Cumbria & Yorkshire - An Older Dialect Comparison

All recordings are from the Orton dialect survey, available on the British library website (along with several other interesting ones).
Gibson, Alexander 1891. The folk-speech of Cumberland and some districts adjacent. London: Bemrose & Sons.
The guide on Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/Cumbrian-Lan...
The free version online: issuu.com/simonroperr/docs/cu...
(Let me know if there are any issues accessing either version)

[@cartervames3296]

On the Wikipedia page for the Cumbrian dialect there's a clip of Simon speaking Cumbrian!

[@Fummy007]

Now thats interesting

[@lennutrajektoor]

Had to check it myself I'm not recursing. ;)

[@meowcula]

so there is! He's an authority to be sure.

[@cartervames3296]

@Timothy jones wat

[@thelstanedwardsson4374]

I saw that too...

[@lauralittle6021]

As a west Cumbrian I can understand the first woman perfectly. My husband who grew up 10 miles from me hasn't got a clue

[@charliestephenson2391]

Aye she sounds a lot like my family

[@joeynyesss1286]

had 0 clue what she was saying

[@juliewilson6636]

My auntie used to describe her skin tag ( i was only 4 or 5 so openly asked what it was) she described it as wickwams for ducks to peeak on. Many thanks as knows peeak was perch but still no idea of the wickwam word. They were farmers in early 1900 silsden skipton area. I recognise many of the words used in your clips. Keep up the good work. We are now in nz, my accent has to be reduced so as the locals understand us 😁

[@amysommerfield2069]

As an American, I also have absolutely NO CLUE. The second example was much easier to follow. I could have a conversation with him.

[@barnsleyman32]

i think the americans saying they don't understand the cumbrian in this video is a perfect example of dialect continuum, i'm from lancashire and understood (almost) every word, very cool

[@tomrogue13]

That's very neat. The yorkshire speakers were much easier for me

[@Automatik234]

I'm not even an english native speaker, but I understood most of it. Probably my interest in dialects and being familiar with multiple german dialects and therefore different shapes and shared patterns of germanic languages.

[@TheMichaelK]

In Germany typically the people from northern Germany have trouble understanding different variations / dialects of the German language. That is because the people in northern Germany originally spoke Saxon (which is usually called Low Saxon or Low German today) but switched to Standard High German in the last 1-3 centuries - at first being mostly bilingual, but then many dropped their Low Saxon. And their adopted Standard High German has little variation compared to the High German dialects of central and southern Germany, as well as Austria and Switzerland. And so people from northern Germany usually have much more trouble understanding the southern dialects even though they adopted the southern High(land) German in favor of their Low(land) German / Saxon. My point is - in linguistics they say northern Germany was colonized linguistically. And that makes the situation a bit similar to the UK / US comparison.

[@Automatik234]

@@TheMichaelK That makes a lot of sense. I guess, Southern Germany and Austria are currently in the process of adopting standard german, while losing their dialects. Younger people speak more and more like on german TV and their origin is becoming harder to trace, linguistically.

[@figaroblue1]

same here, I'm also from Lancashire and understood it pretty much. maybe closer to Lancashire than Yorkshire

[@UnknownFork]

As a speaker of American English, Cumbrian sounds like a completely different language to me

[@primalaspie]

I can understand it to an extent, but once I try figuring out specifics, I'm screwed.

[@bigscarysteve]

I thought I could understand about half of it, but when Simon went over some of the specific details, I discovered that I didn't understand even that much. Unfortunately, the closed captioning he referenced doesn't seem to be there.

[@simonroper9218]

@@bigscarysteve Sorry about that - should be available now! :)

[@bigscarysteve]

@@simonroper9218 Thanks!

[@chitlitlah]

The regional dialects of the United States don't compare to those across England, much less those across Britain. It's really interesting. Some of the speech in the video reminded me of the Pink Floyd song Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict.

[@Gramayr]

It's not thou, it's tha. If you use thou, you'll get "Don't thee thou me. Thee thouest them that thouest thee." Thou is reserved for someone you're close to, family or close friends. A stranger shouldn't use 'thou' as they aren't acquainted.. 'appen tha'll be reet.

[@Fenditokesdialect]

"dooan't thee thee-thaa me, tha thee-thaas them at thee-thaas thee!" We dooan't toke like bleeadin Shekspeare wi his -est nonsense

[@michaelaaylott1686]

Thinking about prepositions, my grandma was born in Wales in 1899 (not a Welsh speaker) and one of her little jokes if you happened to ask “what did he die of?” was to answer “he died of a Thursday”

[@GdotWdot]

In Polish we have this old political joke - "-Na co umarł Stalin? -Na szczęście!" ("-How did Stalin die? -Fortunately!") The first sentence more literally means "What did Stalin succumb to?" while the second means "For good fortune" and can express both causality (something has luckily happened, preventing an unfavourable outcome) and purpose (doing something in order to ensure good things in the future). They are linked by the same preposition 'na', which literally means "on" or "on top" but is kind of a catch-all default preposition.

[@whatkatydid7901]

When I was a child in West Lancashire a common saying was ‘what did your last one die of?’ It was used if you asked someone else to get up do something for you cause you were being lazy, like put the light on or shut the door for example. The meaning was ‘what did your last servant die of’, because in being lazy and asking someone else to do it for you, you were treating them like a servant. I’m in my 40s, so not that long ago, but I’m not sure anyone would still say it now. Another common one was ‘were you born in a barn’, if you came into a room and left the door open, thus creating a draft.😂

[@neilbuckley1613]

@@whatkatydid7901 Living on the outskirts of Manchester both those phrases are still in use though the word servant is explicitly stated round here.

[@justspacegoatfarts]

@@whatkatydid7901 i say it to me kids

[@leslieaustin151]

@@whatkatydid7901 My parents were from Kent (Dad) and rural Worcestershire (Mum), and they both used those expressions, as do my sisters and myself. I’m nearly 75, but I’m sure both sayings are still current and widespread. Les

[@th8257]

"het" survives in modern English in the phrase to get "all het up" about something

[@gavinparks5386]

In Scotland we'd say " back het chips" for reheated chips. If a cow is over fed with grain based concentrates , her rumen will over acidify , and her feet may swell and become inflamed and tender . her feet will be " het ". Awkward sods are said to be " aye agin the government" . Something that is supreme , is " abin them aw".

[@ottohardwick5323]

@@gavinparks5386 Not to be confused with "a bucket of chips"?

[@user-bh4rx8mf8g]

@@gavinparks5386 "het" for heat is used in the East Anglian dialect, derived from the quenching of smithed iron or steel and its boiling reaction in the water being compared to a flustered person getting "het up" about something. The derivation and origin (at least in East Anglia) is discussed in George Ewart Evans's book 'Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay'.

[@justbuxton]

P

[@deereeid1290]

In Scotland "Het" means "Hot"

[@kidsnewschannel6003]

I was born in Georgia (USA), in the foothills of the Appalachians. I remember as a child in the 1980’s hearing very old folk speak much older dialects that sounded similar to this.

[@whatkatydid7901]

I’ve watched quite a few videos about Appalachian dialect on KZbin, and to me it sounds very similar to how older folk sounded when I was growing up in Lancashire in the 1980s. A lot of the colloquial words are the same as my Grandparents used (if any of them were still alive they would’ve been around 100 years old now). I love listening to it, cause sadly that accent doesn’t really exist here anymore and a lot of those words have died out. It transports me back to being a little girl and listening intently to older relatives because it sounded like they were talking a different language! Fascinating.

[@GUITARTIME2024]

@@whatkatydid7901 when i went to the UK a while ago (I'm from the American South), I got a kick out of hearing little bits of what became the American Southern accents. hearing a brit say "reckon" is so funny.

[@antonycharnock2993]

@@GUITARTIME2024 "Can tha reckon it oop fo mi" Can you add it up for me is very Yorkshire. My mum asks me to do this every time we go shopping.

[@bogwoppit792]

If you check out the Border Rievers, these were powerful families that raided off each other (cattle, food, money, kidnapping) in the Scottish and English borderlands. Like a mafia wars during the times when the english and scottish crowns were not unified. When King James unified the crowns, he kicked out the Rieving clans to Ulster, Northern Ireland where they didn't settle that well. So they ended up in the "New World" aswell as the Irish Scots.

[@kikiholland3695]

"Don' git het up!"

[@joancox6065]

Cooper Peacock is actually saying ' when the war was on you could never get anything like that'.

[@Golden-Fleece]

I was in a video call with a group of people I didn't know recently and asked one speaker which part of Northern England he was from, as I couldn't quite place the accent. He turned out to be Swedish...

[@ServirLeRoi]

In my part of West Yorkshire, we say `stoo-an` for `stone`, and `oyle` for `hole`... and `skoo-il` for `school.

[@ashildrdorchadon3258]

I've heard some o that, too. It aren't common in my area, but I hear it if I go into one of the bigger cities like Leeds.

[@levimcglinchey5843]

Ar's never 'eard me dialect dissected befower, this weer crackin. That first lady sounds a lot like my grandmother.

[@zak8475]

Hearing the Yorkshire ones was really strange, I could really hear how the dialects directly influenced my grandparents. They sounded like a mix between a modern Yorkshire accent and this, so weird. Almost felt like I was hearing my grandparents parents or even my grandparents grandparents speak.

[@erikdalna211]

My wife is from a West Yorkshire village and heard her granddad too.

[@lewisham]

Are accents/dialects changing so quickly there?

[@girv98]

@@lewisham it depends on location, class etc. Where I'm from, I and a lot of the younger generation speak much less "broad" than our elders (though still distinctively yorkshire). But if you were to go further into the city or out to the countryside you'd hear stronger accents

[@bird6691]

@@lewisham people say I have a posh accent rather than Yorkshire, I'm from North Yorkshire. I sound nothing like my gran. The accent has definitely changed considerably

[@jamesanderson3633]

Aye as frae west cumbria but I've got relatives frae't east and they sound really similar to't Yorkshire yans

[@user-td4do3op2d]

It was probably worth mentioning that the Yorkshire speaker was from a location very close to Cumbria. Someone from South Yorkshire would speak quite differently.

[@JamieBettison]

Indeed - I am from Sheffield and could only really understand what he was saying when I could see the IPA!

[@sethoflagos2880]

I was brought up in a farming village in the vale of York, and even back in the day, when we met the Dales farmers at market we could only pick up the odd word here and there when they spoke between themselves. Anglian stock vs Norsemen. Most Wessies came up from the black country with the opening of the Yorkshire coalfields so they spoke something entirely different (like putting a hard aspirated g in the middle of 'bangers'. Dead giveaway)

[@user-td4do3op2d]

@@sethoflagos2880 What's a wessie?

[@sethoflagos2880]

@@user-td4do3op2d West Riding.

[@whatkatydid7901]

I’m originally from West Lancashire but now live in East Yorkshire (although not that far from York). North Yorkshire isn’t too dissimilar to Lancashire, but East Yorkshire is a whole different thing. I often get lost in translation!

[@patm407]

As an American, the guy from Skelton at 11:42 just sounds like the most back country Appalachian accent I’ve ever heard. No doubt there’s a connection!

[@TheWitchInTheWoods]

Lovely ta hear all old accents.. shame they're dying out

[@Erin-ks4jp]

The more I here samples of these old northern dialects, the more I have a continuous picture of my ancestors lanaguage. I only knew my grandad for a few years, but what memories I do have are strikingly similar in someways to the Yorkshire samples, and also quite different in otherways. We also have a joke in my family that Yorkshire dialect is reccessive - as I speak it, my maternal grandparents spoke it, but my parents both speak in one of these impossible to place generic southern accents (a consequence of being educated in London but living far outside of the city, I suppose).

[@judedante4067]

Hey Simon, I'm not sure if you'll read this or if you remember my previous comment from a good while ago, but you told me that you'd put in more slides in your videos to make them more accessible to those of us (*cough, cough*, me) who don't know a whole lot about linguistics. And it seems that's exactly what you've been doing in your latest videos! Just know that I've noticed and appreciate it :)

[@whatkatydid7901]

The Yorkshire was fairly similar to the Lancashire that was common when I was younger. I’m in my 40s, and my grandparents sounded similar to this. Although I’m from West Lancashire, so you’d think it would be closer to the Cumbrian, it’s closer to the Yorkshire. That may be cause you’re concentrating on East Cumbrian, so it’s nearer to Geordie. It greaves me greatly that the language and accents that were familiar to me as a child have all but died out now. The predominant accent in West Lancashire now is very similar to Liverpool, with very little resemblance to old Lancashire. I now live in East Yorkshire, having also lived for quite some time in East Lancashire, so regional northern accents are really interesting to me. They are all so different, and illustrate the character of the people in that area. Love stuff like this, thanks.👍🏻

[@julianwilson6156]

Look forward to your Yorkshire dialect video 👍

[@cyclingseagull]

I think the 'you could never come nowt like that' phrase might mean: 'you could never behave like that'. It would be used like that in certain situations. I don't understand what he is on about previously but the whole sentence to me means: When we were in charge or running things you could never behave or act like that.

[@bobbylindsay1628]

I am so proud to be cumbrian born and raised ❤

[@tils333]

as someone from east yorkshire i can definitely understand cooper peacock and his accent. its so strange how language can evolve so quickly but still sound so similar!

[@lesleydcook99]

Incomer to Cumbria 1988, from Lancashire. Soon fell in love with Whithaven accent.The Workington accent sounded very difficult to my lugs even though my dads accent was Geordy!

[@jeaniechowdhury6739]

I’m American I listened without reading. Some of this I could not even understand. Hearing the different incarnations of English is amazing!!!!

[@johnhudson1913]

Thoo is fray round here or thee ancesters wuz.

[@blakops000007]

Grandparents are such a historical and linguistic treasure because they give us a first hand look into the past. My grandfather also got me into linguistics. I'm from Iraq; specifically in the south. My grandfather spoke a dialect of Arabic similar to that found in Kuwait and Bahrain, rather than Iraqi. Which always fascinated me because no on in Basra speaks this way today, but if you go back 50 years ago people in Basra probably spoke a dialect more connected to the Persian gulf. This got me into an investigation of Basra and its history, and seemed like Basra and the Persian Gulf are connected with each other historically which is why older people in Basra spoke a dialect different of that found in the rest of Iraq.

[@NancyLStockdale]

Thank you so much for sharing this! Looking at the history of Basra and the ways that Basra and Kuwait were bifurcated, let alone the ways that the border between Iran and Iraq have been reified in modern times, we realize how much cultural borrowing and adaptation, as well as exchange, is missing in these times, compared to the past.

[@tanyapearson7988]

My grandad spoke just like this, alot of the older folk did. So comforting to hear this dialect again.

[@OblateBede]

For a self-proclaimed non-linguist, you certainly have quite a lot of expertise. Thanks for the video.

[@bb250]

So interesting. Simon, have you watched the Hannah Hauxwell documentary, Too Long A Winter? I think you'd find it interesting - not only because Hannah is so fascinating, but also her lovely old Yorkshire accent is an insight into a much older way of speaking.

[@whatkatydid7901]

I just commented above that I think that the Cumbria lady sounded like Hannah Hauxwell.

[@stevenpaul9259]

As a lowland Scot who travels for work quite a bit to the north of England, I'm always fascinated to compare my own Scots to Cumbrian, Lancastrian or the Geordie dialects. Much we share, but also a lot of variation.

[@authormichellefranklin]

It's amazing how much Cumbria shares with the Armagh dialect in Ireland.

[@Barnaldomort]

And scouse here on Merseyside :)

[@mikesaunders4775]

That is from Lowland Scots , which is basically NE English with a different accent.

[@hadley-jameshoyles902]

In Yorkshire at least, it is really common to use 'tha' to mean 'you' as well as 'thee', which actually sounds more like 'thi' I'm not totally confident with the specifics of what that fella was saying, but I want to come back to you on that :) love the videos

[@kingnappa9466]

We do use thee and tha the most common sentence would be Wot tha doin thee. But thi is a separate word we would say si thi which means good bye or see you later.

[@Fenditokesdialect]

Tha is the West Yorkshire form, thoo is the Northeast Yorkshire form in common with Cumbrian

[@Fenditokesdialect]

@@kingnappa9466 What's da dewin in Sheffield /wats də dɪʊɪn/

[@IrishPotato86]

I noticed that if i closed my eyes and listened to the recordings, i could understand what they were saying. If i tried to read along, i couldn't understand what they said. I love hearing the language of old english anglo saxons, how they were similar to Gaelic, norse, and germanic, and how the language changed in each region to become as diverse as they are now, but still retained some similar words.

[@Nosirrbro]

Yeah that was the same for me, I had to give my full focus to understand it and if I half-read half-listened I had no chance

[@herrfister1477]

Agreed I grew up in Yorkshire, though not from there originally The recordings make more sense when you close your eyes and just listen for meaning I’m originally from a galaxy far far away and had to assimilate quickly. Yorkshire dialect isn’t much different from normal English and you soon learn its quirks when government agents are tracking you down.

[@dooleyfussle8634]

Yes, happened to me too. I suspect the reason is our brain gets overwhelmed by the visual cues we've learned as readers and "hears" the sounds of standard english. I've noticed this when reading aloud in a different language and trying to pronounce correctly and finding the english sounds being produced instead of the correct ones ( and hence, mispronouncing the words).

[@Beery1962]

My grandad (from Sheffield)used to say "skewill" for school.

[@brendanlaird4620]

Works for Dublin as well.

[@GiddeonG]

He says "tha" not thou. "Tha" sounding something like "thah" is still spoken here in yorkshire, by me :) Also, he says "afoower" not afore. I don't know the proper letters and stuff to use to convey the noises accurately so i've just done my best. Again, "afoower" is something still said today by us yorkshire folk :) Oh I should mention, A LOT if my accent comes from my grandparents and they were born in 1928 and 1930 in yorkshire. Just wanted to edit this to say I'm really pleased I came accross your channel, these videos are great. I've always had an interest in this kind of analysis of accents of English speach but didn't think so much work had been done. You should really keep doing these videos, they're brilliant. I think your subscriber base is going to keep growing.

[@davedawson9851]

Spot on. That's how it is in South Yorkshire any road. Sithi! Dave

[@Jill.Carter.]

Tha's dead reet tha knows!

[@Miss_Toots]

South Yorkshire here, and yeah, I agree...a lot of people get thee and tha mixed up when they're not from here

[@cargumdeu]

@@Miss_Toots chuffing right.

[@RHR-221b]

@@cargumdeu 'Heck!' Stay free, c. R 🍻 💚 😎

[@gedgar]

I love regional english accents, makes me sad thinking about how the degree to which theyve been replaced by/absorbed into the standard british english :/

[@user-bh4rx8mf8g]

Gabby, I couldn't agree more. Living as I do in Essex, you hear the Essex accent so rarely, and only in rural areas. It's all just silly mockney Jamie Oliver voices now. What's your accent/dialect?

[@stu6533]

I think there's still a lot of variation. I know that Estuary English (as mentioned below) / mockney has taken over but there are still wide varieties, particularly the further you travel from London.

[@GUITARTIME2024]

similar thing is happening in america. i think distinct accents exist strongest in rural, working class and older populations here (and older populations of course are passing away). among the black population, its a bit more complicated, though.

[@jameswilson9288]

If you come to west Cumbria you’ll experience a widely accepted local dialect! We all speak it roond ere

[@mdkooter]

The dutch word 'heet' (pronounced a bit like Hate in English would) means hot! And she pronounced it like some dutch regional dialects do :)

[@FeedsNoSliesMusic]

I believe I noticed a sound in the sample that sounded a lot like ij/ei!

[@fishyface3940]

I'm from rural Devon and to get 'het up' about something was still said sometimes when I was growing up in the 90s

[@magdahearne497]

We still say it here in South Yorks :) I lived in Plymouth for 4 yrs when I was in my 20's, (a million years ago) I realised I had to come home to Yorkshire when I started cultivating the local accent lol...couldn't possibly lose my Yorkshireness 😉

[@faithlesshound5621]

The point near the end about dialectal variations of names not being reflected in official spelling reminded me that in Scotland, children often addressed each other in dialect but also knew and responded to the "Sunday Best" version that their teachers would use. We could all "code-switch" when required. In the days when most parents were illiterate, parish clerks or registrars probably wrote down the standard English version of the child's name, since in earlier centuries they would have written down the French or Latin equivalent. Nowadays they have to copy exactly what the parent writes down, so it may be that there is more variation.

[@u2uuba]

Wagwaan ... I’m hearing Jamaican @11:37 ... & I can’t unhear it 🤔

[@t.e.hepworth685]

Thanks again Simon. Keep going like this and you’re on a trajectory to be a national treasure. You’ve got an excellent intellectual runway to go on through the years...

[@Kitsaplorax]

"Don't get all het up over that," was a phrase I often heard from my grandfather, whose family emigrated to the US c. 1830 I think. It's harder to listen to Back Bay Maine accent than the Cumbrian!

[@techman2471]

Have you listened to some of the folks from the County close to the Canadian border? From another Mainer:

[@nurmihusa7780]

My mother born north of Pittsburgh in 1914 used the expression “het up” in the same way. I never knew whether it was local dialect or 20s slang? She did use the word “mind” as a synonym for “remember”. Never heard that used that way anywhere else. She said it was local dialect.

[@lizh1988]

I'm just from Michigan/Ohio, but have heard the her up phrase a certain amount. But for the rest of that, not so much.

[@AlisonWonderland999]

We said that when I was growing up in Birmingham in the 1960s!

[@Snowcountry556]

We still say that, I didn’t know the origin. I’m from South England.

[@shesmoonlight514]

I noticed that when the lady was speaking it was easier to understand her by reading the text. Whereas when the man was speaking, it was easier to understand him by listening to the audio only.

[@ianwalker4803]

Very interesting vid , you could also note how "Cumbrian" could be further divided perhaps along the lines of the old counties i.e., Cumberland and Westmorland as there are quite distinct differences here too. Interesting too how the use of thou is used and pronounced , I here daily versions of Tha knows, Thou knows, Thoo knows, Thee knows, The knows, Thu knows and my favorite "Thou knows ya know"

[@talzO9]

very interesting that the accents sound almost caribbean which makes sense since a lot of the sailors around then would’ve been from the west country port towns and would’ve had a lot of contact with the west indies

[@adamsurge5761]

The change of the mid-vowels to diphthong happened in some Romance (French, Spanish) under stress! Cf. Portuguese "tem" to Spanish/French "tien(e)" . So fascinating when similar evolutionary processes happen in different systems.

[@Gruntelfluk]

I recognise many words in these northern dialects as they're still used by older people .. (80 years old plus) .. here in the west of Scotland. Words such as 'wark' meaning work, 'ower' for over and 'abuin' for above.

[@alexbowman7582]

When I was a boy in Glasgow we used to play chases and someone would be ”het”. It’s only after listening to this that I saw the connection with hot. It’s very close to the German hetze or hetzer meaning rabble rouser.

[@benfleming6936]

the Yorkshire one sounds exactly like half my family

[@tonyrinella5864]

Thank you Simon for another transportative post

[@perrydowd9285]

My Father visited Cumbria shortly after WWII. He said he couldn't understand the older people at all but people his own age were easier to understand. The different generations seemed to him to speak different languages but had no difficulty understanding each other.

[@Panda-gs5lt]

Thanks for all that … I feel like I’m touching the surface of my late Grandparents who were from the area of Bowness … I met them only once in 1973 as I’m Canadian.

[@ikkylovesbass]

I am Australian English speaker- these two accents I found challenging to understand. I can hear the Scandinavian influence, listening to these speakers almost feels like listening to an ESL speaker its so different. Another interesting video thanks.

[@flamencoprof]

It is amazing to me, as a New Zealander, that if I listen hard (aged hear loss) and a few times, most of these sound samples are quite intelligible to me. Perhaps all the early radio and TV from Britain I heard in my youth helped. My maternal Grandfather was from Yorkshire, loved black pudding etc, so maybe that helped a bit.

[@user-ii6xt8gd7k]

Peacock's use of the word " nowt" made me think of "nothing." Thank you for sharing your wonderful documentaries with us .

[@deereeid1290]

Scary how similar this sounds to my Scots dialect and I am young, I am only 30 years old, was told not talk like this at school or I won't get a job, got told it was not "proper English", that's how many dialects are lost. I can drift in and out of Scots as I like but I noticed less young people speak scots because it gets knocked out of you in favor of "proper English". Words that I heard that are the same in my dialect: Het = Hot/Heat Ower = Over Oot = Out Wurk = Work Th' = The Telt = Told Mibbie = Maybe Mak = Make Coald/cald = Cold Afore = Before Stane = Stone Skuill = School Coo = Cow Doon = Down Gaun = Going Ahint = Behind Aboon/Abin = Above I wonder if you can do a video comparing Scots to Northern English, it would be interesting to see how the Scots sound Similar to the Northern English because people are always making comparisons especially between Scots and Geordie patter. You make me feel proud of my dialect, I never knew how old a lot of these words I have been saying, I just thought it was all slang. Well, that is what you are told.

[@ObvsCam93]

I remember working in a call centre once and speaking with a fella from Cumbria and I actually asked him if he was from North Yorkshire because of his vowel pronunciation and certain words he used. It reminded me of certain folk from the Dales. I had never heard a Cumbrian accent before that but then I happened to find your channel haha

[@JonWhitton]

As a Lancastrian I can understand Yorkshire, much easier than the Cumbrian, in your examples

[@CraigShuttGuitar]

I'm from North Yorkshire and the difference between modern and old Yorkshire dialects is so great! Obviously, the differences between North, South, West and East Yorkshire are marked, too. One thing I'd be interested to know about my own accent, regards its origin or when it developed, is my/our use of "sen" for "self", and why using that word in a sentence seems to force us to be more dialect-specific than normal. For example, "I'll go by myself" or "you'll go by yourself", I would say "all go mi'sen" or "you'll go ye'sen". Another that seem to be a vestige of old is "cop fo' this", meaning "hold this".

[@leifjohansson5508]

Omitting "h" in the beginning of a word followed by a vowel is typical for the Roslagen region in Sweden. It was probably more widespread a thousand years ago and can even be seen on runestones (from Sveriges Nationalatlas). Heat is "hetta","hot" is "hett" and "het" in Swedish. Omit the "h" and "het(t)" becomes "et(t)" just like how the Cumbrian woman says it. As I understand it the Yorkshire dialect does the same and omitts "h" when followed by a vowel.

[@Roxanewolfie]

really appreciate the graphics, slides and text for those of us who aren't super well-versed in the topic, but nonethelss enjoy your content. thank you for the insight!

[@jishcatg]

"Agean" meaning "against" is interesting as there is a similar phenomenon mostly among older speakers of Southern American English to pronounce against similarly. Usually it is transliterated as "agin" and most often in a construct such as "I ain't agin' it." meaning, I'm not opposed to that idea/action.

[@Fenditokesdialect]

O'm nut ageean't in my Sheffield variety of West Yorkshire dialect

[@modmutha8608]

I really want to thank you Simon for your videos. As a speaker of the Sheffield/South Yorkshire accent I have been told on quite a few occasions that I ‘speak rough’ by people who are advocating standardising English to one ‘posh’ accent, the one everyone seems to come out of university speaking. Our accents and dialects should be treasured and protected from this invasion. Thanks for your fantastic informative KZbin input. It’s so appreciated

[@user-ms7gt2km5f]

The calf was fastened with the chain

[@BigyetiTechnologies]

I'm from East Yorkshire, and I sort of understood just enough for my brain to fill in the gaps so it made sense.

[@whatkatydid7901]

I’m a Lancastrian living in East Yorkshire and I get lost in translation!🤣 My neighbour who’s a Geordie lady got a cleaner when she moved in. She told me that she’d a conversation with the cleaner who was telling her about another of her clients saying ‘she’s bland’. My Geordie friend was thinking ‘why is she bland, does she wear a lot of beige, is she just a bit boring?’ Turns out the cleaner was actually saying ‘she’s blind’. When I first moved here I had a couple of friends to stay with me and we went out into Beverley. One friend is from Carlisle (and married to a scouser) and the other is a Manc. A man started talking to my friend and she had to say to him ‘tell me again, but slowly’. He was most offended cause he thought he talked posh cause he was from Beverley (not Hull)!🤣

[@hcafc1904]

Of course, the Beverley accent! As someone from Hull who speaks clearly and articulately, i am proud of my West Hull accent. Something I don’t understand is why Beverley has an element of a strange ‘faux-posh’ southern-type twang going on ... 😉🤭

[@anton-scottgoustin5425]

I am obsessed with figuring how how Thomas Jefferson sounded, 1770s. Part Southerner (Virginia) with strong links to George III England. I think he sounded like Jimmy Carter, a very mild southern accent. Gentleman!

[@scimatarpictures]

My Dad grew up in Cumbria in the 40’s and 50’s, he used to recall a phrase or advert written on a barn in the Cumbrian Dialect which was something along the lines of: “Sek a laal bit does, od zoot whiel” I wish I knew what it meant!

[@AlphaCorporateSales]

Great content. Please continue educating the world with your videos!

[@seand6482]

I listened to both dialects while driving in the car and they were about as audibly comprehensible as Dutch to me.

[@MindSurf248]

So interesting, I'm from E. Yorkshire I can understand them if I just listen but struggled when I tried to read along.

[@jacobandrews2663]

Looking forward to that video on the influence of ON on the Northern Dialects 😀 👍

[@annabanana7298]

Hi, Simon, I agree with Ben Austin below-the lady said to put a “well” not a “hole” in the flour. Also the pig man was referring not to “stores and young pigs” but “shoats and young pigs”. Vocabulary for animals was much more detailed and specific back in the day, to our great loss. Hope this helps in your analysis. I think you do amazing work!

[@simonroper9218]

Thank you! :) In the case of the lady, it depends what you mean - in Cumbrian, 'well' falls into the same lexical set as in standard English, and is pronounced [wel ~ wɛl], whereas 'hole' takes the same [wɔː] sequence as 'close,' 'gwoat' for older and broader speakers (which was the case back in the 19th century as well - a few dictionaries and glossaries have for 'hole'). So the word she says is definitely the cognate of standard English 'hole,' and is used in almost all the same situations - but its meaning might also have been extended to cover what 'well' means in standard English baking terminology. The words 'hole' [wɔːl] and 'well' [wel] are separate in Cumbrian, but it seems like (at least in this situation) the lady here uses 'hole' to mean what modern bakers mean by 'well.' Vocabulary for animals was indeed much more detailed and specific in historical dialects - 'store' [stɔː] was used in northern English dialects to mean pigs (or sometimes sheep) that were kept specifically for breeding :) I do like the word 'shoat', though - is it still used much where you are? I don't think I've heard it more than once here in southern England, but that might just be from lack of contact with pig farmers.

[@cathjj840]

@@simonroper9218 Sheep man, huh? No piggly wigglies?

[@Amethystchain]

Aha I already had the book pre-ordered. I just got the notification today that it was being shipped. Leave it to Simon to publish a book and then say in his video "I don't recommend anyone buy it."

[@joshadams8761]

The words “are”, “they”, and “anger”, now rarely used except by certain older speakers in the former Danelaw, likely reflect Viking influence.

[@iceomistar4302]

But "are" was commonly used to in Old English next to 'Wesan', 'beon' and 'Sindon'

[@bothnianwaves7483]

The Swedish for "hot" is "het" or "hett" (4:23), and "yeast" is "jäst". (1:29).

[@RobWhittlestone]

Very interesting, Simon. My grandparents were Yorkshire, my Grandpa born in 1870's and Grandma probably some 10-15 years later. There are some words of their dialect I learned from my father like "lakin'" - is used today in Swedish and can mean playing, dancing. Swedish acquaintainces thought I was speaking Swedish when I pronounced it. It became lark, larking in modern southern English I understand. Other words 'sen' for 'self' as in this example: "Oo woshe wii? // She wor wi 'er sen // She wor't woshe? // Ay she wor" - a little fun phrase my Grandma used to say to "prove Yorkshire is like Chinese!" Who was she with? // She was with herself (=alone) // She wasn't, was she? // Yes, she was. Very enjoyable video, Simon and delightful nature scenes. Take care & all the best, Rob in Switzerland.

[@simonroper9218]

'Laking' is a good one - in the newspaper my granda reads in Penrith, there's a section called 'nobut laiking' ('only playing'). I hope some of these dialect words maintain some place in local consciousness even if dialects continue to become more levelled.

[@RobWhittlestone]

@@simonroper9218 Indeed! I have some more for you: a ginnel (passageway, alleyway usually between houses) and a threat phrase my Dad used to like, having heard it as a child or teenager: I can't remember how it starts but it ends "I'll trail thi rops all o'er garden' Rops being entrails or innards. :-)

[@Fenditokesdialect]

@@RobWhittlestone bein throo Shevvild O saay jennel misen, O'd be reight ashammed if O wer t'ewse owt else

[@therealzilch]

Simply wonderful. Thanks and _Grüße_ from Vienna, Scott

[@richardsleep2045]

This explains why I struggled to understand my Cumbrian relatives when I visited from Dorset as a kid. I didn't know there were other prepositions. Thanks Simon.

[@Supaalex1983]

Some extant examples of modern S. York's dialect pronunciations: Stoo-an (stone), Roo-ad (road), Doo-er (door), Boo-ad (board), Grey-ass (grease), Agee-an (again/against), Skoil (school), Oil (hole), Coil (coal), Koit (coat), the list goes on 😂

[@russellmassey9324]

Ah! My uncle used to speak of the 'coil oil' when he was taking about the hole to the cellar used for coal deliveries. I'm from West Yorkshire and always wondered why he used that way of saying it, as no one else local did. I guess he must have picked it up from someone in South Yorkshire at some time.

[@kittyhawk7031]

A lot of older people in West Yorkshire do that as well, except for the word school, haven't heard that one.

[@AscotTradingGroup]

I’m originally from Sheffield (South Yorkshire) and recognise and agree with the word examples and pronunciations that you’ve given, except for one. Grease would be spoken (Gree-as) with the s being pronounced very softly (a mixing together of an s and a z sound).

[@EdwardAveyard]

@@russellmassey9324 Depends where in West Yorkshire. That was definitely a common way of saying it around Wakefield/Dewsbury, but probably not around Ilkley or Wetherby.

[@russellmassey9324]

@@EdwardAveyard I'm from the Wakefield/Castleford area, so yeah.

[@ShesJustLouise]

My grandad spoke with a strong South Yorkshire accent all his life. I remember times as a child struggling to understand him sometimes and now as an adult when I’ve been away from home in the South, Scotland or wherever people sometimes don’t understand things I say when I’m not concentrating on speaking professionally. My Yorkshire accent isn’t half as strong as his was, but the fact that it is my natural speaking voice is something to be proud of, I believe.

[@tomvalentine4928]

The county is so big that talking about a Yorkshire accent makes about as much sense as talking about an English accent. As someone from South Yorkshire you will know that two places like Barnsley and Sheffield have such differences that people from each town/city can tell if one is from the other place after a couple of sentences ( or less). Use of the second person singular is common among the working classes in both places but in Barnsley the words are pronounced "thee" and "tha" ( where "tha " is a pronunciation of "thou") whereas the "th" sound is hardened by Sheffielders to something closer to a "d". Hence the slightly derogatory nickname which Barnsley people have for Sheffielders : "dee dahs"🙂🙂

[@Matt_Hil]

This is a really interesting / great video, I am from West Yorkshire and listening to the audio I can pull out most words which we still use in different parts of Yorkshire today. Listening to Yorkshire audio - from the conversation he is talking about a sheep farmer and how he made quite bit a money but wouldn’t see that again as he got lucky. You’re right when he says “when we were on” as in past tense when he worked he wouldn’t of seen that kind of money. I believe he is from North Yorkshire - near Skipton possibly. The way he said “I’ll tell ya what’s coming on up ere”. With the Yorkshire accent, some people can tell the difference between the region (north, east, south, west) but the Yorkshire accent changes from Town to Town. Yorkshire folk can usually tell which town (/city) they from as each place will have a subtle vowel change in words that is different from their own town. If you need any help in the Yorkshire accent, happy to help if I can. :)

[@sheilam4964]

Thank you Simon. I really enjoy your vids on the evolution of the English language an its regional dialects with their differing evolutions. I found the comments from a Swede and an explanation on Germanic languages relating the similarities to the Yorkshire and Cumbrian dialects, very interesting and not expected but when you think about it - maybe not so unexpected given the Island's history of invasions.

[@andyt8216]

Your videos are just fascinating. Such a shame it’s all increasingly lost. I’m face we are getting to a a stage where “British English” words and spellings are being lost amongst some to American ones. Wish I could have a conversation again with my grandad who died in 1989. He had quite a strong East Riding accent and knew or spoke a lot of dialect words. I know my mum has a book somewhere which said that in Flamborough in the 1800s they spoke a dialect which Danish visitors were able to largely understand. Incredible if so.

[@collected_trading]

It is fascinating, but I also wonder if English in general, any variant, is still easier for Scandi speakers due to shared heritage. Same for Dutch speakers. Even the kids in these places can learn it with great ease because so many words are such close cognates, so much of the grammar is largely shared and so on. So while I like these "sounded like Danish" stories, I think the entire language is close enough to help most Scandis get around in the country.

[@mosherj666]

My grandfather was born in Roundhay, Leeds in 1915, but came to Wales in 1931 so by the time I came along in 1970 his accent had softened, but the construction of his speech was very similar to that of Ronald Easton in the video. During the recording, Ronald Easton says "and it was fast with [?]". The word he used is 'kine'. He's saying the calf was right in close with the other cows. As always, a fascinating presentation.

[@andymaxwell2359]

Another great video, even though Muker is almost in Cumberland anyway! Keep up the good work.

[@marionjansen5030]

The Yorkshire dialect reminds me of Joseph in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.

[@StMikkeli]

This is just so fascinating! My BA is in linguistics, and this stuff never ceases to mesmerize me! Thanks so much for doing this!

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Just found your channel and I love it. Immediate sub! I grew up in Yorkshire in the 70s listening to old folk speak just like that. It took me about 2 lines for my ear to adjust and then suddenly I understood it all! Thanks for making these, I know it isn't easy making videos this engaging and informative!

[@lisagrainger6340]

So interesting! I am from Yorkshire but one side of my family is from Durham and surrounding areas and the other is from Lancashire and Yorkshire. I’m so surprised that I understood almost everything from both speakers. Really fascinating stuff. Thanks!

[@ryther918]

7:06 Coming from Yorkshire I expected it to be translated "young" opposed to "on"

[@GiddeonG]

Yeah, just listened to that today again. I think it got lost in the recording situation, maybe he had his head away from the mic for a second turning around or looking down or something. Something like "yon" with a dropped 'g'.

[@Edangiolino]

@@GiddeonG Im west yorkshire i heard young , yunguns, for young ones, when we were young, wen wi we yong

[@thurinullrson9561]

I see a strong resemblance to to some Appalachian accents

[@robertbrumfitt6548]

I'm a dry stone waller who works in the Dales and Cumbria - mainly throughout the Pennines. The dialects of both Dalesmen and Cumbrians are very interchangeable. There is more commonality in dialect between a dalesman and a Cumbrian over a dalesman and someone from West, or South Yorkshire. Interestingly many older people from east riding often sound more akin to Cumbrians too in dialect. I struggle to keep up with older farmers in isolated areas, they sound very much like the people in your video! These videos you do are brilliant 👍

[@simonroper9218]

It's great to hear the trade of dry stone walling is still going strong! I met a gentleman in a pub in Lancashire once who I think was a waller around there, but I've not been in the right place at the right time enough to encounter any in Cumbria. Thank you for sharing your experience :)

[@robertbrumfitt6548]

@@simonroper9218 there are plenty of wallers, it's still a vital part of the rural community in these places! It will only die if upland farming does! I'm sure you will come across some eventually, I've worked with plenty of them in the Eden Valley!

[@cathjj840]

@@robertbrumfitt6548 Well when Brexit comes full sway, those US farming corporations will have no use for walls. Nor farmers.

[@robertbrumfitt6548]

@@cathjj840 so all upland farms just become void and all the walls disappear? What planet do you live on, do you even understand the process of upland farming? For upland farms to cease, all farming in the UK would have to also?

[@lukeoconnor1201]

being a yorkshire man myself and slowly seeing the accent watered down ive bene up all night learning and listenting to the older dialect and applying that to me own that i speak from my grandfather and i am starting an instagram channel based on reading short stories in the old dialect and then comparing with modern english, will tag you . i would love it if you woukd follow me when up and running . you have really set something off with me here, luke.

[@jonathanl3941]

grams are blocked at my work can u do it on ytbe or idk

[@cloudsoflilac9731]

hope ur having fun with it!

[@borikkiv]

As a native of Lincolnshire , it s interesting to hear the elements of the northern accent develop as you travel north through Yorkshire to Cumbria. Obviously the Lincolnshire speech develops into a more northern language as you go up towards Yorkshire, but I can hear elements such as "agean", "me" for my, nowt, backend, afore , that run from the Norfolk border at least.

[@Fenditokesdialect]

I'm from the West Riding and speak my variety of West Riding dialect and I've actually got a Lincolnshire dialect book called "Fungus, the Lincolnshire cat" highly recommend it

[@jonap5740]

Well done, Simon. I'll have to watch it again. It was a difficult one for me, but I enjoyed it. Thank you.

[@qgde3rty8uiojh90]

Holy moly!! I knew these older dialects are difficult, but it always amazes me how difficult. And I fancy myself a bit of a nerdy language autodidact. Well, just goes to show...

[@kellimbt]

Fascinating as always, Simon!

[@glynnsmith4560]

Simon, "you could never come anywhere near" 'owt like that' ..so yes, you were right.

[@plflaherty1]

Thanks for putting that CC in.

[@glynnsmith4560]

I often listened to Melvyn Bragg on Radio 4 talking about language as I went about my business (approx 20 years ago). On the episode(s?) that covered Cumbrian I learned that Sth Yorks and Cumbria both use 'ginnel' for a particular type of passage and 'lat' for a gate..at least my gran used 'lat' and her family was from the town centre. Also on that episode Melvyn mentioned someone overhearing a woman at the bar of a function in Norway saying she was going to her room in a broad Cumbrian dialect that to him sounded coarse... it was the queen of Norway(?) speaking in her own language. Also 2.. 'on' instead of 'of' in Sth Yorks too. (and 'of' instead of 'have' nationwide - a digression). ..and in Sth Yorks 'thou' is always 'tha' - very short - like in your example here...never 'thou' by any stretch of the imagination...in emphasis the 'a' gets stretched .. still not thou but lasts as long.

[@InhabitantOfOddworld]

Yep, I'm from Cumbria and ginnel is indeed a word, heard my grandmother say it many a time

[@Quarton]

Very interesting, Simon! Thanks for this video.