive

Hi I just want to present to you the texts that come from different dialects that are still spoken and written in England.

I wish somebody in this forum have a heart to translate them to me. They're such beautiful literary pieces.

Lancastrian
========
Oi'm a poor cotton-weyver, as mony a one knoowas*,
Oi've nout for t'year, an' oi've word eawt my clooas,
Yo'ad hardly gi' tuppence for aw as oi've on,
My clogs are both brosten, an stuckings oi've none,
Yu'd think it wur hard,
To be browt into th' warld,
To be clemmed, an' do th' best as yo' con.

East Anglian
========
Now, I wu’t afreard o’ noo-one,
An’ they wu’t afreard o’ me,
But I never loiked a thunderstorm,
What come in orf the sea.

Mother’d cover up the mirra,
Put away the forks an’ knives,
I’d git all fraught and flummoxed,
Under the tearble I would dive.

From the searfty o’ that ole tearble
I’d stay ’til the storm hed gorn,
Peepin’ out from under the tearbleclorth,
With its edges all freard an’ worn.

Mother larfed: “Now, dun’t yew worry,”
An’ just to alay my fears,
She’d tell me: “Tha’s on'y that there ole man,
Wha’s movin’ farniture upstairs.”

“Oh boy; yew are pathetic,”
She sear t’ me one day,
“For when yew’re old enuff fur skule,
They’ll larf if yew act that way.”

Now I hen’t bin at skule a half a week,
When a storm cearme in orf the sea,
That loightnin’ flashed, that thundered loud,
An’ hooly froightened me.

On addin’ I coon’t concentrearte,
Nor tearkin’ away too,
I wus gittin’ in a parlous stearte,
But I knew what I hatta dew.

Shovin’ my hand up in th’ air,
“I feel sick,” I began t’ shout,
The teacha wearved her hand at me,
An’ sear: “Dew yew git out!”

I ran acrorst the plearground,
Gittin’ sodden by the rearn,
My breath all cearme a-gaspin’,
Until I wuz home agearn.

The mirra wus all covered up,
The knives and forks hed gorn,
But I wuz searfe under the tearbleclorth,
Who cares if that wuz worn!

Mother sear: “What are yew doin’?”
“Yew’re nothin’ but a fule,”
She clipped my lug, that hoolly smart,
An’ clawed me back t’ skule!

Quantcast

East Midlands
=========
Tahn o' me both,
Me stee worna long enough,
To mark t' local istry boek,
Me peerents worna frum thee,
An' me childer sull non walk in tha failds,
As ah done in a blink o' thine eyes,
What sempt an etairnal childhood,
A bond ah thoet unbrekable,
Were brok terdee.

Northwest England
=============
Well, me name is Ike Mozus an I av me own pawnshop,
An if yeh don believe me, well me name is on de top.
A man came inte me shop, one day, a coat ee wanted te buy,
A found‘im one, for seven an six, try i’on, says I,
Ee trys i’on, i’was just is fit an ee went te walk away,
So I taps‘im on de shoulder sayin man yeh berra pay.
Ee turns around, an looks a’me, up with his fist ee flew,
Ee doubles me up in de corner sayin dats de place fe you,
I shouted for a cop, ee said man yeh berra stop,
or der’ll be an execution, in yeh own pawnshop.


Northeast of England
==============
Yi wont ti see the job a mayd
Iv the fence, norra spays o ridge.
Mind, a used it leest ten times thi paint
Thit thi used on the haiy Levil Bridge.

Burra payntid iverythin a saw,
Owt thats unda Gods grayt sky,
Stray cats n dogs. Eny weshin oot,
But maistly passas by.

Noo on a neet, loads a foaks cum aroond
Is the sun starts gerrin lo.
Berra by far than thi ayngil o sayge
Is the Leam in its briyt orange glow.

The € letter in those dialects looks cool.

Apart from the unintended "€" symbols (different keyboard character codes used, methinks), the sample texts are perfectly intelligible and easy to decipher if you voice them out loud.

I'm a poor cotton weaver, as many a one knows,
I've nowt (nothing, ie broke) for the year, and I've wored (worn) out my clothes,
You'd hardly give me tuppence for all as I have [got] on,
My clogs (shoes) are both broken, and stockings I have none,
You'd think it were hard,
To be brought into the world,
To be hungry (starved or starving), and to do the best you can.

The flow and rythm of the speech gives you a part of the meaning of the text. The context gives you a rough idea of what the colloquialisms mean.

Woi ees tha spilling distawrtid? Oi keen destawrt moi spilling tew and vwahla, oive got moiseelf a nieew doialeekt.

In other words, aren't they just writing the text "as it sounds"? That is, their only displaying that it's spoken in another ACCENT, not another DIALECT. An accent is not a dialect.

but the OP called it right.

Pronunciation of words is a direct result of both accent, and of dialect. However, dialect entails something more: vocabulary, grammar, word usage, etc and not just the sounds of the words themselves.

"Why is the spelling distorted? I can distort my spelling too and viola, I've got myself a new dialect."

This isn't really a proper dialect attempt since it follows the speach patterns of "standard English" with a pronunciation emphasis.

Add an "ee bah gum!" somewhere in the above sentence might help.

<<The mirra wus all covered up,
The knives and forks hed gorn,
But I wuz searfe under the tearbleclorth,
Who cares if that wuz worn! >>


That is not how the actual people who speak this "dialect" would spell it. They would write instead:

The mirror was all covered up,
The knives and forks had gone,
But I was safer under the tablecloth,
Who cares if that was worn!

The above text would sound exactly the same when read by the "dialect" speaker. In the distorted version the spelling is basically written in a way that conveys the accent to an outsider (kaind ov laik glorifaid txt speek). However, it is still standard English.

This does however raise an interesting question: is the accent essential to the poetry? Does it need to be read in that accent for it to sound right? It seems like it must be, otherwise they would have just written the second version...

yeah, i was gonna say. i don't think they actually spell like that. maybe it's how they sound like though