Geordie and Northeastern Phonology

The Cambridge History of the English Language, particularly the chapters on phonology, are an excellent resource for learning about the reconstruction of earlier sound systems (Volume III in particular), and I think at least a couple of them are available for free somewhere online. To summarise, though, evidence comes from a number of angles:
Our understanding of common patterns in the phonologies of modern languages. Vowel inventories tend to be relatively symmetrical, and changes often happen as a response to asymmetry, or to other vowels changing quality. Vowels are more likely to be quite peripheral. Front vowels are more likely to be unrounded, back vowels are more likely to be rounded. Vowel qualities naturally maintain a certain amount of distance from each other to avoid mergers (or occasionally fail to keep this distance, and merge). These rules really restrict what is realistic in a historical reconstruction.
Of all of the possible sound developments that might have happened, spelling evidence helps us to pin down exactly what has occurred, especially during time periods where spelling wasn't standardised (or nonstandard spelling was widespread). People mixing up two letters might indicate a merger of vowels. People beginning to spell replace 'a' with 'e' might indicate a raising of an /a/-like vowel to an /e/-like vowel.
The comparative method has given us a good idea of the phonology of the common ancestor of the Germanic languages, Proto-Germanic. This gives us a reasonable framework in which reconstructions of past stages of English have to sit comfortably and make sense.
After about 1600, we have direct descriptive evidence by authors who deliberately tell us how they pronounce things on a mechanical level, telling us exactly what they do with their tongue and lips when producing certain sounds. Robert Robinson's 'The Art of Pronunciation' (1617) is the earliest example I know of, but plenty more have followed. This serves to show how reliable the other methods are. I have personal experience with this; over the last two years, I have tried to use spelling evidence and backward triangulations of modern phonologies to work out how speech around the Scottish border might have sounded in the early modern period (which I talk about a bit in this video). An email directed me to a text that I had no idea about; 'The Britan Tongue' by Alexander Hume (no relation), written around 1617 in Scotland. He lays out what he considers to be a representative orthography of contemporary Scottish pronunciation, and it closely matches what I had expected from spelling and comparative evidence from modern dialects.
I'd be more than happy to answer any questions and take any corrections in the comments :)

[@teddycuthbert]

My great uncle Neil has just died yesterday, and he had a brilliant rolling of the R. He grew up in and lived in Rothbury for his whole life, and his accent definitely reflected that. He did an interview a few years ago about the Coquet Valley's history and the reporter thought Neil had the strongest example of the ancient Rothbury accent of anyone still alive!

[@joywarburton5719]

I'm so sorry for your loss

[@harpingon]

Sad news. My wife's family from Rothbury, and even writing the name of the town I can hear the rolling Rs by the older generations in two places in that word.

[@user-td4do3op2d]

Are there any recordings we can hear of him?

[@user-td4do3op2d]

@Gísiu Wolf I can barely hear the burr there at all. I listened carefully and he uses a normal R most of the time.

[@ohjustwork]

I really appreciate you saying “Geordie and North East accents”. I have a North East accent, I’m in south County Durham and am definitely not a Geordie. Great videos! Oh and I could understand the man at the end, maybe when your ears are already tuned to NE accents that happens?

[@schuletrip]

I’m originally from Peterlee but grew up in Teesdale and I get sick of Southerners calling me a Geordie 😂 I started off almost a Mackem and I ended up a Yacker!

[@howey935]

I’m from spennymoor and if I go more than 30 miles south I get called a geordie and I always have to correct them. A true geordie is born north of the Tyne river.

[@cjhobbyfly8597]

From Bishop Auckland and I agree, there are lots of different accents all in the north east and I can tell roughly if someone is from Newcastle, Sunderland, County Durham, Middlesbrough and even out in the woolies like Consett its different... but you get anywhere south of County Durham and people think we are all just Geordies who sound the same lol

[@thebritexiteer7956]

@@howey935 The far North.

[@dunelmian-slinger]

The accents do differ here's no doubt about that but I do think we generally share a dialect. The regional vernacular has a common Northumbrian origin (I mean 'Northumbrian' in the broader sense of the word) and there is definitely a shared regional repertoire of words and phrases, albeit with some variation, and many of which are shared with Scots. Teesside dialect stands out though as it is more watered down for want of a better term. Once you pass the southern limit of the Durham coalfield phrases like whey aye, dinnet/divvent, gan and dee/nee for do/no etc. disappear and are replaced with more standard English-like constructions.

[@morodochable]

When I was a kid at school back in the 70s I remember leaning the "round the ragged rocks" tongue twister. We knew who wasn't from the village (Newbiggin-by-the-Sea) because they said the r differently. Us locals all used the uvular fricative. Every town and village had its own accent.

[@ted_splitter]

Is that like a French 'r'? My next door neighbour when I was growing up, who was from Anstruther, used to pronounce her Rs like this - I think it was more common in the old days, accents are smoothing out a lot

[@morodochable]

@@ted_splitter No, it's as the man speaking at 12:23 says it

[@ted_splitter]

@@morodochable I commented before I got to that bit - how the man says it was what I meant by French sounding, cos the sound is in the back of the throat rather than the lips and tongue-end.

[@morodochable]

@@ted_splitter maybe it just sounds different to me as a native then!

[@baldrbraa]

I used to accompany N-b-t-S’s great son James Shepherd the trumpet player. I lived in Seaton Delaval as a kid but I could barely understand him when he pulled out the stops.

[@fenham]

Nice one Simon! I was born in Newcastle in 1954 and moved to Canberra in the early 80s so Ive now lived away longer than I lived there. While at secondary school there were pupils from a wide area around Newcastle and it was easy to work out where people came from purely by listening to pronunciations. I lived in the west of Newcastle but could tell those who lived in the eastern suburbs. While I've lost the ear over 40 years I can still hear major differences between Nathan & Amy. If I was pressed I'd say he was from Newcastle or north of the Tyne whereas Amy comes from South of the river but north of Sunderland 😊 As for the Northumbrian burr - I seem to remember it was more common in the North west (Rothbury) than in the coastal villages around Alnwick Thanksagain

[@mrdbmckenna]

I think you're spot on geographically about Nathan and Amy.

[@susandrydenhenderson6234]

I agree with all that.

[@cgemmell1]

Last time I was this early I was speaking proto-Germanic

[@barbarusbloodshed6347]

nōice.

[@Rolando_Cueva]

@@barbarusbloodshed6347 nice actually comes from French lmao

[@barbarusbloodshed6347]

@@Rolando_Cueva I know, and French got it from Latin... but I have no idea if there was a nice-equivalent in Proto-Germanic... so I just took the common "noice"-response and added the ō from "gōdaz"

[@Jon-mh9lk]

@@barbarusbloodshed6347 I think Proto-Germanic *biliz ("kind, proper") comes pretty close. OE bilewit means "innocent/simple", but also "calm/gentle/kind". Lat. nescius ("not-knowing") from which "nice" descents implies "ignorance". In Old French the word meant "simple, foolish". A calque would be Proto-Germanic *newit "not-knowing", but I don't think that makes any sense.

[@barbarusbloodshed6347]

@@Jon-mh9lk *biliz, that's funny. I immediately thought "that sounds like billig" which is our word in German for cheap, and seems that's exactly where it came from

[@schuletrip]

So glad I’m not the only one who geeks about accents. I think it stems from moving around (throughout County Durham from North East to the South West) so I’ve picked up and speak with a part Mackem, part Yacker (Teesdale) accent. You can literally gan owa the hill and there’s a definite subtle change to the accent (if you pay attention) I just love it.

[@Corwin256]

Perfect! Thank you so much for this. My family comes from around Newcastle, but living in the States, it's hard to explain the Geordie accent at all, and when I look for videos, it's hard to find anything remotely useful. I've been wanting this video for years!

[@missano3856]

An interview with Brian Johnson of AC/DC should do the trick.

[@johnblackett1141]

Fascinating stuff, as a native of the north east, now in Lancashire, via London/Kent, I was always under the impression that the accent was heavily influenced by Scandinavia! Thank you Simon for these videos.

[@judisutherland8051]

My mother, from Newcastle, told me that she used to correct her granny from Ashington, on her dramatic Northumbrian rhotics. She had described how, in an accident at the pit, some poor miner had his arm ‘rovven reet oot’. Granny would have been contemporary with the chap born in 1879. Also it’s good to hear the man at the end of your piece say ‘divvent knaa’ in that characteristic way.

[@EriniusT]

What does divvent knaa mean?

[@simonroper9218]

@@EriniusT 'Don't know' :)

[@simonroper9218]

Thanks for the anecdote! It's always nice hearing the personal side of historical dialects :)

[@workidd6001]

'divvent' usually becomes 'dinnet' over in Sunderland, and in S Shields it's often 'daint' (rhymes with the Geordie 'paint'). Shortening whichever variation to 'dinnaa' is common throughout, although it drifts to more of a 'dinnaarrrr' on Wearside. You can also have 'waint' (mackem: winnet) for won't, but never 'wivvent'. Also, do is 'dee' - a 'div' is short for divvy, which means a fool or silly person

[@Fenditokesdialect]

@@workidd6001 dunnot in older West Yorkshire dialect which is now dun't, and we also have wain't or even weean't which is a shortening of willen't

[@infectedmentality]

Oh man I'm from Northumberland and live in Newcastle, and I've been waiting for you to do one about us! Good work mate as always.

[@samcousins3204]

ooh i've never been early to one of your videos but i just want to say that watching you grow is amazing because your videos seem so genuine and put-together, thanks for everything!! :))

[@unraed]

great as always, it really interesting to see how changed English today. Especially for me, a person from Kazakhstan who just fond in English language history, but I don´t have access to such sources as you have Simon.

[@andrear.berndt9504]

Congrats for more than 100k subscribers! Absollutely deserved!

[@Dusty357]

Really enjoyed this, a was born Whitburn near Sunderland and moved up here amble Northumberland when a was 24 am now 45 and have a mackam Geordie Northumbrian twang north east twangs are fascinating. A no at Whitburn table was said chebble etc and also you have the pit village twang

[@teddycuthbert]

You’re in Amble did you say? I live in Amble as well, have for 10 years! Eee fancy that... “small world” as my granny would say.

[@Dusty357]

@@teddycuthbert north broomhill bud

[@teddycuthbert]

@@Dusty357 ah, right. Still pretty close!

[@pathallam986]

@@Dusty357 OK This is getting weird. Stumbled across this video & read the comments. I used to live in Acklington Road.

[@Dusty357]

@@pathallam986 haha small world

[@rhonanicdhughaill1768]

2:22 This also happens across the Scottish West Highlands and also in Orkney, particularly in older speakers.

[@domsjuk]

My favourite English dialect at my favourite time of day

[@stevebradley704]

I grew up in Northumberland and my grandfather used to roll his R's. As it were. As far as I can tell, the uvula fricative has all but disappeared up here. I've not heard it for about 30 years and even then, it was only spoken by older folk....60+years.

[@richy267]

I'm in Ashington and you still hear it occasionally. Younger folk around my age (late 40's)who have heard it from older relatives use it although mainly for novelty or comedy effect and because it sounds so good to hear and satisfying to use.

[@californiadreamin8423]

I asked directions while heading north in the 70’s, from an elderly man who was sat on a bench sunning himself. “ gan up the rrrroued......”. I was puzzled for a long time, and finally realised his accent reminded me of my old headmaster in Stockton , who must have grown up in Northumberland. Now where did I put my Small Pipes.... ?

[@alisharosey7948]

No, my aunties and uncles who are broad geordies also roll their Rs a bit.

[@teddycuthbert]

My great uncle Neil has just died yesterday, but he had a brilliant rolling of the R. He grew upon and lived in Rothbury for his whole life, and his accent definitely reflects that. He did an interview a few years ago about Rothbury's and the Coquet Valley's history and the reporter wrote that Neil had the best (and strongest) example of the ancient Rothbury accent of anyone still alive!

[@teddycuthbert]

@The505Guys Thank you so much! Your sentiment is very much appreciated. I’ll be sure to tell my great aunt - his wife - when I next see her that “people on the internet are lovely”.

[@edwardb2430]

Great video. Interesting to note that there's a great deal of variation in North East accents. You can sometimes pin-point that someone is from a mile or two up or down the coast simply by the subtle changes in their accent. An example being the massive difference between a geordie and a mackem in how they pronounce "town".

[@Corwin256]

How new is the Mackem category as a name for an accent, btw? I grew up (in the States) hearing that my family were Geordies, but a few years ago, I heard we'd been reclassified as Mackems. I had assumed that they divided the accent names recently, but I've never even been over there, so I hear all this third hand from my dad who hears it from his sister.

[@edwardb2430]

@@Corwin256 Mackem and Geordie aren't just the names of the accents, but also the names of the residents of the two big cities in the North East: Mackems are from Sunderland and Geordies are from Newcastle. The categories have been around for a very long time but since Newcastle is a bigger city and the two are very close, people who aren't from the NE often lump the two together under the label Geordie (much to the annoyance of us Mackems, due to the two cities' historic rivalry). I know that Mackem as a label originates from the fact that Sunderland was a very big ship building town, but Newcastle would get all the credit for the ships we built because after Sunderland built the ships they would be taken to Newcastle to be furnished, hense people assumed they were built in Newcastle. This led to a common phrase "We mackem, they tackem" (we make them, they take them), and that's how the label "Mackem" began. To find out if your family were geordies or Mackems you'd really have to know where they were from (or which football club they supported, Sunderland AFC or Newcastle United). Hope this helps.

[@Corwin256]

@@edwardb2430 They're definitely Mackems, but I had been told they were Geordies until a few years ago. That may be because my dad left the area at age 10 and the rest of his childhood was in Canada. So my dad was young, and I'm his kid who's never been there, so I was probably told Geordie to simplify things. I think the specific village was hetton le hole or something, but I get the impression that that village is so small, I'm practically selling my identity online. (jk). My cousins and their boyfriends came to Canada where I saw them for a few days, and when I asked one of the men whether he was from Newcastle or Sunderland, he seemed to not understand the question and say that despite living in Sunderland, he supported the Newcastle football club. I've tried so desperately hard to care even just a little about sport and never managed it, but I found that Sunderland doesn't do too well oftentimes, so maybe that's why. I had indeed heard the "We mackem, they tackem", although, I'd not heard the full reasoning behind it before. I did not at all know that the cities were rivals. That's really interesting, although I guess most people will consider their neighbours to be rivals. I always hear about coal coming from that area, and my ancestors were largely coal miners, and now I'm wondering if they must have worked near Newcastle for that whilst living closer to Sunderland, or whether both areas have coal. Apparently the coal mining is more historic now, anyway, as I'm told you guys are more service oriented these days?

[@Dazed2006]

True, Even South Shields has it's own particular pronunciation, I'm from Sunderland and we used to tease Sand Dancers (South Shields residents) by getting them to say things like ""Custard Creams and Motor Scooters." They make it sound like Custad Creeems n' Motah scootahs (Sounds hilarious when you're drunk!). For all they are half way in between of Sunderland and Newcastle they have a variation all of their own.

[@Dazed2006]

@@Corwin256 Both areas have coal. TBH most of the North East of England is pretty coal rich. Both had ship yards too though Newcastle could make larger ships because of the geography of the river mouths, Sunderland made more but smaller ships as far as I know. These days both those industries are gone, though some of the port infrastructure remains and repairs can be done etc.

[@ptephine]

Great video Simon! I'm from the North East, still live there today. Would've been interesting to see pitmatic or the more general Durham dialects in this too, though none the less amazing work.

[@anglosaxon4732]

Hartlepool accent is an interesting one, hints of scouse mixed with Geordie.... for example we say “werk” as apposed to “work”

[@EvilGremlin100]

@@anglosaxon4732 you also tend to pronounce the "pool" part of of "Hartlepool as "pewel".. same with those from Spennymoor, they say "Spennymoower" which also gives me a giggle. I wrote in another comment that people from the South end of Durham sound slightly Borough to me, where as people from the North end have more of Geordie like twang which I assume is from generations of trading and mixing with those folk who we sound more like.. I mean, you just have to listen to how Eric Burdon sounds today. He almost sounds American, completely different to his cheeky Geordie voice he had back in the 70s. And that too is from years of working in the States and picking up on how THEY say things over there

[@anglosaxon4732]

@@EvilGremlin100 haha 😂 yeah mate I said “pewel” in me head lol, I’m a monkey hanger through and through, moved to Ireland a few years back but kept my accent on purpose... people ask me if I’m Geordie, scouse, Scottish, it’s so ambiguous lol! I love my accent however I cringe when I hear it on tv as I know it’s not going to be about summit good 🤣

[@zak3744]

@@EvilGremlin100 Don't you get the same vowel sound in Yorkshire accents, with "moor" as "moo-er" for instance? I'm no linguist so I don't know how far it is true across all Yorkshire accents, but I can certainly think of friends from West Yorkshire (Hebden Bridge area) who say that vowel as a very pronounced diphthong, to the extent that it confused me (an East Anglian) when we first met!

[@michaeldavison9761]

@@anglosaxon4732 I think that pronunciation of 'work' as 'werk' exists as far as Hull and is an 'East Coast' thing. I've noticed it from Scarborough people as well as Hull residents.

[@ianwebster6874]

Love this. I'm a Teessider so some people think I'm a geordie sometimes. I've lived in Manchester for a decade so I think my accent softens a lot. I've been on dates where girls have been almost disappointed by how weak my accent is (girls who've live on Teesside themselves, or know Teessiders). Soon as I'm back in Boro it all comes straight back, or if I'm on the phone to my mates. I wish I had a recording of my Grandma though. She used to pronounce 'your' with a diphthong (You-er), which I do sometimes. Like the word 'Tour' which seems to be different all around the english speaking world (Tou-er, Tor, Tuur).

[@DangRockets]

geordies/macams/smoggies share quite a few words with Scots that don't seem to be used in the rest of England as often. "Bairn" and "bonny" being two

[@BUSHCRAPPING]

used in yorkshire too as well as laik

[@ToTaLePiCpEaNuT]

Bairn still used by many in West Yorkshire

[@DongusKongus]

They say bairn all the way down in the east midlands, it comes from Norse settlers in the Danelaw. But yeah both those words are very common in Yorkshire, as well as 'lads and lasses' just to think of another off top of my head.

[@ToTaLePiCpEaNuT]

@@DongusKongus I call every woman a lass (apart from family) and say lads nearly as often, so you correct there. Bairn is becoming less common, however, it’s a long way away from dying out. I have stated using more often simply because I prefer speaking in a traditional Yorkshire dialect from my hometown of ‘bratford’ or Bradford as is known outside of here haha

[@Vingul]

@@DongusKongus yeah, «children» is still «barn» in Norwegian. In Danish it is «børn» (pronounced almost like the English «burn»).

[@PiousMoltar]

You forgot to put that link in the description! Good stuff as usual. I'd love if you did a video about the East Anglian accents / dialects. They don't get enough attention!

[@crochet_kat]

I enjoy all of your videos, but as a north eastener I especially liked this one. I hear a difference here across generations, and my accent is much less broad than that of my parents, although my vowel sounds are generally the same. There is a huge amount of variation between different areas here though (at least to my ear!). Sunderland accents have a lot of differences to Newcastle ones (famously in the pronunciation of 'make' and 'take'), and Durham has variations too. Even the accent from South Shields, where I grew up, is distinguishable from nearby towns. I think these differences are probably easier for natives to detect, but I assume it's the same in other parts of the country?

[@anarchodolly]

Regarding the differences across generations, I definitely agree that the NE accents are generally much less broad today than previous generations, but one thing I've been noticing for a few years in Sunderland is that there seems to be a self-conscious move back to the older, stronger accent. I don't think it's just me starting to sound more like my dad as I get older, but I've noticed loads of people in their 20s have started picking up the older dialect, like pronouncing "boot" as "byut", and "face" as "fyass", both common in my my parent's generation, but definitely not among mine in the 80s and 90s. Same with the word "marra". I grew up in a former pit village in the 80s and can't remember ever hearing it then: these days it's everywhere. It's funny hearing Pitmatic dialect coming from people who weren't even born when the last pits closed. Dunno. Maybe there's some link to the regrowth of the Durham Miner's Gala: a symptom of people groping for roots and identity and something to be proud of. It'd be an interesting subject to dig into properly.

[@EvilGremlin100]

Durham is further split down, if you go towards derwentside, the tend to pronounce things a little bit closer to the style that people in Newcastle and Gateshead do, where as places like Peterlee/hartlepool and such, they sound a bit more like folk from Borough.. not saying it's exact, cos my native Derwentside twang isn't identical to a Geordie sound, but I always split Durham into a scale where those from the North end have a sound that is more like their Geordie neighbours, probably from decades and centuries of trading and picking up on the way THEY speak whereas the south end is more like Middlesbrough in sound for similar reasons.

[@pathallam986]

I think so. I spent my adolescence in a town in Somerset. If you lived there you could tell the difference between one town and another and especially between Somerset and eg Devon. Altho to most people it was all 'West Country'. Much like how to outsiders all the NE is 'Geordie'.

[@elisabethbuckley5725]

Yes it's the same in Manchester area, the Wigan, Bolton, Rochdale accents sound very different to me from east Manchester, but I can remember a colleague who is a kiwi telling me we all sound the same to her.

[@paulodingle2142]

@@anarchodolly agree I moved away years ago and when I go back it’s a different stronger accent now with the words you have put as an example

[@mickles1975]

I've noticed the diphthongs disappearing from South Yorkshire over perhaps the last thirty years. When I was a kid stone had one (stoo-an) and now it's pronounced more like storn.

[@EdwardAveyard]

What has one vowel sound in southern English has several in Yorkshire dialect. Stone - stooan. Coal - coil. Know - knaw. Go - gu. Over - ovver. Etc. I think that we Yorkshire speakers have moved towards having the same vowel in this set, as we become more influenced by standardised forms of English.

[@mickles1975]

I think so too. It's a bit saddening really.

[@EdwardAveyard]

@@mickles1975 It is happening everywhere. At least our dialect got well-documented. The work of the Yorkshire Dialect Society and the University of Leeds's dialect work meant that there is a lot of literature on Yorkshire dialect. Barry Hines's films also recorded the dialect for the southern parts of Yorkshire well. In somewhere like Hertfordshire, the dialect has disappeared and barely been recorded before going.

[@ladoboyo5452]

I noticed that some of the speakers pronounced "my" just as most other English speakers would. In my experience, myself and most other Geordies would say a short ended 'me'. Or 'mi' like the first letters of 'miso'.

[@larryjackson132]

Yeah I noticed that, but they're being asked to speak aloud written lines of dialogue. As such they wouldn't have used 'me' if 'my' was written, which is what we'd say if we were just chatting.

[@JElman1987]

As a Geordie myself, I'd probably use a "me" pronunciation in a more relaxed informal setting. Same with hyem vs. home or gan vs. going. A lot of the heavier aspects of Geordie are probably dying out due to similar reasons

[@anarchodolly]

I've always assumed that this pronunciation of "my" was a medieval / pre-Great Vowel Shift relic. From what I understand of it, the y/i vowel would have been pronounced as a long ee, and for whatever reason it's just stuck around in the North generally and the North-East particularly.

[@frogindeed]

@@anarchodolly Dedicated Geordies don't say "my" or "me" they say "wuh", generally transcribed as "wor" - "thoo's kidd'n wor"; "Are those war drums? Nah man thez their drums."

[@anarchodolly]

@@frogindeed I always thought "wor" was "our". Though come to think of it, I have sometimes headr it used as "my".

[@wallacebell9719]

Wow I’m early! Your videos have made me really interested in Germanic etymology

[@ciaranhenderson9464]

I'm a Geordie speaker and I do occasionally use the "oo" sound but mainly with 2 words, round and down. So for me "going to the shops downthe road" is a bit like "gan u' the shops doon the road".

[@GeordieHandle]

I use the oo sound for most double os; broon, toon, book, cook. Doon and roond as well.

[@philipbrookes1078]

Scran ❤

[@thomaseck3210]

@@GeordieHandle These are the old long oo sounds that still exist in all Scandinavian languages and Low German. It's hus and mus and bruun in Low German instead of High German/Standard English Haus/house Maus/mouse braun/brown. Do you also still use the old long e's as in meen instead of mine or teed instead of tide? Because I read that this used to be the same in North English dialects, again, the same as in Scandinavian and Low German. A typical example would be "min hus" instead of mein Haus (my house) in Low German.

[@ciaranhenderson9464]

@@thomaseck3210 Not to my knowledge no. On the topic of the possesive, The geordie accent uses me instead of my alot; mesel (myself)', me mam (my mum), me 'ouse (my house). I would only ever really use "my" if i was speaking slowly, since saying me without any other words next to it sounds wierd when talking about possesion.

[@TransportGeekery]

“Tyne Estuary English”. Fascinating to see you describe the surprising similarities between SE and NE English re the glottal stop. I moved from London to Newcastle and picked up the accent by the time I moved away so maybe that helped?

[@ianbarnett1035]

Thank you, Simon. There are some pockets of uvular rhoticism in Lancashire too. Remember the old Hovis ad? 'Before it were light, I'd hear our dad getting up'?

[@coraldyecoraldye7083]

I went to uni in Newcastle 20 years ago and I was in a sports club about 30 minutes drive. a local guy about my age used to pick me up and take me there. He would talk quite a lot. I did not understand a word, and occasionally if I knew it was a question I would say 'what did you say' a lot, but otherwise just nod my head. About the third time at the end he just nodded and laughed and we sat in silence. I think by about Christmas, so 3 month or so, I could understand 90% or more from the context. I learnt Chinese at uni and obviously intonation is very important. I am surprised there is not more intonation analysis by Simon, because I think I use this to distinguish often between northern accents (I grew up in midlands but attended public school where dialect was beaten out of you-) )

[@georgina3358]

This is fascinating, especially listening to the Northumbrian burr

[@jeffollerton5204]

Really fascinating Simon, many thanks. It's interesting to see the comments about 'Geordie and Northeastern' accents, with people from Sunderland, Teeside, etc. pleased that they are not being lumped in as 'Geordies'. I'm from Sunderland originally, born in 1965, and in the 70s it wasn't unusual for Sunderland folks to describe themselves as Geordies. It seems that the word originally applied to anyone from the North East - see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geordie Growing up I never heard the term 'Mackem', and a quick look on Wikipedia suggests that this began to be used as a self-identifier in the 1980s: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackem That fits - I left the North East in 1987. So not only is the accent changing around the North East, but the way that people think of themselves has also evolved over time.

[@gazwatson9559]

Love this! If you ever want to do Brummie phonology, let me know. The Black Country dialect most closely resembles Early Modern English and, when hearing Mercian Anglo-Saxon, there are still traits of this in older Brummie speakers today.

[@GeorgeSPAMTindle]

I worked for Babcocks in Tipton some years ago. One of my work colleagues told me that the Black Country accent was strongly influenced by workers wearing scarves over their nose and mouth and also not opening their mouths very wide, both in order to avoid breathing in too much smoke from the air in factories and their surroundings. It sort of makes sense, but he might have been pulling my leg.

[@hetrodoxly1203]

It's not just the accent, the words we use, 'wammel' for dog, 'Bostin' for something that's good, there's loads but one that i thought was used everywhere but it isn't is 'Gambol' forward roll.

[@GeorgeSPAMTindle]

@@hetrodoxly1203 I like the use of the word 'twisted' to mean drunk. e.g. Had a bostin' night out last night, we got so twisted that I gambolled through the front door when I got home. 'Gambol' means to frolic, according to my dictionary.

[@hetrodoxly1203]

@@GeorgeSPAMTindleIn the Birmingham area it's used for a forward roll, what some people i believe call a 'roly poly' are you from the area?

[@dunelmian-slinger]

The most Mercian traits are found in the Black Country, my mate from Derbyshire sounds like Mercian x Yorkshire though it's a fascinating mix

[@quinterbeck]

My father is from the North-east so this is really interesting stuff - I'd never noticed the clear-L coda before. I'm very surprised you didn't mention the CURE diphthong being [uə], even disyllabic sometimes - that was a very distinctive aspect of my dad's speech when I was young (now smoothed out after thirty-five years in the midlands).

[@vintagebrew1057]

Many Thanks. I was asking a Geordie in the comments about some origins of words like Spelk (splinter) and Gauk(applecore) that my friend used. Very interesting.

[@stevencarr4002]

When I was growing up I had no idea that spelk and gowk were not standard English words. When people said they didn't know what they meant I thought they were just clartin about.

[@LivyathanAD]

There was a time you could actually tell which village or town someone came from, because of their accent. Someone from the East End of Sunderland, which was influenced by the Port, was quite different to someone from Ryhope or Silksworth, barely a few miles away. But you could also tell the difference between Ryhope Village and Silksworth, which were about a mile apart. They're much closer now and we share the same accent. As do most people in Sunderland.

[@BedeFilms]

Great video. You'll have to visit Ashington one day! Great pitmatic accents there still. Thank you for covering the North East - it's a unique place.

[@tonyanderton3521]

That's very interesting. Thanks for that. I was brought up in a Northumbrian pit village in the '60s, near Bedlington. There was still a lot of dialect spoken, especially by the old miners. My dad would've pronounced some of the examples in this video as follows: Stone/styen; mouse/moose (that was very common, moose, hoose, etc); home/hyem (in Northumbrian, the initial 'h' was always pronounced very strongly). Face would be "fyess". And book would be "byuk". Hence, he would have used Fyessbyuk. Goose would've been the way Nathan here pronounces it - Amy's pronunciation is traditionally more Co. Durham way; but, sadly, I've noticed it spreading north in to Northumberland. So it's hard to say exactly where Amy grew up. Regarding the Northumbrian burr, all the old working-class men still had that in the '1960s and '70s. My dad and all his "marras" and neighbours used it. My older cousin (aged 80) still has it very strongly, but it's rarely heard in anyone under about that age (I don't have it). But this is just about accent. This video barely touches on dialect words.

[@harpingon]

Aye there's so much fantastic dialect in Northumberland. Or, there was, as I'm hearing far less of it as the years roll by.

[@tonyanderton3521]

@@harpingon Aye, I think that's certainly the case. I think the prevalence of social media over the last 2 decades has been the death-knell for the ancient county dialects, including, sad to say, Northumbrian, albeit they had been in decline for several generations before that.

[@dazedconfused2146]

Just a note on the "stone" and "bone" sound, the way it's pronounced in this video is definitely more of a Tyneside thing. Once you go up into Northumberland, we pronounce it as more of and "ur" sound, like "sturn" and "burt". You can hear it at the clip at the end in the way he pronounces "hole"

[@dazedconfused2146]

@Gizio Possibly you're from a different part of Northumberland to me? I grew up around the Alnwick & Amble area, and pretty much resolutely everyone round here with the local accent says that "ur" sound for "o"

[@GeorgeSPAMTindle]

Stotties, barms, batches, buns, rolls, and cobs, are a few of the English words used to describe small bread products in different parts of the country. There are probably many more words used to describe the same bit of bakery produce. I think that Simon would be able to make yet another very interesting video about this subject.

[@EdwardAveyard]

CBeebies keeps using that as an example to educate our kids on linguistic variation.

[@GeorgeSPAMTindle]

@@EdwardAveyard I haven't watched CBeebies for years, but it is good to know that they are educating kids about important things.

[@CharlYiffington1999]

The uvular fricative realisation of r also appears in some Irish English dialects in north-east Leinster and central Munster. In Munster this is an areal feature with the local Irish dialects but the origin of it in Leinster seems to be from a Northern English or Scottish source. Being the poor relation in English dialectology means there isn't much written about it.

[@mytube001]

Yes, quite common in Cork among older speakers.

[@jamesa2846]

In school in Northumberland I remember being told that having the accent made learning German easier, as one was already used to the sounds used in the language, though I doubt the teachers did a serious analysis. I also read once that Geordie/Northumbrian is the most 'conservative' accent ie the closest to earlier forms of English. This article discusses the theory and concludes that in some ways it is, but not all. www.languagesoftheworld.info/historical-linguistics/geordie-closest-dialect-anglo-saxon.html

[@seanabbins5481]

The material in the beginning of the video, the glutteral stuff, reminded me of Dublin urban accents. Perhaps that accent can be a subject of future videos. It's like Geordie in the characteristics you discuss early in the video, but not in the second half of the video.

[@marisadaniela6]

I grew up feeling strange because I was always so interested in speech and accents and the like. It was a huge gift studying theatre at university and I feel it helped me to the top of the class in dialects and accent work. Finding this channel is an absolute treat. I know exactly zero people in my life who would care to discuss such topics😆 A very large Thank You from me

[@Sindraug25]

I have a friend from Oregon (NW USA), and in words which I would use a glottal stop, he uses a D sound. Examples: I use glottal stops in Latin, button, patent. He says Ladin, buddon, padent.

[@silvananivis9867]

Heh, as a non native speaker who does this, this makes me happy 😂

[@alisonjane7068]

interesting! i pronunce the "t" in those words as a glottal stop (i'm from texas), but it is extremely common in the u.s. to pronounce "t" as "d" in words like "butter," "water," "letter," "matter," etc.

[@IngridRollema]

@Sindraug25: Is your friend a native Oregonian, and if so, how old is he? Where are/were his parents from? I'm in my 40s, born and lived in Oregon my entire life save for about 10 years in North Carolina (other side of the US, the South, which has its own spectrum of dialects). When I speak them, the words Latin, button, patent all have a T sound in the middle, but not as a glottal stop. But, like @Alison Jane, the T is more of a D in words such as butter, water, letter, etc., unless that T sound is pronounced for emphasis.

[@Sindraug25]

@@IngridRollema He is a native, from Hillsboro. He's 41, and his parents were also from there.

[@IngridRollema]

@@Sindraug25 Interesting. I grew up in the Albany/Corvallis/Lebanon area, an hour and a half south of Hillsboro.

[@shandyooo]

Simon, I think you’d find each column of the Welsh valley’s fascinating. They merge together near the north of the ‘heads’ and diverge along each valley, then drift and rejoin in the south as it gets closer to Bristol. A lot of people from valleys can tell what streets you grew up on with the variants in dialects.

[@abinyxx]

I live in Alnwick, and some people here sound like vikings. The dialect is so broad.

[@martindegn690]

My mate lives in Alnwick too

[@Haru23a]

Did you speak a lot with the Vikings?

[@mastaw]

@Gizio the Jackal it happens lol

[@full_time_motorhome]

We use a lot of words with French and European influence. We used to go plodgin as a kid which is paddling on the beach. The French word for beach is la plage. Also I know a lot of people who refer to the house as the hoos. Pronounced exactly as in Amsterdam huis. Crazy.

[@martindegn690]

@@full_time_motorhome Excuse me. What is European influence? And why is it mentioned as a seperate entity from French and English? For the last time, The British Isles are a part of Europe. Call it mainland European influence if you must differ between them

[@Glassy967]

Another great video! There's still a noticeable difference between Northumbrian (Ashington, Blyth, Newbiggin) and standard Geordie. There are still a few people left (mainly from the Newbiggin) that speak with a 'Northumbrian Burr' but that will die out as there is no-one - that I've ever heard anyway - younger that speaks like that. Also, I think there's a lot of the younger speakers (including me) that depending on who we're speaking to say either "house" or "hoose", it's quite fun saying "there's a moose (mouse) loose aboot tha hoose"

[@MazdaChris]

My wife and her family are all from the North East (with me being form the south-ish) so I've had a lot of exposure to a spectrum of Geordie type accents. It hadn't struck me that yem and home were essentially the same word but it makes sense. When you talk about the word 'here' being pronounced 'heeya', reminds me that there are variations of NE accent which would pronounce 'face' something like 'fyes'; you can start to see a kind of 'home, hyem, yem' relationship.

[@Adam0k]

That accent at the end reminds me of some of the stranger ones you get in the far west of Ireland, which are quite conservative accents as far as I understand. They also have the uvular R so perhaps that suggests it used to be quite common in all older dialects of English?

[@davidlittle7182]

The uvularisation was a comic impression of my parents' and their parents' generation in Lanarkshire, the most prominent being Ernie Walker of the Scottish FA (although that actually might have been an impediment). Regarding Kevin Bridges, don't forget there is often a strong Irish influence for descendants of Irish in and around Glasgow - e.g. pronouncing 'where' like 'werr' - that doesn't exist in the rest of Scotland

[@Gruntelfluk]

An interesting variation in central Scotland dialects is the use of the word 'ken' meaning 'know'. 'Ken' in everyday speech is used almost throughout the whole of the central belt with the exception of Glasgow, Renfrewshire and parts of Lanarkshire.

[@lindaj5492]

I’m Glaswegian and recall hearing “ken” - as in the implied insult, “Did ye ken yer ain faither?” Glaswegians are good at that type of thing 😂

[@alisharosey7948]

I'm pretty sure Amy is from South or East Durham as she doesn't sound like a Geordie compared to the man you also had. I live in north Durham 10 mins from Newcastle city centre and we speak proper Geordie but you can hear non-Geordie accents and changes depending on which towns you go to. You can tell which town someone is from based on their Geordie accent or other NE accent. It's a shame the dialect is dying out. After generation X, it will have almost completely died out apart from by a few council estate kids. Thanks for doing this video. P.s- On Wikipedia it says that Geordie is influenced by Irish settlers too (this is the first time I've read that). Maybe you could investigate that if you ever cover this again.

[@dunelmian-slinger]

East Durham accents vary quite a bit within themselves, there is a definite difference between Seaham, Easington, Peterlee/Horden and Blackhall.

[@CaptainSiCo]

My dad’s side of the family are from Annfield Plain/Stanley (NW Durham) and my grandad would often say “thou” (pronounced “thew”) or “tha” to mean “you”.

[@painauchocolate2395]

Fantastic video Simon, great work as always. I hope your masters degree is going well

[@MilylovesGod]

I was watching a video on English accents and this one came up fresh 💙

[@dunelmian-slinger]

The accent changes from town to town as you head down the Durham coast from Wearside to Teesside. Seaham is basically Mackem and retains the characteristic [ew] sound for the MOUTH vowel which stands out as salient to us from Easington. Easington is also similar to Mackem but with a more standard English [au] rather than [ew] in words like town. A slight Teesside vibe creeps in once you cross over into Peterlee/Horden with more Teesside renditions of the FACE and START vowels beginning to assert themselves, but still, it’s more Mackem/Pitmatic on balance. This Teesside influence then ramps up at Blackhall where the more fronted Teesside START vowel is favoured over the backed Mackem variant , however, they still retain Pitmatic words and phrases. Hartlepool is basically Teesside and Pitmatic dialect dies hard at Crimdon - “whey aye” is replaced by “well aye” too and they pick up the characteristic Teesside NURSE vowel in words like “work” and “shirt”. Well that’s basically my summary of a long paper I just read on the topic which is consistent with my own personal experiences.

[@fatty3383]

I'm a Geordie and it's brilliant listening to the origins of the accent.

[@Tarasevich_00]

The Non Rhoticity of northern accents with pronouncing an R unless it’s followed by a vowel is true. I was born in Liverpool but raised in rural Lancashire until I was 6, half of my family is northern, proper wools, old school northern accents the other half is scouse as can be. I(mum and dad) moved to Australia when I was 6 and I’ve been here ever since, I go back to see family and spent upto 6 months there not too long ago. My girlfriend picks up so much on how I do this amongst other things and it’s quite interesting to see I’ve bought that to how I currently talk ( I sound as Australian as anyone else that’s always been here ).

[@nomadicmonkey3186]

My confidence as a somewhat functional ESL speaker got destroyed by this accent.

[@chitlitlah]

Don't feel bad. My confidence as an EFL speaker got destroyed by that part at the end.

[@Sindraug25]

Don't worry; English is my first language, and I barely understood any of it. "Gibberish, gibberish, gibberish, you don't know, you couldn't hear, gibberish, gibberish, gibberish, Joe wanted to blast the place up, and gibberish, and I lost another one."

[@brokengothdoll6203]

I was born in London but came to "Geordie-land" when I was 3. 52 years later I still struggle with the accent!

[@Ithirahad]

Yeh, don't worry, most first-language speakers are right there with you.

[@netzdame]

Oh I'm glad I'm not the only one. As we say in German: Ich habe nur Bahnhof verstanden...."

[@EpicBlooFox]

I’d love to see a video on welsh accents and their predecessors

[@Rolando_Cueva]

Simon, if you know a lot about linguistics you are a linguist. Knowledge is much more valuable than a piece of paper. And everybody makes mistakes, a piece of paper wouldn’t make you immune. Cheers mate!

[@calmeilles]

One thing about Geordie is that variations are *very* localised. I was taught at Uni by Dr Bill Lancaster who said, and demonstrated, that he could tell with a half mile where a Geordie grew up by the way they spoke. So the differences between your speakers come as no surprise to me. Here's Bill speaking - and you can hear Blaydon kzbin.info/www/bejne/foWwnJxvZtOJo5I

[@micknufc]

I live in Cramlington on the border of North Tyneside and there is three different dialects in this town alone. Blyth stands out a mile from us and Bedlington. they are both walking distance away. I can tell Whitley bay compared to north shields, but though they hate to admit it, North and South shields very much share a lot of words and twang, my wife and in laws are from South shields and i know this is a fact, twang changes in Whitburn and Boldon to Wearside which is off the map different to Geordie and Northumbrian in sound, but words and sayings, exactly the same.

[@blewjonny]

Simon - it's not so much that the front vowels were affected more than the back vowels during the Great vowel Shift in the North but that, due to the fronting of ME /o:/ (to /ø:/ then unrounded to /e:/ and finally diphthongised to /ɪə/), the lack of pressure being exerted in the close mid vowel space meant that the close vowel /u:/ remained unaffected (and thus remained /u:/). In the south, of course, ME /o:/ was raised to /u:/ forcing the diphthongisation of ME /u:/ via /ʊu/ then /əʊ/anf finally /aʊ/.

[@surfboarding5058]

Bro I’d love you to do a video on the barbadian accent!! I hear so many similarities between northern accents and my own Barbadian accent actually we also say the vowels in name and stone exactly like geordies !

[@jayveebloggs9057]

wow i've noticed that too. Aberdeen accent too

[@surfboarding5058]

@@jayveebloggs9057 Scottish right? Many similarities between northern English and Scottish and all these Influenced Caribbean accents

[@jayveebloggs9057]

@@surfboarding5058 no Geordie but about 60 miles from Scottish border....

[@physiocrat7143]

Darren Grimes has a characteristic Geordie accent. The y in Gyetshead is reminiscent of palatalisation in Russian.

[@Zelkable]

darren grimes does not have a geordie accent

[@physiocrat7143]

@@Zelkable Where would you place his accent?

[@94still5]

I remember hearing stone pronounced styen. The phrase “give ower hessin styens” springs to mind. The e could be long like how we would say air or short like in hen. T at the start of some words is ty as in tyeble (table) and tyettie (tatie-potato). Hard to distinguish from ch. Also we have nen and nene instead to none, fyass for face. From east Co. Durham (Haswell)

[@HalfManThirdBiscuit]

As a former Nottingham resident I'd love a video on that region. I could never even imitate it.

[@solidbronze]

Fascinating stuff. Durham accents tend to split into four, broadly north, south, east and west. Derwentside, in particular, is very Newcastle-y, whereas East Durham is more a Sunderland/pitmatic mix. Peterlee can be quite Middlesbrough. The Dales are different again. I'm from Ferryhill, and have a mix of these (though very little of the Tyneside variant). As a result, words like 'school' are pronounced differently in each area - I can think of four variants: 'skew-wel' (two syllabels), 'skooowl' (a very long diphthong sounding very 'w'-y), 'skooal' or a very short 'skool'. Apologies, I'm not overly familiar with the phonetic alphabet! Four versions of 'book' too: 'booo-wk', 'bouk', 'buk', 'bewk'. This is obviously only my own Orton Survey. I suspect I'm distantly related to him...

[@dunelmian-slinger]

Within the East Durham Seaham and Murton are similar to Mackem. Easington is similar to Mackem as well but without the "ew" sound in words like town "tewn" and about "abewt", as an Easingtonian this sound stands out like a sore thumb to me when I hear Seaham/Wearside people speak, but generally our dialect is very close to theirs. We use all the same words and phrases as they do. Peterlee-Horden is still similar to Easington but you have a bit Teesside influence coming in at this point which is detectable to locals. Teesside influence sets in more strongly at Blackhall, though Blackhall people do still use a lot of Pitmatic vocab even if they have Poolie-influenced accents, Hartlepool is very Teesside-like and they stop using Pitmatic words there, they say "well aye" rather than "whey aye" too.

[@Harmonikdiskorde]

Connecticut English also has the glottal stop -- ask any of us to say "Latin".

[@EnigmaticLucas]

Not exactly the same thing, but I’m pretty sure the hyphen in “uh-oh” is pronounced as a glottal stop by all English speakers

[@petermsiegel573]

This is a standard feature of SAE- realization of t in many contexts by a glottal stop optionally followed by an unreleased t. The simple glottal stop is most common before syllabic n as here.

[@stevenvarner9806]

Glottal stops to replace the T in words like Latin and button is fairly common in U.S. speech. I have a Southwestern U.S. accent, and I use a glottal stop for these words and a flap/tap (d-like sound) for words like better and butter. I have noticed that increased use of a hard glottal stop for T in other words like imporTant is becoming more common. I still pronounce that T, or use a light stop in quick speech.

[@marcoftheshaw]

Im from the very north of yorkshire. we speak a different tongue to english. it is mainly old norse and anglic...both danish tongues from different time scales. it is largely mutual understandable with modern english...but with many phrases and words and inflections that are unique...more akin to icelandic...look up how many norse words are in everyday yorkshire...and many farmers still count their livestock in old norse Skal Wulf

[@LearnRunes]

That example at the start just made me say, "Wow!"

[@CL-tv7pz]

I live in Newcastle and this is so damn interesting. Kudos to you sir.

[@nbell63]

mildly amused (and, admittedly, it often takes very little to amuse me) at the pronunciation of the software as 'prart' given the focus on Geordies (an' tha like). Really enjoy these - cheers! 😊

[@joesingleton3649]

I’m from Teesside and our accent has aspects Merseyside, for example a Geordie would pronounce “car” like “cor” as we pronounce it the very scouse “Caah” aswell as a lot of Scottish slang like “hoy” for throw

[@algrant5293]

Can I ask you a question? I remember hearing (talked about in a news report) recordings done by German guards in a concentration camp during the first war. They were mostly taken of Scots, Irish and North of England POWs who were talking, reciting something or singing. It was very touching and sad as you could hear accents that have died away since. I was wondering if you knew how I could find them again

[@lauraarmbruster973]

As a broad mackem I found this very interesting 👏

[@michaelbedford8017]

As someone who lives in Malmo, Sweden, which is only 10km from Denmark. Geordie is almost identical to Danish in it's sing-song but completely different to Swedish.

[@philipusher4282]

As someone who was born and brought up in Newcastle, but who lives in Copenhagen, Denmark, I can tell you that it is definitely not the case that Geordie and Danish are almost identical in a sing-song way. Actually, the Skånsk pronunciation and what you call "sing-song" reminds me more of some of the North-Eastern accents than Danish does.

[@jerotoro2021]

So English diphthongs. We have the open-to-close pairs /aɪ/ and /aʊ/, one to the front, one to the back. We have the mid-to-close pairs /eɪ/ and /oʊ/, again one in the front, one in the back. Then we have the cross-up diphthong /ɔɪ/, which goes back to front. Is there any reason why English doesn't have /ɔɪ/'s counterpart /ɛʊ/? I know, many dialects will realize /oʊ/ or /aʊ/ sounds as [ɛʊ], but it officially isn't a distinct vowel sound. I have a thought that this sound does exist, but it became what we call /ju/ like in cute, huge, new, and beauty. Linguists seem to write the sound as a consonant /j/, but it seems that it should be a diphthong /iu/ or /ɨu/, since the sound is almost always represented by the vowel 'u' in writing, and never implied by the preceding consonant. But I'm no linguist, so I could be wrong lol.

[@harbourdogNL]

My Dad grew up in Wallsend, but moved to Canada in 1952. We went to visit my Gran in 1970, and Dad took me to the whippet races one Sunday. There were a few old codgers standing around nattering, speaking the broadest Geordie you can imagine, and 11 year old me understood not a word! I asked Dad what language they were speaking!

[@benr970]

I’m from a small town in Northumberland but ended up playing football in wallsend, I grew up only 30 miles away but could barely understand some of the old guys with a strong Geordie accent

[@harbourdogNL]

@@benr970 Best accent in the UK though!

[@jayveebloggs9057]

I was in New York with my mate about 30 years ago and the accent always gets stronger once we have had a drink or two. someone asked us what language we were speaking... odder than that some bar tender asked us where we are from. We said "think of the language you speak" as a clue ... Denmark? Germany?, Norway? dear me...

[@benr970]

@@jayveebloggs9057 not got a massively strong accent but definitely gets stronger when I’m drinking! I’ve also been asked if I’m South African or polish!

[@jayveebloggs9057]

@@benr970 same here.. i'v e had Australian and Irish...?

[@junctionfilms6348]

the Uvular 'gghhhrrr' you mention - I think that occurred in the north in general, at least, I have heard it was in Lancashire

[@simonkeegan5580]

The glottal stop in butter would also be used in Manchester

[@MoominGhoul]

Can you look at County Durham some time - especially the Bishop Auckland area?

[@howey935]

Yes I’d like a video on that I’m just along the road in spenny

[@terryloveuk]

I don't know much about all this accent stuff, (my grandparent were from Hartlepool, so as a small kid I was exposed to Pitmatic now and then during the 1950s/1960s) but have you ever listened to the way the character Wally Batty spoke in "Last of the Summer Wine" - set in Yorkshire (west Riding I think). He spoke with what I think you call a Rhotic R. He seemed to be the only character did this, it was quite interesting.

[@firestorm47]

Intervocalic glottal reinforcement followed by no release seems relatively common in Dundee (in words like "superman"). Don't have any audio examples though sadly.

[@wyattwahlgren8883]

I would be interested in watching a video about the general difference between American and British accents, with a focus on how it happened rather than how they're different.

[@big_dave_7178]

The two speakers are clearly younger people with a more standardised dialect. A lot of older people round here still say 'moose'. Even younger speakers who use standardised pronunciation might use older pronunciation for emphasis or when talking to older folks.

[@williamcooke5627]

I believe that the use of initial v, z, and voiced th (which became d) in place of standard English f, s, and unvoiced th does go bck to OE. Nor was it always confined to the West Country. It was well attested as late as about 1900 in Sussex and in Middle English also in Kent and (I think) Surrey. The same shift is found in Dutch, and the earliest Germanic settlers of England may have brought it with them.

[@dreamsof3dspace555]

That old Northumbrian R is interesting. In Middlesbrough I've noticed the older generation use a tapped R sometimes like Japanese and it feels very close. Obviously in this older accent it seems to be closer to a French R but I can *feel* how it might have been similar a long time ago. Just guessing though.

[@meadish]

So as regards the word 'stone', 1600s English appears to have had a pronunciation situation similar to some parts of Swedish today. Swedish 'sten' is pronounced with a long vowel that sounds similar to the pronunciations Simon exemplifies around 6:57. I don't know how to do IPA in YT comments, but anyway, so this is just quasi-phonetic, but around Stockholm it sounds a bit like 'ste:an' or even 'sti:an' in some younger speakers, whereas a bit further up north in the country, the 'e:' vowel is still somewhat more of a monophthong.

[@mew11two]

I don't think that speaker from the 50s was pronouncing S like an 'sh' as you transcribed. It sounds more like a retracted s like in Glaswegian English, Castilian Spanish and Dutch.

[@skyfall-t8p]

I'm a little bit confused, but if you retract /s/ doesn't it become a /ʃ/? As for the Spanish /s/, I think I saw on Wikipedia that the Castilian sound is apical, whereas the speaker in the video sounds laminal to me.

[@maxhoughtonmusic]

Interesting stuff, would love to see a similar video about north western accents, I believe they have influences from both Norwegian and Northern Irish accents

[@EdwardAveyard]

He's done loads of videos on Cumbrian.

[@maxhoughtonmusic]

@@EdwardAveyard true, I mean more Liverpool-ish

[@EdwardAveyard]

@@maxhoughtonmusic Ah! That would be completely different from Cumbrian. Liverpool has influence from Irish and Welsh. Not sure about Norwegian. It is harder to analyse that, as there are few written analyses on the phonetics of Irish or Welsh at the time that Liverpool was growing.

[@aeroz6228]

Do a video about welsh,Scottish, and Irish accents in the past.

[@jetwaffle1116]

Little thing about that [ɪə] diphthong, there’s a really weird form of that that is spoken in the western parts (and maybe further east, I’m not certain) of Northern Ireland, where we pronounce that [ɪə] as, and this is my best shot at writing this in IPA, /iʝɐ/ or /iʝə/. I’m not quite so sure how to write this phonetically for three phonemes, but that sound is considered by quite a few people to be one syllable. It only happens sometimes though. For example, I would say [bɪəs] (base) or [ˈfɪə.vɚ] (favour), but [niʝɐm] (name) or [ˈbiʝɐn] (bane). I have a feeling that the rule for this distinction has got to do with fricatives. By that I mean that if a fricative is close to the diphthong (or triphthong?), then the voiced palatal fricative [ʝ] is dropped and it is reduced to [ɪə], compared to [iʝə] or [iʝɐ] everywhere else

[@mac5565]

Sorry to reply to such an old comment, but I found this quite interesting. My intuition is that the difference is caused by the following nasal consonant raising the vowel (a bit like what happens in "mat" vs. "man" in American English). Which variant would you get in "fame" "cake" "danger", for instance? That [ʝ] being added in the middle is not something I've noticed when listening to NI speakers, but I'll definitely have to listen out for it from now on!

[@jackking5567]

Oh gosh I've waited a very long time for you to mention North Eastern accents - I'm very much rooted in a particular accent type in that region. Quick story first: In the early 1970s I was at primary school and they'd brought in an 'expert' whose job it was to try balancing out certain pupils speech and I was one such pupil. I'd done nothing wrong, I'm very intelligent but teachers hated my accent to the degree that I was classified as a child with a special need and was required to 'catch up' by a year due to this. (I'd passed every test and was damned clever but they regarded my accent as wrong!!) Long story short they failed with me. My accent and use of words is incredibly strong and being the stubborn b*stard that I am, I refused to go down their desired route. Gosh I can still remember those 'experts' telling me to shape my mouth in certain ways in an attempt to get me to speak with a different accent. It was like some form of abuse. In the end they wanted me to climb up a level with my learning or I would never be allowed to escape being classed as a special needs child. I did that in two months. Me doing that meant that I was now cleverer than the rest of my class who'd laughed at my predicament! I hated schools, every single one of them but hey ho! Anyway.. Amy has a South Tyneside twang to her accent. For us locals it can be very very obvious. She might be from North of the Tyne but perhaps a parent influenced part of her speech. Something I learned from experience and my love of local history is the movement of people in times gone by would also influence accents in the North East. My own ancestors for example originated in Cumbria (it's said that we came from 'Norse stock') and worked agriculture. The coal mines were starting and the promise of better lives dragged them over to the Durham Coast first and eventually up to South East Northumberland. Coal mining has had a huge influence on our local accents. Experienced miners were lured in from both Cornwall and from Germany. I don't speak German but for some reason I understand about half of what is spoken to me by a German - it's uncanny! My particular area also has what I would call a second language - Pitmatic. That's now dying out fast but I do try to include it in speech. The older folk love it if I use some Pitmatic words when talking to them :) Today my local accent is vanishing fast. Even your younger helpers in todays video sound slightly 'posh' to me. We're seeing a massive influx of people relocating to the North East from other areas (Outer London being one) and also the influence of media such as television. It's a shame but I'll try to keep my unique and little understood language going for as long as I can! Great video and in my opinion too short. The North East is a hot spot of unique language and could provide hours of entertainment for you.

[@markusass]

I could understand the northerners perfectly well. In fact, there's some cross-over in certain words with fenboys in Cambridgeshire. Both dialects come from Anglian (English) though.

[@EriniusT]

well yes... all English dialects come from Anglian

[@jayveebloggs9057]

Top class work Simon... looking very 1969

[@westminsterabbey.6916]

Interestingly that closing audio clip of the Cumbrian gentleman reminded me of that now famous interview with that Irish sheep farmer who’d had a large number of his yews stolen.

[@user-bf8ud9vt5b]

2:02 The Australian accent has a similar form of t. The t on the end of a word, like 'but', is pronounced but the final plosive is not voiced. I'm not sure why this pronunciation is regarded a glottal stop, as the sound is not held back in the throat more like in the Cockney accent? The t sound is fully realised, just the final plosive is not released.

[@mike-0451]

Nathan would be a pretty good voice actor

[@stevedennis6733]

When I worked in the North East, the locals were proud of the fact that Scandinavian people could roughly follow what was being said there, especially if their accent was broad Geordie, Tyneside or 'Pitmatic' (the dialect spoken in the pits) I don't know whether this is Geordie folklore or actually stems from the fact that Vikings settled in the area. Can you do a piece on Pitmatic? It seems to be a dialect within a dialect. The main feature I remember is the word 'boots' (boo-ats in Geordie) which becomes 'Byoots' in Pitmatic.

[@kevinadamson7571]

Steve Dennis I'm from south west Durham and I would say pitmatic accent is still used especially by the older generation . If you go 10 miles north it is more geordie and 10 miles south a cross between north yorkshire and teeside . Every village around has a slight variation and sometimes use words not known or understood eve as little as five miles away . Pitmatic came about with miners moving about to different mines so they all understood each other in the Durham mines .

[@tonyanderton3521]

Steve, in Northumbrian or Geordie, the word 'boots' would be pronounced 'byuts' rather than 'byoots'. That does seem to be a Scandinavian influence.