Dialect Writing And The North Of England

Investigates how dialect variation in the North of England is represented in writing.

Analysing examples from 18th century literary texts through to 21st century social media, this is the first comprehensive collection to explore dialect writing in the North of England. The book also considers broad questions about dialect writing in general: What is it? Who does it? What types of dialect writing exist? How can linguists interpret it?Bringing together a wide range of contributors, the book investigates everything from the cultural positioning and impact of dialect writing to the mechanics of how authors produce dialect spellings (and what this can tell us about the structure of the dialects represented). The book features a number of case studies, focusing on dialect writing from all over the North of England, considering a wide range of types of text, including dialect poetry, translations into dialect, letters, tweets, direct speech in novels, humorous localised volumes, written reports of conversations and cartoons in local newspapers.

This volume gives a detailed overview of the varieties of English spoken on the British Isles, including lesser-known varieties such as those spoken in Orkney and Shetland and the Channel Islands. The chapters, written by widely acclaimed specialists, provide concise and comprehensive information on the phonological, morphological and syntactic characteristics of each variety discussed. The articles are followed by exercises and study questions. The exercises are geared towards students and can be used for classroom assignments as well as for self study in preparation for exams. Instructors can use the exercises, sound samples and interactive maps to enhance their classroom presentations and to highlight important language features.

Northern English has been the object of much attention linguistically over the last thirty years but scholars have had a tendency to focus on the phonology of the dialects and varieties encountered. The purpose of the present volume is to complement and enrich the existing studies by providing readers with a kaleidoscopic perspective, allowing for a holistic interpretation and understanding of Northern English. It includes studies not only on phonology but also on semantics, syntax and sociolinguistics from a synchronic and diachronic point of view, with a special emphasis on the process of enregisterment. The varieties covered include Scottish Standard English, Shetland and Northern Ireland as well as varieties from the North of England.

A description of regional varieties of British English, along with discussion of current research in dialectology/ variationist sociolinguistics.

Investigating areas as diverse as travel literature, fiction, dialect, the stage, radio, television, feature film, music and sport, this book assesses the portrayal of the North of England within the national culture and how this has impacted upon attitudes to the region and its place within notions of Englishness. The relationship between these cultural forms and the construction of regional identity has received only limited consideration and this fascinating work provides not only much new information, but also a map for future writers. The North, although seen ultimately as other and the subject of much critical comment, is also shown here as capable of stimulating the creative imagination and invigorating English culture in sometimes surprising ways.

The Victorians and English Dialect tells the story of the Victorians' discovery of English dialect, and of the revaluation of local language that was brought about by the new, historical philology of the nineteenth century. Regional dialects came to be seen not as corrupt or pernicious, but rather as venerable and precious. The book examines the work of the ground-breaking collectors of the 1840s and 1850s, who first alerted their contemporaries to the importance of local dialect - and also to the perils that threatened it with extinction. Tracing the connection between dialect and literature, in the flourishing of dialect poetry and the foregrounding of regional voices in Victorian fiction. It goes on to explain how the antiquity of regional dialects cast light on the national past - the Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings - and how dialect study was also at the heart of the discovery of local folklore and oral culture: old words, old customs, old beliefs. And it tells the story of the three great monuments of Victorian dialect study that marked the apogee of regional philology: the 80 publications of the English Dialect Society (1873-96), an organization run by a committee of journalists and local historians in Manchester; the nationwide survey of The Existing Phonology of English Dialects (1889), which listened in on local speech in market squares and third-class railway carriages; and the multi-volume English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905), which collected all the previous labours together, and made an enduring record of Victorian dialect.