🥸🤔What’s the Oldest English Dialect? | Americans React 😂🇬🇧

Hey guys! We react to Simon Roper talking about the oldest English dialect, is there is one, what it might be.
Editor: Leah Robinson
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[@katedidcock8849]

Simon Roper is awesome 👌 👏

[@karensmith2215]

Felipe and Lilian. This is interesting. My late partner Sam's grandfather was an officer in the Black Watch in the trenches during the first World War. The men in his charge were from north eastern England. His grandfather told me that his men understood what they heard being said across no man's land, from German troops originating in Friesland, better than they understood their own officers.

[@andrewjones575]

Thousands of years ago, the people of the British Isles spoke Celtic languages.

[@pumbar]

Hmmm

[@andrewjones575]

@@pumbar The English language didn't exist then.

[@pumbar]

@@andrewjones575 I'd beg to differ.

[@Rock_God]

The Northumbrian accent and the Geordie accent are different. Try talking to a Northumbrian hill farmer and you will be hard pressed to understand him. They are generally not bi-dialectal and do not speak in ‘Standard English’ at all. Northumbrian is said to be a dialect of Old English or Anglo Saxon.

[@gary.h.turner]

Lillian's eating for two now, I see!🤱👶 😂

[@carlhartwell7978]

Lol, _He didn't really answer the question._ The good historians often don't, history is often subjective and a historians 'job' is often to just collate known facts, backed up by any number of sources. And depending upon the validity of the sources (whether they are primary, secondary or tertiary, and depending on the relative strengths and weaknesses of those sources when cross referenced), the student can make their own minds up about what that information means. It's usually very much not an exact science, but a very interesting one nevertheless! This chap lays what he's learned out in a very entertaining way...if the history of linguistics is what your into! Personally I find any history fascinating.

[@paulharrison8379]

Simon Roper shows his ability in two "Dutch Language | Can English speakers understand it?" videos by Ecolinguist in which English speakers from different countries try to translate Dutch. Simon Roper does very well at understanding Dutch because of his understanding of Anglo Saxon and Old German which are closer to Dutch than modern English with all of its French words.

[@antrewt]

My favourite new search term is 'Americans react'. It's like exploring the deviations of the British mind that decided to go on holiday for a few centuries rather then stay at home.

[@davebirch1976]

Being from Yorkshire, to me "Court" and "caught" soud identical but "coat" is different

[@HayhurstChris]

Not to me, but then our Yorkshire accent/dialect changes massively even within our county

[@eddhardy1054]

In North London caught and court are the same too.

[@andywotjuno9954]

@@HayhurstChris I agree, if I was to spell out the word court and caught the way I say them it would be something like this coo’ort and cort. Both sound completely different from each other.

[@pumbar]

Same here in Merseyside/Cheshire.

[@eddhardy1054]

@@andywotjuno9954 I think in London we're inherently lazy so caught and court are both pronounced cort 😔

[@billysmith3841]

My dialect is a Yorkshire Dales dialect. Interestingly shepherds in the Dales including my father still counted sheep in a Brythonic language until quite recently. Google that I think that will interest you.

[@lesjames5191]

I have friends in the Durham Dale's who count sheep the same way.

[@pumbar]

Other search engines are available...

[@HayhurstChris]

@@pumbar what a pointless response, its a modern day term of phrase 😂

[@pumbar]

@@HayhurstChris I am not a fan of google.

[@HayhurstChris]

@@pumbar thats fine, and i can understand it regarding how that company operates, most who use the internet are aware of other engines, i myself use duck duck go, you can have a thought without posting something friend

[@tick999]

Wow, can't believe you reacted to this, so cool. I've been following Simon for a while. Love language. You might enjoy a documentary called 'The Story of English - Mother Tongue'

[@eddhardy1054]

Sorry Lily but English is tonal just not in the same way as Mandarin. If I say 'really' it can be a statement or question depending on tone. Also regarding plurals we have three: 1(s) ship/ships, dog/dogs. 2(en) child/children, ox/oxen. 3(vowel mutation) goose/geese, mouse/mice. and some words don't change at all sheep/sheep, cod/cod. 😊

[@annother3350]

Noice

[@penname5766]

That’s not the same thing. Whether something is a statement or a question doesn’t fundamentally alter the meaning of the word itself. “Really” can be used in different ways but you could keep the tone the same in each instance and people would still understand the subtle differences in usage based on the context. If you inflect it, for example, as you say it can be a question, but if you don’t because it precedes an adjective (eg really good) then obviously it’s being used for emphasis in that situation but the tone doesn’t have much to do with anything. Lilian is talking about the case where if you change the tone of a word it completely alters the meaning. Also, they might be American but they speak English, so they know how our language works.

[@penname5766]

PS not being aggressive, it’s just interesting to debate it 😃

[@eddhardy1054]

@@penname5766 I clearly said English is tonal "just not in the same way"

[@eddhardy1054]

@@penname5766 As to them being American so they know how English works, Lily did even know English was an inflected language so don't assume anything mate.

[@TheAnonyy]

The houses /huses one is Scots many of these examples he's said are spoken in Scotland. I'm English but live in Scotland. It more of a slang language, not all Scottish speak this way depends which part your from, not all sound Scottish some sound very English. I'm not sure why but I wouldn't say their backgrounds were middle class or anything, but I've seen in in Glasgow

[@ryanevation]

Apparently the Dublin accent is one of the oldest english accents which actually influenced cockney and possibly brummy during the building of the canals by Irish navvies

[@DerekDerekDerekDerekDerekDerek]

Nah

[@normanwallace7658]

English is basically a mongral language taking on parts of every language of those who have invaded or sought refuge, or we have later ruled since the ancient Britons from Rome to the Raj !! & is still a work in process??

[@HayhurstChris]

English is a tonal language, take the Yorkshire dialect for example, "hey'up" means different things depending on how its said.

[@DA-md6ki]

Yorkshire also has a lot of old Scandinavian lingo from the when the Vikings invaded.

[@willrichardson519]

Svensk and Norsk are apparently the only tonal European languages.

[@HayhurstChris]

@@willrichardson519 no idea, English is tonal also, i live around it, i hear it daily

[@ac1455]

@@HayhurstChris idk about dialects, but wiki doesn’t state English, Swedish, or Norwegian as tonal, instead having pitch accents.

[@HayhurstChris]

@@ac1455 wiki not a great source mate

[@davidrowlands441]

About two years ago I saw a post by a linguistics expert and the subject was the change in the English language over the last seven hundred years. Just two hundred years ago it was very difficult to understand what was being said and in Shakespeare's times I understood nothing of what was said. I don't agree with his comparison to American accents. It's my belief that the American accent came in the mid 19th century onwards when immigration to the US was from more European countries because that's how Europeans tend to speak English ie with an American accent.

[@mickmackem1479]

One word can mean many things in north east England

[@davidlericain]

I love Simon Roper. One of my favorites. But I'm a language nerd and his style for some reason is like catnip for me. lol

[@katedidcock8849]

My grandchildren have English American speech. They say diapers, yard etc.

[@willrichardson519]

Don't they watch Peppa Pig?! ;-)

[@johnnoble2901]

I'm surprised he did not speak of Frys, the language of Friesland in the Netherlands. It is said to be the only language that is close to Anglo-Saxon and that is not surprising considering where the Jutes and the Saxons came from. As for my own manner of speaking, I am a linguistic chameleon. The first form of English I can remember speaking was that of Rural Yorkshire south of the river Ouse and close to the Lincolnshire border. I had been evacuated to live with my father's sister. When I returned to a London primary school, this was in wartime, my accent marked me as the odd one in the playground. The first affirmative that I remember using, was "AYE" not YES. gradually I conformed to the Sarff Eass London speak that was all around me. I could go on. As an adult, after 2 years in Singapore I would sometimes find my self speaking with Singaporean/Malaysian suffixes to certain words: Okay-aah??. - like that. I suddenly realised that I was doing it in a loud voice when all the Europeans near me were turning round a staring. .

[@patrickbriscall7934]

Thank you for introducing me to Simon Roper. Fascinating! Although not suitable for a reaction video, if you’re interested in the history of the English language, look out for the books: Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in original Middle English, or The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland in Old English. Ædelgyde Ellendæda on Wundorlande.

[@davebirch1976]

"he re-enacts what an Anglo saxon accent would have looked like" 🤔😂

[@billysmith3841]

We know there were different old English dialects

[@billysmith3841]

“Looked” sorry

[@michaelwhite8031]

I think he said it's not important where the language came from but why. It's kind of strange that the kanji in ancient Japanese has more of a relationship to Chinese than Japanese. If you show the kanji on the Tang of a Japanese sword to a Chinese person they are more likely to understand it. The old Formal Japanese Court language has far more in common to Chinese. Japanese high culture came from China.

[@ac1455]

Possibly the lack of foreign contact besides Korea and they had a syllabary to describe the sounds precisely.

[@nedeast6845]

In Australia, they use "fair dinkum" in different ways....if someone tells you a story, you answer "fair dinkum?" with the tone rising, so you kind of believe them; you are amazed, but not sure. Then there is the "awww fair dinkum" if you are just pissed off about something...Then there is the "I met this guy, fair dinkum, he was 7 feet tall" like you need to convince the listener. Then finally there is the "he is/it's fair dinkum, mate" which means someone or something is 100% truthful or real.

[@eadweard.]

Lilian's got her popcorn again!

[@annother3350]

Its like having someone behind you in the cinema!

[@eadweard.]

@@annother3350 lol. Btw is that Richard madely in yr pic?

[@annother3350]

@@eadweard. haha! no !It's Gerry Sundquist - handsome 70s actor who died too young

[@Arcticwolf1964]

Hard to concentrate while Lillian is munching on popcorn 🍿 😕

[@DudleyBlue]

I am from the Black Country in the West Midlands and We speak in a very distinctive way!!!! We use a lot of slang words in our vocabulary, I have always been led to believe that the Black Country dialect is the closest thing We have to old English….

[@tommyxbones5126]

Confusing stuff but interesting nonetheless

[@annother3350]

Hungry Lillian?!

[@pumbar]

Cravings more like.

[@pauljohnson2982]

Sorry- I got more excited watching Lillian stuffing herself with the pop-corn..😅! Ps, 'stuffing one's-self'- an old Cumbrian expression for eating energetically after one gives birth. (Pps- any chance sometime of 'doing' your take on the royal family & the 'eco-crisis ?!?).

[@colinglen4505]

The bush was very distracting.

[@ps5user155]

I’m willing to say Scots is the oldest

[@willrichardson519]

A brambly video, in parts.

[@RushfanUK]

Utter tedium, he should stick to digging up the past.

[@davidhookway514]

The county of Dorset in Southern England is Still Heavy on the 'R' in Pronunciation. Also Somerset.

[@willrichardson519]

Broadly in the west country

[@DerekDerekDerekDerekDerekDerek]

Also devon and Cornwall. All of the south west really.