jutfrank
VIP Member
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- England
- Current Location
- England
I've started a new thread here to answer the request below from GoesStation, in the hope that others may similarly wish to describe some of the features they feel to be generic of their own dialect.
Okay, I searched around quite a lot and the best I could come up with is this recording of two kids speaking in 1999. It should be noted that the way they are speaking is very different from the MLE that is widespread nowadays across London. I chose this particular recording because it's a great example of the South London accent used at that time. I highlight below the dialectic features that I think are typical of (if not unique to) this particular speech group.
0:08 Using I got for 'I've got'.
1:05 Using an 'f' sound for an unvoiced 'th' sound, such as in phrases like 'sort o' fing' (sort of thing) and a 'v' sound for a voiced 'th':
[I] buy some fings wiv it.
1:09 Using and that as a filler. This is incredibly common, as you'll hear by how often these kids use it. It might appear to outsiders to mean something like and so on or and stuff, (which it can) but it's more often than not almost completely meaningless. Check out this exchange:
Who buys you all of those things?
Me mum and that
Do you have to nag them?
Yeah, sometimes. I get pocket money and I get money in the week and that
2:31 Using none for 'any' in negative sentences:
How much pocket money do you get?
I don't get none
3:20 Using what sounds like int or ent as an all-purpose auxiliary. This is different from the more drawn out Cockney version 'ain't'.
I ent spent that yet
3:50 Using what instead of 'that' in defining relative clauses:
It's just a club what goes on on a Friday
4:38 Conjugating first person singular with third person 's'. This is an interesting one, as it's not very common. Even these kids rarely do it, but you can hear Sam answer the interviewer:
What sorts of thing do you do at the weekends? Sam?
Normally, I just goes ... I 'ave a ... I stay around my area. I go up me nan's or go swimming or bowling or cinema or summin(k) like that
You can also notice here the use of prepositions—using up to mean 'to' and also dropping 'to the' after the verb 'go'. Also, from Sam, at 4:57:
... and sometimes I go pictures and bowlin' or summink wiv me friends.
and from Jordan at 5:38:
When I went Greenwich swimmin' baths wiv me friends ...
I'll stress again that this particular speech form is characteristically quite distinct from Cockney (listen to the actor Danny Dyer here), which is traditionally spoken in East London (although it shares many of its features) and completely unlike the modern MLE. Traditional North London dialect is also quite distinct, to a Londoner at least.
Can you post some links to recordings of people speaking your native dialect?
Okay, I searched around quite a lot and the best I could come up with is this recording of two kids speaking in 1999. It should be noted that the way they are speaking is very different from the MLE that is widespread nowadays across London. I chose this particular recording because it's a great example of the South London accent used at that time. I highlight below the dialectic features that I think are typical of (if not unique to) this particular speech group.
0:08 Using I got for 'I've got'.
1:05 Using an 'f' sound for an unvoiced 'th' sound, such as in phrases like 'sort o' fing' (sort of thing) and a 'v' sound for a voiced 'th':
[I] buy some fings wiv it.
1:09 Using and that as a filler. This is incredibly common, as you'll hear by how often these kids use it. It might appear to outsiders to mean something like and so on or and stuff, (which it can) but it's more often than not almost completely meaningless. Check out this exchange:
Who buys you all of those things?
Me mum and that
Do you have to nag them?
Yeah, sometimes. I get pocket money and I get money in the week and that
2:31 Using none for 'any' in negative sentences:
How much pocket money do you get?
I don't get none
3:20 Using what sounds like int or ent as an all-purpose auxiliary. This is different from the more drawn out Cockney version 'ain't'.
I ent spent that yet
3:50 Using what instead of 'that' in defining relative clauses:
It's just a club what goes on on a Friday
4:38 Conjugating first person singular with third person 's'. This is an interesting one, as it's not very common. Even these kids rarely do it, but you can hear Sam answer the interviewer:
What sorts of thing do you do at the weekends? Sam?
Normally, I just goes ... I 'ave a ... I stay around my area. I go up me nan's or go swimming or bowling or cinema or summin(k) like that
You can also notice here the use of prepositions—using up to mean 'to' and also dropping 'to the' after the verb 'go'. Also, from Sam, at 4:57:
... and sometimes I go pictures and bowlin' or summink wiv me friends.
and from Jordan at 5:38:
When I went Greenwich swimmin' baths wiv me friends ...
I'll stress again that this particular speech form is characteristically quite distinct from Cockney (listen to the actor Danny Dyer here), which is traditionally spoken in East London (although it shares many of its features) and completely unlike the modern MLE. Traditional North London dialect is also quite distinct, to a Londoner at least.
Last edited: