LL-L "Phonology" 2004.08.19 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 19.AUG.2004 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: John Duckworth <jcduckworth2003 at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Phonology


Ron asked:

"In the British soap opera "Coronation Street," the character Janice
(former wife of Les) says "care" as though written "cur," "bear" as though
written "bur," "stare" as though written "stir," etc.  What sort of a
dialect
is that?"

You seem to be paying close attention to the interrelationships of the
"Coronation Street" characters, Ron!

I think local dialects in England have been worn down so much that it is
often difficult to place an accent or a dialectal use. Janice's dialect /
accent actually reminds me very much of our local Preston dialect, but a
variety of it which is dying out.Vick Entwistle, who plays Janice Battersby
in the soap is actually from Accrington, which isn't far from Preston.

The way the character moves her mouth when she speaks actually reminds me of
older Lancashire women who worked all their lives in the cotton mills. The
cotton mills were very noisy places, but the women didn't want the machinery
to stop them from chatting; consequently they all developed a habit of
talking very loudly, as well as an uncanny ability to lipread. In order to
facilitate lipreading, they would move their mouths more vigorously when
enunciating sounds. These habits remained with them for life, whether in the
factories or out, and it used to be amusing sometimes when they would shout
out three quarters of a sentence and then silenty mouth the ending -
especially if it concerned something normally kept from children or
strangers!

Bruce Jones, the actor who plays Les Battersby - Janice's husband - comes
from Manchester, so his accent is a bona fide Manchester accent.

John Duckworth
Preston, UK

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From: D.M.Pennington <dmpmos at hotmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2004.08.18 (07) [E]

Aye!

It's Lancashire all reet.

Like "Hur over thur wi' the fur hur is me wahf!"

("Her over there with the fair hair is my wife!")

I often baffle the Russians here in Moscow with my pronunciation of "Russia"
in which the "russ" is pronounced as do the Germans in "Russland".

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From: Bill Wigham <redbilly2 at earthlink.net>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2004.08.18 (07) [E]

     It has been written that there are three New England accents that were
brought over directly
from England.  Now one has a hard time finding examples of each.  I recall
one woman who grew up in North central Massachusetts (her family had been
there since the first English settlers arrived from the coast)  She had an
odd of speaking.  The word "calm" came out of her as "carm", and the town of
"Palmer" (MA) was Parmer.
 She did not otherwise have an impediment in her speach, nor was she
especially eccentric, despite the terrible inbreeding that occurred in the
then frontier towns of New England.  My question is: Is there a dialect of
Old CountryEnglish that favors the "R" over the "L"?

 And while we are at it, where did the Yankee word for yes come from?  I
used to hear people in normal conversation around Providence (RI) and
Springfield (MA) using "Ay-Yuh" for yes, but now you have to go to the
northern three New England states to hear it, thanks to the abominable TV.

Cheers,
Bill Wigham

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