Saturday 14 May 2016

Pitmatic Northumbrian dialect - Newbiggin by the Sea

All through my childhood, I spent three weeks a year in Newbiggin by the Sea - my Father's birthplace and where his parents still lived. Therefore I can understand this man, Ronnie, being interviewed with his friend Jackie about the inshore fishing boats called cobles - because this is how my family mostly spoke (on both sides), and the people who lived around them.

Whether other people can understand these characters is somewhat doubtful...

He is speaking the English dialect distinctive to the mid-Northumbria coalfield region (a coalmine is called a 'pit' - hence the nickname); it is a variant of the Northumbian dialect which is unique for the way that the letter R is pronounced in the throat with the uvula, rather than at the front of the mouth with the tongue.

Marvellous!

2 comments:

Andrew said...

It's really cool how many variations England has/had on such a relatively small Island.

Nancy said...

At first I couldn't understand a thing, but I soon got the hang of it. I have certainly never heard that type of accent before!