麻豆社

If it wasn't for the Vikings...

Tyke: It's all the Vikings' fault (sort of)

The Vikings arrived in the 9th Century and carved the county up into 'thrithings' or thirds. These 'Thirds' would later be called the North, East and West Ridings. These administrative boundaries remained intact for well over one thousand years.

In 1974 they were abolished but although the old county lines may have been broken up and consigned to the history books in terms of mapping and local authority control, they still continue to exist on a much more subtle level - by virtue of our local dialect, in other words: what we say and how we say it!

Each Riding appears to have its own specific form of dialect. The West Riding dialect is considered to have a hard, almost brash sound to it. This is seen by some as a reflection of the hardships endured by those employed within the mills.

The North and East Ridings by comparison are seen as having a much softer spoken dialect, quite possibly because it was used by farmers and others from tiny rural communities.

There is little doubt that there are certain differences and this can be seen in the following examples:

A good example of the hard and soft sound that differentiates the West and North/East Ridings is the word 'father'. In the West Riding it's pronounced 'fatther,' which is quite hard. Whereas people from the North/East Ridings pronounce it much softer as in, 'feyther,' or 'faather'.

There are other differences too. A West Riding person intending to go somewhere would say, 'bahn ter'. If they were from the North Riding, they'd most likely say 'off ti.'

However, there's one peculiarity of our regional dialect that is common in all three regions. Regarded by some an absolute treasure, it's known as the 'glottal stop.' Countless outsiders fail miserably when they try to execute the glottal stop, quite simply 'flummoxed' by this most Yorkshire of things!

To better understand it, let's take the term "There was a right bang in the night." If we then 'Yorkshire' this up, we end up with 'Ther worra reyt bang in t' neyt.' Pronounced correctly (ie Tyke!), the "t'" of "t' neyt" remains silent and the throat tightens slightly, acting as an unspoken marker for the word 'the.'

The three Ridings also share a similar use of what's known as subject pronoun. In the phrase "we talk", 'we' is the subject pronoun.

"Ah know't":I know it
"Tha shunt": You shouldn't (Usually thoo in N or E Riding)
"'E worra reyt 'un!": He was a right one!
"Wi laiked abaht": We played about
"Yer's lot are forrit": You lot are in trouble
"The wo bawlin'all t'neyt": They were crying all night

For anyone interested in finding out more about the Yorkshire dialect, quite a few books have been written on the subject. You can also find a lot on the internet and there are even societies devoted to all things dialectic. The University of Leeds continues to support links with the Yorkshire Dialect Society and there are regular meetings throughout West Yorkshire and beyond.

However, despite all of the above it's a shame to say that there's little doubt that the local dialect is on the wane. It's really sad that the people of Yorkshire can't use formal speech for work and business and revert to a more natural, more entertaining brogue for home and entertainment.

But that, I suppose, is the price we pay for progress and our place in the Global Village...