Regional variation of pronunciation in the south-west of England
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g reserved for uses of the type above, although there is another form /i:z . . . ji:r/, which is occasionally used where Standard English would show this, eg Between here and this village “here like.
In the plural, an exactly parallel syntactic division occurs between /ejz/ (cf Standard English these) and /ejz ji:r/.
These here “maidens that was here . . .
I used to put them in front of these here “sheds.
They got these here “hay-turners . . .
In all the above examples, the first compounds, both singular and plural, refer to items which have not been mentioned before, and which are not adjacent to the speaker; they are thus referentially distinct from the normal use of Standard English this.
Although we can fairly say that /i:z/ and /ejz/ are syntactically distinct from their equivalent first compounds, what of the other adjective compounds /at ?r/, /i-ki: ?r/ and /ej ?r/? There seems to be no syntactic division in these cases between them and their equivalent simple forms, so it is perhaps not surprising that Table 2 shows them to be without exception much less common than /i:z ji:r/ and /ejz ji:r/, which have a distinct syntactic role. Forms such as
Us got in thicky there “field
and
Good as “gold, that there “thing was.
do not seem any different from
Us “mowed thicky little plat . . .
and
He turned that “hare “three “times . . .
There is certainly no apparent correlation with any notional degree of emphasis.
In the case of the singular pronouns, the first compounds are extremely rare, cf.
He done “well with that there. (/at ?r/)
He went out “broad, this here whats “dead now. (/i:z ji:r/).
The basic opposition here is between the simple forms and the second compounds /is ji:r ji:r/ and /at ?r ?r/. Here the syntactic division is fairly clear: the second compounds are used in certain adverbial phrases, particularly after like, where the demonstrative refers to no specific antecedent:
Tis getting like this here “here.
Ive had to walk home “after that there there.
and also, with reference to a specific antecedent, when particular emphasis is drawn to the item in question.
Ive had the “wireless there, this here “here, for “good many years.
One of these here “crocks, something like that there “there.
In all other cases, the simple forms are used.
“This was coming “this way.
Then he did meet with “this.
Thats “one “bad “job, “that was.
/at/ is used particularly frequently in two phrases, likes of that and and that.
He doed a bit of “farmering and likes of “that.
I got a “jumper and that home “now.
The last question is one of the most interesting. Is there really only one form /ej/ functioning as a plural pronoun? At first sight, this would seem improbable, given that there is a plural adjective form /ejz/ and that the this:that opposition is maintained elsewhere in the system. However, all attempts to elicit such a form failed, and there is at least one spontaneous utterance where, if a form /ejz/ did exist as a pronoun, it might be expected to appear:
Theres “thousands of acres out there would grow it better than they in “here grow it.
Taking all these factors together, we tentatively suggest that the opposition this:that is neutralized in this position, even though this seems rather unlikely, given the adjectival system.
But there is another point. It is in fact difficult to identify occurrences of /ej/ as demonstratives with any certainty, because the form is identical with that of the personal pronoun /ej/ (Standard English they or them).
We may observe at this point that in the dialect, the third plural personal pronoun forms are /ej/ and /?m/. The first form is used in all stressed positions and as unstressed subject except in inverted Q-forms; the second is used as the unstressed non-subject, and as the unstressed subject in inverted Q-forms. Thus we find:
/ej/
“I had to show the pony but “they winned the cups.
I could chuck “they about.
Thats up to “they, they know what theym a”bout of.
Theyd take em back of your “door for half-a-crown.
/?m/
They expect to have a “name to the house, “dont em?
Where do em get the “tools to?
That was as far as “ever they paid em.
I stayed there “long with em for more than a “year.
When considering /ej/, we find a series of utterances such as the following in which a division between personal and demonstrative pronouns would be largely arbitrary.
I could “throw em. chuck “they about.
“They in “towns, they go to concerts,
Us finished up with “they in ...
They do seven acres a “day, now, with “they.
There is “they that take an “interest in it.
I could cut in so straight (as) some of “they that “never do it.
Although, following the system of Standard English, we have so far differentiated between /ej/ as a stressed personal pronoun and /ej/ as a demonstrative pronoun, it is clearly more economical, in terms of the dialectal material, to consider the two functions as coalescing within one system: STRESSED /ej/; UNSTRESSED /?m/. This system would operate in all positions where Standard English would show either a third person plural personal pronoun, or a plural demonstrative pronoun. wordsly, there is a dialectal system STRESSED /at/ UNSTRESSED /it/ in the third person singular, where the referent is abstract or non-specific, in that /at/ never occurs unstressed nor /it/ stressed. Thus in contrast to the last example above, we find:
I seed some of em that never walked a “mile in their “lives,
where the form /?m/ is unstressed. (Such unstressed examples are much rarer than stressed examples in positions where Standard English would show a demonstrative pronoun simply because those is normally stressed in Standard English.)
We should note finally, however, that this analysis of the material does not in any way explain the absence of a plural pronoun /ejz/, any more than the linking of /at/ with /it/ precludes the existence of a singular demonstrative pronoun /i:z/. The non-existence of /ejz/ as a pronoun seems best considered as an accidental gap in the corpus.” (№18, p.20 )
3.6 Verbs.
- In the south-western dialects in the singular and in the plural in Present Indefinite the ending -s or -es is used, if the Subject is expressed as
a noun.
e.g. Boys as wants more mun ask.
The other ehaps works hard.
- In Devonshire -th [] is added to verbs in the plural in Present Indefinite.
- The form am (m) of the verb to be is used after the personal pronouns:
e.g. We (wem = we are) (Somersetshire)
you, they
- After the words if, when, until, after Future Indefinite sometimes used.
- The Perfect form in affirmative sentences, in which the Subject is expressed as a personal pronoun, is usually built without the auxiliary verb have:
e.g. We done it.
I seen him.
They been and taken it.
- The negation in the south-western dialects is expressed with the adding of the negative particle not in the form -na to the verb.
e.g. comesna (comes not)
winna (= will not)
sanna (= shall not)
canna (= cannot)
maunna (= must not)
sudna (= should not)
dinna (= do not)
binna (= be not)
haena (= have not)
daurna (= dare not)
- It is typical to the south-western dialects to use too many nigotiations in the same phrase:
e.g. I yint seen nobody nowheres.
I dont want to have nothing at all to say to you.
I didnt mean no harm.
Yell better jist nae detain me nae langer.
- The negative and interrogative forms of the modal verbs are built with the help of the auxiliary verb do.
e.g. He did not ought to do it.
You do not ought to hear it.
- Some verbs which are regular in the Standard language become irregular in the south-western dialects:
e.g. dive - dave, help - holp
- Sometimes the ending -ed is added to some irregular verbs in the Past Simple:
e.g. bear - borned, begin - begunned, break - broked, climb - clombed,
dig - dugged, dive - doved, drive - droved, fall - felled, find -
funded, fly - flewed, give - gaved, grip - grapped, hang - hunged,
help - holped, hold - helded, know - knewed, rise - rosed, see -
sawed, shake - shooked, shear - shored, sing - sunged, sink -
sunked, spin - spunned, spring - sprunged, steal - stoled, strive -
stroved, swear - swored, swim - swammed, take - tooked, tear -