BBC VOICES RECORDINGS
http://sounds.bl.uk
Title:
York
Shelfmark:
C1190/35/05
Recording date:
15.11.2004
Speakers:
Lee, b. 1988 York; male; sixth-form student
Nick, b. 1988 York; male; sixth-form student
Sarah, b. 1988 Shipton; female; sixth-form student
Stacey, b. 1988 York; female; sixth-form student
The interviewees are all friends and members of Stagecoach Youth Theatre in York.
PLEASE NOTE: this recording is still awaiting full linguistic description (i.e.
phonological, grammatical and spontaneous lexical items).
A summary of the specific lexis elicited by the interviewer is given below.
ELICITED LEXIS
○
see English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905)
see Dictionary of North East Dialect (2011)
×
see Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (2009)
∆
see New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006)
◊
see Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010)
♥
see Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (2014)
♦
see Urban Dictionary (online)
⌂
no previous source (with this sense) identified
#
pleased
tired
unwell
hot
cold
1
chuffed (“well Yorkshire”); over the moon (pronounced “over t’ moon” locally); happy;
stoked (surfer term)
knackered (used to friends, censured by parents); shattered (“respectable”); tired (polite)
ill; groggy∆ (“dead groggy”); sick
hot (of temperature); yat○; warm (of self); roasting; boiling; sweating buckets1
freezing; cold; frozzen#
Cambridge Idioms Dictionary (2006) includes ‘sweat buckets’ in this sense.
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annoyed
pissed off (to friends, not used in “respectable company”); raving; peeved, annoyed
(“Goddammit, I’m so annoyed”), infuriated (polite)
throw
play truant
sleep
chuck; lob (“lob it over here”)
skive; play truant (only used jokingly); jigging○ (used at previous school); skiving; skive off
kip; nap (associated with older speakers); siesta (“I’m off for a siesta” used jokingly/when
on holiday in Spain)
play a game play; lark, larking, larking about (used by father); mucking around, mucking about, having
a lark, larking around, pissing around∆2 (used negatively of doing something
trivial/“dodgy”)
hit hard
crack (“I’m gonna give you a crack” used by father in past); smack (“smacked him one” of
e.g. fight at school); belt (“belt him one” used by parents); hit; whack (“whack him one”
used by parents); clobber; clout
clothes
trousers
child’s shoe
clothes; gear; togs (“they’re well nice togs” used jokingly); clobber (“I’m getting my
clobber on” learnt from father, also used for ‘to hit’)
trousers; trezzies⌂; kegs♥ (“get your kegs off”♦3 sounds “common”, “running round in your
kegs” used locally for ‘underpants’); pants (used locally for “jeans”, also used in USA);
jeans
plimsolls; gym shoes; plimmies∆
mother
mum (to mother); mam (of mother); mother (used jokingly); old lady (used by father); mama
(adopted recently by “very Yorkshire” teenaged sister); mummy
gmother
nana (“nana Ann”, used of Yorkshire grandmother to distinguish from Scottish “granny”);
nan; granny (used of Scottish grandmother to distinguish from Yorkshire “nana”);
grandma; o’mum4 (of Irish grandmother, presumed idiolectal)
m partner
boyfriend; husband; fiancé; fella◊ (“this is me fella” common locally); other half (“where’s
t’ other half?” to friends, “tother half”); bloke∆; better half; my beau; boo (used by own
girlfriend of self, associated with song by Usher5); scruffy⌂ (“hiya, scruffy” i.e. nickname
used as form of address by own girlfriend to self); boyf (“where’s your boyf?”); baby,
babber♥ (used as form of address by own girlfriend to self)
friend
bebs♦ (“you all right, bebs” used as form of address to friend)
gfather
grandad; grandpa; grandfather (of American grandfather); father (of Scottish grandfather,
pronounced “father” [fava] due to own father’s childhood pronunciation); o’dad⌂ (suggested
jokingly of Irish grandfather by association with ‘o’mum’4)
forgot name (not discussed)
kit of tools (not discussed)
trendy
towny; Kappa slapper∆; chav; scally (thought to derive from “scallywag”); Kev∆ (“check the
Kev”); dick-head⌂; ding◊; charver (“ding charver”); scabbies♦ (thought to be used in
Scotland)
f partner
missus (“how’s your missus?” used by father of girlfriend); baby, babber♥, babes (“hiya,
babes?” used as form of address to own girlfriend); Jenny (i.e. by name, “my girlfriend
Jenny” of own girlfriend); my chick/bitch/woman (not used, considered offensive); biatch◊
(“where’s your biatch?” used jokingly with college friends)
2
Partridge New Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) records ‘piss about’ in sense of ‘to play the fool’.
Urban Dictionary (online) records ‘get yer kecks off for the lasses’ in this sense in definition of ‘kecks’.
4
Foras na Gaeilge's New English-Irish Dictionary (online at http://www.focloir.ie) records ‘mamo’ in this sense.
5
American R&B singer (real name Usher Terry Raymond IV, b.1978); ‘My Boo’ was a single in 2004.
3
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baby
bairn (used with Yorkshire side of family, “wee bairn” used in Scotland); baby; babbit⌂
(“baby babbit” used occasionally)
rain heavily tip it down♦; chuck it down∆; pissing it down; chucking it down∆; piss it down
toilet
bog (“awful”, not used); loo; toilet; shithouse (to friends, “so Yorkshire”); “I’m going for a
Jack Flash6/gipsy’s kiss”∆ (used by farmer boyfriend of ‘going to toilet to urinate’, rhyming
slang Jack Flash: slash, gipsy’s kiss: piss); little boys’ room; “I’m going to speak to a man
about a wallaby”♦ (Australian), “going to speak to a man about a dog”∆ (used of ‘going to
toilet’)
walkway
alley; snickleway7 (used by mother); snicket; slip (used of e.g. walkway between school and
“chippy”)
long seat
sofa (considered “posh” by mother); settee (considered “Yorkshire” by mother); couch (not
used, considered “posh/very American”)
run water
(not discussed)
main room living-room; lounge (“posh”); sitting-room (used by grandmother/parents); front room;
green/red/orange/blue room⌂ (i.e. according to colour scheme of room, “green room”
thought to be “posh” for ‘games room’)
rain lightly shower; drizzle; spit; “it’s that fine rain that gets you soaking through”8 (suggested
jokingly)
rich
left-handed
(not discussed)
goofy⌂ (skater/snowboarding term used to friends, more commonly used for ‘left-footed’9);
cack-handed (contested: used for ‘inept/ham-fisted’) left-handed; lefty
unattractive (not discussed)
lack money (not discussed)
drunk
(not discussed)
pregnant
preggers; up the duff (“awful”), bun in the oven (of accidental pregnancy/young mother);
pregnant, “she’s got one on the way”10 (“respectful”)
attractive
fit (“she’s fit I’d do her”∆ used by males to male friends of female, “he’s so fit” used by
females of male); bobby-dazzler (used frequently by father, associated with David
Dickinson11); pretty (“she’s really pretty” used by females of female); bonny (“oh, she’s
really bonny” used by females of female, also used in Scotland, used in Yorkshire esp. of
baby); gorgeous, beautiful, stunning, stunner (used to parents); fit as∆12, sexy (used by
females of male); fit as fuck∆13 (used by males of female); phwoar
insane
(not discussed)
moody
“she must be on”◊14, PMT◊15 (used of male/female); “she’s on the blob”♦; pregnant♦ (used
jokingly of self); in an arse♥16; pissed off; moody; in a mood; depressed; “get off your high
6
Cockney Rhyming Slang: London’s Famous Secret Language (online at http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/) records ‘Jack
Dash’ in this sense.
7
Len Markham’s Ee Up Lad! A Salute to the Yorkshire Dialect (2002) includes ‘snickleway’ in this sense.
8
Reference, presumably, to comedy routine of English stand-up comedian Peter Kay (b.1973).
9
OED (online edition) records ‘goofy foot’ in sense of ‘skateboarding right foot forward’ (in contrast to the more ‘orthodox’ left
foot forward technique).
10
OED (online edition) records ‘on the way’ in this sense.
11
English antiques expert, TV presenter and entrepreneur (b.1941)
12
Partridge New Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) includes ‘as’ in sense of ‘as can be’.
13
Partridge New Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) includes ‘as fuck’ in sense of ‘intensifier used with
adjective’
14
Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) records ‘on’ in sense of ‘menstruating’ but not in sense of ‘moody’.
15
Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) records ‘p.m.s’ [= abbreviation of ‘pre-menstrual syndrome’] in this sense.
16
Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (2014) includes ‘arse-on’ in this sense.
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horse”17 (phrase commonly directed at person perceived to be moody for no apparent
reason, contested: thought to be directed at someone acting “snobby”); in a strop; stroppy
(“she’s dead stroppy”); in a paddy (“stop having a paddy”, thought to derive from
“paddywhack”); in a tantrum (used “patronisingly” by mother); “she’s off on one” (of being
“hyper/crying”, also used for ‘annoyed’)
SPONTANEOUS LEXIS
apples and pears = stairs (1:22:14 that all comes from Cockney slang as well, doesn’t it, (yeah) like a a
‘Jack Flash’ is a ‘slash’ (a ‘slash’, yeah) (oh, I see) and, like, ‘up the apples and pears’ is ‘going up the
stairs’)
awesome = great, excellent (0:44:09 in York I’m there’s there’s kind of grebos moshers townies (yeah,
yeah) I’m in a very kind of skater (punk) punk ’cause I’m in a band um type of scene so I’m very, “hey
dude, that’s really gnarly that’s cool awesome wicked” not like townies who would be, “oh, proper good”
and (yeah) “minted” (yeah) and, “I’ll bang you out”)
badass = tough, intimidating, formidable (0:53:53 like, what do American rappers do when they go, “I’m a
badass motherfucker (exactly you see it’s not it’s not it doesn’t mean what it says) they’re bigging
themselves up but they’re degrading themselves at the same time)
bevvy = drink, esp. beer (0:05:06 my whole family’s Yorkshire though proper Yorkshire like my dad was
born in Acomb so that’s the type of place where they were all, you know, slagging each other off real
proper Yorkshire so like, “down t’ pub go on let’s let’s have a bevvy”)
big up = to praise/promote, show off (0:53:53 like, what do American rappers do when they go, “I’m a
badass motherfucker (exactly you see it’s not it’s not it doesn’t mean what it says) they’re bigging
themselves up but they’re degrading themselves at the same time)
bitching = great, excellent (1:05:43 you see ‘bitching’ means something completely different to me (what
does it mean?) ‘bitching’ means ‘really good’ um I ’cause (no, ‘bitching’ is when you’re) (it’s like
‘slagging off’) (slagging off) (slagging off somebody))
calf-head○ = fool, simpleton (1:24:22 “thou’s a calf-head” boy told ‘not very bright’ “can you fettle it?”
‘can you fix it?’)
charver = young person of low social status typically characterised by brash/loutish behaviour and
designer-style clothes (0:07:12 (after a few years of being there she started to pick up what would be
classed at my school as a real ding accent and stuff like this and I thought, “oh no, don’t do it”) proper
charver (yeah, it was like that it’s not a Yorkshire accent) no (it was a proper, you know, naff one))
chin-wag = chat (1:06:32 (‘natter’s a really Yorkshire term) yeah, having a ‘natter’ (definitely) ‘chin-wag’
is that a Yorkshire term? (‘chin-wag’) (‘chin-wag’) (that’s a bit southern, isn’t it?))
chippy = fish-and-chip shop (1:23:00 we’ve got a where you go straight from the school into the shops and
the chippy and it’s a ‘slip’ you see)
Cockney = dialect of London (1:22:14 that all comes from Cockney slang as well, doesn’t it, (yeah) like a a
‘Jack Flash’ is a ‘slash’ (a ‘slash’, yeah) (oh, I see) and, like, ‘up the apples and pears’ is ‘going up the
stairs’)
common as muck = coarse, vulgar, of low social status (1:12:14 “give us ten p for a bus?” […] that that
type of stuff but that is common as muck to me (yeah))
crank = fool, idiot (1:10:42 I mean I was on the bus and somebody just said, “oh, what you janning at,
crank?” (‘janning’, yeah) and I was like, (what’s ‘janning’?) “I’m not doing anyth…”)
C-word = euphemism for word ‘cunt’ (0:58:21 it seems to be, like, these words that we’re coming out with
like you’re saying the ‘C-word’ and ‘faggot’ it is because more people come out that they gain it’s not such
it’s not hid any more and it’s not such a big issue as it used to be)
17
OED (online edition) records ‘to come off one’s high horse’ in sense of ‘to climb down/become less arrogant’.
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dead = very, really (0:01:45 oh, I don’t think it’s very polite either you wouldn’t say it in, you know, if you
were going to a dinner party you wouldn’t go, “oh, I feel dead groggy tonight”)
ding◊ = tramp/beggar (0:07:12 after a few years of being there she started to pick up what would be classed
at my school as a real ding accent and stuff like this and I thought, “oh no, don’t do it” (proper charver)
yeah, it was like that it’s not a Yorkshire accent (no) it was a proper, you know, naff one)
dude = form of address (0:43:48 like I say ‘dude’ so much I think I s… (yeah) (‘gnarly’) ‘gnarly’ I say as a
lot as well (‘gnarly’?) not not a lot of people say ‘gnarly’ (what’s that?) ‘gnarly’s a very kind of skater
surfer term in America which means kind of ‘cool’; 0:44:09 in York I’m there’s there’s kind of grebos
moshers townies (yeah, yeah) I’m in a very kind of skater (punk) punk ’cause I’m in a band um type of
scene so I’m very, “hey dude, that’s really gnarly that’s cool awesome wicked” not like townies who would
be, “oh, proper good” and (yeah) “minted” (yeah) and, “I’ll bang you out”)
dudy◊ = great, excellent (0:07:52 I remember when I was in Easingwold at the start of Easingwold I, l…,
used to say, like, ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ and stuff like that but then as soon as you get to college when you’ve
made met loads of different people from loads of different schools everything changes; 0:08:08 like half of
these I’ve got on this piece of paper with I would never use before ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ and or ‘sugar’ is for a
swear-word that would be my swear-word)
ew = emphatic expression of disgust (0:47:05 there’s there’s girls at our college who are like, “ew, ew, oh,
ew” and, like, really American Paris Hilton18 (oh gosh) type of cheerleader language)
faggot = male homosexual (0:58:21 it seems to be, like, these words that we’re coming out with like you’re
saying the ‘C-word’ and ‘faggot’ it is because more people come out that they gain it’s not such it’s not hid
any more and it’s not such a big issue as it used to be)
faggot○ = term of contempt/reproach applied to children (0:57:38 my mum started to call my dad a ‘faggot’
and I got really offended by that she’s going, “yeah, but it’s just a meatball and we used to call it” you
know I was like, “no, mum, you know, it’s not any more” (yeah, but it’s different connotations now) and
she didn’t realise)
fettle○ = to mend, repair (1:24:22 “thou’s a calf-head” boy told ‘not very bright’ “can you fettle it?” ‘can
you fix it?’)
FMB♦ = tight, knee-high boots (0:31:54 (if you’re ever talking about a towny and they’ve got that) (Kappa
slapper) (you’d be like, “oh, they’re gonna wear their Kappas19 or their trackies) […] or those shoes, you
know, those big furry shoes FMBs)
front room = main/best room of house (1:04:38 but then she also gets a bit mixed up with um a ‘reject’ and
a ‘retard’ um so I was eating in the front room the other day and she went, “aren’t you gonna eat in here
with us?” I went, “well there’s no room” she goes, “oh, so you’re just gonna sit in here like a retard?” I
went, “mum, you can’t really say that”)
Geordie = person from Newcastle upon Tyne (0:06:21 I mean my dad used to be a Geordie but he lost his
accent purposefully when he joined the army my mum came from Middlesbrough so she doesn’t really have
an accent)
gie○ over = to stop, desist (1:24:48 people in Barnsley go, “gie over” they go, “gie over” like ‘give up’)
gnarly = great, excellent (0:43:48 like I say ‘dude’ so much I think I s… (yeah) (‘gnarly’) ‘gnarly’ I say as
a lot as well (‘gnarly’?) not not a lot of people say ‘gnarly’ (what’s that?) ‘gnarly’s a very kind of skater
surfer term in America which means kind of ‘cool’; 0:44:09 in York I’m there’s there’s kind of grebos
moshers townies (yeah, yeah) I’m in a very kind of skater (punk) punk ’cause I’m in a band um type of
scene so I’m very, “hey dude, that’s really gnarly that’s cool awesome wicked” not like townies who would
be, “oh, proper good” and (yeah) “minted” (yeah) and, “I’ll bang you out”)
Goddammit = exclamation expressing annoyance/frustration (0:18:37 I start to take the mick out of myself
kind of thing so I use different words like “Goddammit, I’m so annoyed” or something like that, you
know)
18
19
US socialite, TV personality, model and author (b.1981).
Italian sportswear manufacturer founded 1916 in Turin.
http://sounds.bl.uk
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gosh = exclamation expressing surprise/disbelief (0:47:05 (there’s there’s girls at our college who are
like, “ew, ew, oh, ew” and, like, really American Paris Hilton18) oh gosh (type of cheerleader language))
grebo = fan of heavy rock music typically characterised by long hair and clothes associated with biker
culture (0:44:09 in York I’m there’s there’s kind of grebos moshers townies (yeah, yeah) I’m in a very kind
of skater (punk) punk ’cause I’m in a band um type of scene so I’m very, “hey dude, that’s really gnarly
that’s cool awesome wicked” not like townies who would be, “oh, proper good” and (yeah) “minted”
(yeah) and, “I’ll bang you out”)
guy = man (0:15:57 this guy this lecturer just stood up and said, “look, we want you to be yourselves”;
0:59:07 in, like, South African the word ‘shny’ is the same as saying well, like, a girl can say to a guy if a
guy’s been really harsh to another girl, “you’re such a shny”)
hard = aggressive, intimidating (0:44:33 I think a lot of, like, um say, you know, like, townies use these
Americanised words as well because they think they see it on TV they think they’re really hard and they
just want that kind of image (sometimes it just comes natural though); 1:10:55 it’s like they’re constantly
wanting to pick a fight, you know (yeah) ’cause they want to look big and hard (yeah, well me me Nick and
our friend from college called Mike was um we were walking through town))
harsh∆ = severe, unnecessarily critical (0:59:07 in, like, South African the word ‘shny’ is the same as
saying well, like, a girl can say to a guy if a guy’s been really harsh to another girl, “you’re such a shny”;
1:17:31 you see there’s some really harsh ones for ‘moody’ like boys in our year if they were saying moody
towards a woman they’d go, “oh, she must be on”)
heck = euphemism for ‘hell’ (0:39:19 I get some messages I can’t understand ’cause people abbreviate the
words I’m thinking, “what the heck’s that trying to say?”)
ho = woman, girlfriend (1:01:38 ‘ho’ is not offensive in the slightest I don’t even know why they cover up
‘ho’)
jan⌂ = to look, stare (1:10:42 I mean I was on the bus and somebody just said, “oh, what you janning at,
crank?” (‘janning’, yeah) and I was like, (what’s ‘janning’?) “I’m not doing anyth…”)
Kappa slapper∆ = young person of low social status typically characterised by brash/loutish behaviour and
designer-style clothes (0:31:54 (if you’re ever talking about a towny and they’ve got that) Kappa slapper
(you’d be like, “oh, they’re gonna wear their Kappas19 or their trackies) […] (or those shoes, you know,
those big furry shoes FMBs))
kid = young child (0:50:23 younger kids are being really really influenced by text messaging)
Maccy D’s♦ = McDonald’s20 (0:46:44 “well come down to t’ chaps then” what’s the ‘chaps’21 I’ll go to
Maccy D’s though)
minger = ugly/unattractive person (0:52:09 apparently it used to be the same for ‘minger’ but now that’s
just turned into an offensive term for everybody)
minted∆ = great, excellent (0:44:09 in York I’m there’s there’s kind of grebos moshers townies (yeah, yeah)
I’m in a very kind of skater (punk) punk ’cause I’m in a band um type of scene so I’m very, “hey dude,
that’s really gnarly that’s cool awesome wicked” not like townies who would be, “oh, proper good” and
(yeah) “minted” (yeah) and, “I’ll bang you out”)
mosher∆ = fan of loud rock music characterised by black and/or baggy clothes (0:44:09 in York I’m there’s
there’s kind of grebos moshers townies (yeah, yeah) I’m in a very kind of skater (punk) punk ’cause I’m in
a band um type of scene so I’m very, “hey dude, that’s really gnarly that’s cool awesome wicked” not like
townies who would be, “oh, proper good” and (yeah) “minted” (yeah) and, “I’ll bang you out”)
motherfucker = strong/admirable person (0:53:53 like, what do American rappers do when they go, “I’m
a badass motherfucker (exactly you see it’s not it’s not it doesn’t mean what it says) they’re bigging
themselves up but they’re degrading themselves at the same time)
20
21
Worldwide chain of fast food restaurants founded 1955 in USA.
Sarah supplies ‘chaps’ as abbreviation for ‘chapel’ used at her fee-paying school.
http://sounds.bl.uk
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naff = unfashionable, socially inept (0:07:12 after a few years of being there she started to pick up what
would be classed at my school as a real ding accent and stuff like this and I thought, “oh no, don’t do it”
(proper charver) yeah, it was like that it’s not a Yorkshire accent (no) it was a proper, you know, naff one)
natter = chat (1:06:32 ‘natter’s a really Yorkshire term (yeah, having a ‘natter’) definitely (‘chin-wag’ is
that a Yorkshire term?) (‘chin-wag’) (‘chin-wag’) (that’s a bit southern, isn’t it?))
plonker = fool, idiot (1:04:16 I use ‘plonker’ that’s really sad probably)
proper = very, really (0:05:06 my whole family’s Yorkshire though proper Yorkshire like my dad was born
in Acomb so that’s the type of place where they were all, you know, slagging each other off real proper
Yorkshire so like, “down t’ pub go on let’s let’s have a bevvy”; 0:07:12 after a few years of being there she
started to pick up what would be classed at my school as a real ding accent and stuff like this and I
thought, “oh no, don’t do it” (proper charver) yeah, it was like that it’s not a Yorkshire accent (no) it was
a proper, you know, naff one; 0:44:09 in York I’m there’s there’s kind of grebos moshers townies (yeah,
yeah) I’m in a very kind of skater (punk) punk ’cause I’m in a band um type of scene so I’m very, “hey
dude, that’s really gnarly that’s cool awesome wicked” not like townies who would be, “oh, proper good”
and (yeah) “minted” (yeah) and, “I’ll bang you out”)
pump○ = to break wind (0:35:01 she’s very Yorkshire (yeah) though it’s it’s all very, like, ‘pumped’ and,
“Lee pumped in my jar” I’d like to clear that up actually I didn’t pump in her jar ever)
push up the daisies = to be dead/in one’s grave (1:19:17 like ‘pushing up the daisies’ that’s a euphemism
you’re trying to say something that’s not necessarily nice)
real = very, really (0:07:12 after a few years of being there she started to pick up what would be classed at
my school as a real ding accent and stuff like this and I thought, “oh no, don’t do it” (proper charver)
yeah, it was like that it’s not a Yorkshire accent (no) it was a proper, you know, naff one)
retard = stupid/incompetent person (1:04:38 but then she also gets a bit mixed up with um a ‘reject’ and a
‘retard’ um so I was eating in the front room the other day and she went, “aren’t you gonna eat in here
with us?” I went, “well there’s no room” she goes, “oh, so you’re just gonna sit in here like a retard?” I
went, “mum, you can’t really say that”)
RP = Received Pronunciation (0:04:58 to make yourself clear you’ve got to, you know, talk with this RP
accent that’s recognised through the B.B.C. and everything like that; 1:12:28 there’s, like, one standard
RP family (yeah, like last week) and there’s one scally family (OK) (yeah) and there’s, like, the scally
family go to Brighton for their holiday (yeah) or wherever it was um (Blackpool, wasn’t it?) Blackpool)
sad = unfashionable, socially inept (1:04:16 I use ‘plonker’ that’s really sad probably)
scally = young person of low social status typically characterised by brash/loutish behaviour and designerstyle clothes (1:12:28 there’s, like, one standard RP family (yeah, like last week) and there’s one scally
family (OK) (yeah) and there’s, like, the scally family go to Brighton for their holiday (yeah) or wherever it
was um (Blackpool, wasn’t it?) Blackpool)
shny♦ = fool, idiot (0:59:07 in, like, South African the word ‘shny’ is the same as saying well, like, a girl
can say to a guy if a guy’s been really harsh to another girl, “you’re such a shny”)
slag off = to criticise, insult, verbally abuse (0:05:06 my whole family’s Yorkshire though proper Yorkshire
like my dad was born in Acomb so that’s the type of place where they were all, you know, slagging each
other off real proper Yorkshire so like, “down t’ pub go on let’s let’s have a bevvy”; 1:05:43 (you see
‘bitching’ means something completely different to me) what does it mean? (‘bitching’ means ‘really good’
um I ’cause) no, ‘bitching’ is when you’re (it’s like ‘slagging off’) slagging off (slagging off somebody))
stoked = pleased, excited (0:44:53 (what does ‘gnarly’ mean?) ‘gnarly’s kind of there’s another I was
gonna say it means ‘stoked’ but you probably don’t know what stoked means either (I use ‘stoked’))
sugar = exclamation used as alternative to swear-word expressing annoyance/disgust (0:08:08 like half of
these I’ve got on this piece of paper with I would never use before ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ and or ‘sugar’ is for a
swear-word that would be my swear-word)
take the mick (out) of = to make fun of, poke fun at (0:05:43 yeah, it’s ’cause, like, I was sat in the
common room the other day and this uh a girl went, “oh, who’s this?” and we were, like, all taking the
mick of her ’cause, you know, she was speaking properly and we were just like, “who’s she think she is?”;
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0:18:37 I start to take the mick out of myself kind of thing so I use different words like “Goddammit, I’m
so annoyed” or something like that, you know)
thick = stupid, unintelligent (0:15:21 if you go doing a um a different accent and you slip out of it they’re
gonna think that you’re thick and you need to be yourself at any audition you go to)
tomoz∆ = tomorrow (0:41:32 and ‘text’ is ‘T’ ‘X’ ‘T’ and stuff like that (yeah) and ‘tomoz’ (yeah) I don’t
know if you do that I use that in my speech though I’ll say, “see you tomoz”)
tother = the other (0:31:34 not I was buying them with the girlfriend tother day)
trackies = tracksuit (0:31:54 if you’re ever talking about a towny and they’ve got that (Kappa slapper)
you’d be like, “oh, they’re gonna wear their Kappas19 or their trackies […] (or those shoes, you know,
those big furry shoes FMBs))
T-string♦ = thong, G-string (0:31:19 (no, another thing there’s a G-string but isn’t there, like, a T-thing as
well nowadays) T-string, yeah, there is)
vertically-challenged22 = euphemism for ‘short’ (1:05:03 that’s going to political correctness now (yeah)
because we’ve been, you know, it’s you know, you’re not ‘short’ you’re ‘vertically-challenged’)
wee = little (1:07:55 isn’t ‘bab’ uh ‘bairn’ though it sounds like, “your wee bairn” kind of thing it’s a wee
bit Scottish)
well = very, really (0:03:27 (I’ve got ‘chuffed’ or ‘happy’) (so you’re different again then) (yes, obviously)
(‘over the moon’) yeah, ‘chuffed’s well Yorkshire; 0:28:27 you do say ‘togs’ if you’re mucking around
though, don’t you, “they’re well nice togs”)
wicked = great, excellent (0:44:09 in York I’m there’s there’s kind of grebos moshers townies (yeah, yeah)
I’m in a very kind of skater (punk) punk ’cause I’m in a band um type of scene so I’m very, “hey dude,
that’s really gnarly that’s cool awesome wicked” not like townies who would be, “oh, proper good” and
(yeah) “minted” (yeah) and, “I’ll bang you out”)
you can’t teach an old dog new tricks× = expression commonly used of elderly person implying they are
not adaptable/do not readily take to new ways (0:50:49 you can’t teach an old dog new tricks that whole
thing it’s harder to change your accent when you’re our age much much harder)
PHONOLOGY
[ɪ]
(0:01:45 oh, I don’t think [θɪŋk] it’s very polite either you wouldn’t say it in, you know, if you were going
to a dinner party [dɪnə paːʔi] you wouldn’t go, “oh, I feel dead groggy tonight”; 0:40:43 and we looked at
some of the younger years’ work and it was full of text messaging language [tɛkst mɛsɪʤɪn laŋgwɪʤ] and
especially with [wɪð] girls more than with [wɪð] boys; 1:05:43 you see ‘bitching’ [bɪʧɪn] means something
[sʊmθɪŋ] completely different [dɪfɹənʔ] to me (what does it mean?) ‘bitching’ [bɪʧɪn] means ‘really good’
um I ’cause (no, ‘bitching’ [bɪʧɪn] is when you’re) (it’s like ‘slagging off’) (slagging off) (slagging off
somebody))
<ex-> (0:45:30 (it’s kind of, like, a shared language) (yeah) (you have, isn’t it, depending what
group you’re in) ex… extreme sports [ɪkstɹiːm spɔːts] put it into that; 0:46:15 and um it’s just got
to an extreme [ɪkstɹiːm] but it’s just in the vocabulary now it’s in the school vocabulary; 0:53:53
(like, what do American rappers do when they go, “I’m a badass motherfucker) exactly [ɛgzakli]
you see it’s not it’s not it doesn’t mean what it says (they’re bigging themselves up but they’re
degrading themselves at the same time); 1:12:53 if you’re taking that example [ɛgzampɫ̟] the um the
posher family were shown in a very bad light)
KIT
22
OED (online edition) includes several examples of productive process <-challenged> used ‘humorously’ in this sense but not
‘vertically-challenged’.
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give (1:24:48 people in Barnsley go, “give over” [giː aː] they go, “give over” [giː aː] like ‘give up’
[gɪv ʊp])
kitchEN (1:23:47 I mean we use ‘kitchen’ [kɪʧən] and ‘toilet’ but we use the ‘green room’ ‘red
room’ ‘orange room’ ‘blue room’ all that)
DRESS
[ɛ]
(0:04:58 to make yourself clear you’ve got to, you know, talk with this RP accent that’s recognised
[ɹɛkənaɪzd] through the B.B.C. and everything [ɛvɹɪθɪn] like that; 0:07:52 I remember [ɹɪmɛmbə] when I
was in Easingwold at the start of Easingwold I, l…, used to say, like, ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ and stuff like that
but then as soon as you get [gɛʔ] to college when you’ve made met [mɛʔ] loads of different people from
loads of different schools everything [ɛvɹɪθɪŋ] changes; 0:40:43 and we looked at some of the younger
years’ work and it was full of text messaging [tɛkst mɛsɪʤɪn] language and especially [əspɛʃlɪ] with girls
more than with boys)
TRAP~BATH
[a]
(0:07:12 after a few years [aftəɹ ə fjuː jɪːz] of being there she started to pick up what would be classed
[klast] at my school as a real ding accent [aksənʔ] and stuff like this and I thought, “oh no, don’t do it”
(proper charver) yeah, it was like that [ðaʔ] it’s not a Yorkshire accent [aksənʔ] (no) it was a proper, you
know, naff [naf] one; 0:40:43 and we looked at some of the younger years’ work and it was full of text
messaging language [laŋgwɪʤ] and especially with girls more than with boys; 0:56:36 it came to such a
surprise for me when I came to college from leaving Easingwold where you wasn’t allowed to swear
wasn’t allowed to even to pretend to swear (yeah) um to going to a teacher who would be saying it to get a
laugh [laf])
LOT~CLOTH
[ɒ]
(0:06:21 I mean my dad used to be a Geordie but he lost [lɒst] his accent purposefully when he joined the
army my mum came from Middlesbrough so she doesn’t really have an accent; 0:07:52 I remember when I
was in Easingwold at the start of Easingwold I, l…, used to say, like, ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ and stuff like that
but then as soon as you get to college [kɒlɪʤ] when you’ve made met loads of different people from loads
of different schools everything changes; 0:14:12 it’s like those crosswords [kɹɒswəːdz] in books where you
get a few letters to start you off, [ɒf] isn’t it, and you fill them in and then slowly you get all the letters and
you fill in the whole thing; 0:28:27 you do say ‘togs’ [tɒgz] if you’re mucking around though, don’t you,
“they’re well nice togs” [tɒgz])
hot (0:19:41 my grandpa says it and my mum’ll say it too if she just she’s not thinking about it,
“God, it’s cold out here, isn’t it?” […] and then for ‘hot’ [hɒt] it’s “hot” [jat])
STRUT
[ʊ > ʌ]23
(0:09:10 sometimes [sʌmtaɪmz] I speak, like, and it comes [kʊmz] out naturally and then I suddenly
[sʊdn̟li] think, “why did I say that it sounds horrible it sounds stupid”; 0:35:01 she’s very Yorkshire (yeah)
though it’s it’s all very, like, ‘pumped’ [pʊmpt] and, “Lee pumped [pʊmpt] in my jar” I’d like to clear that
up [ʊp] actually I didn’t pump [pʊmp] in her jar ever; 0:40:43 and we looked at some [sʊm] of the younger
[jʊŋgə] years’ work and it was full of text messaging language and especially with girls more than with
boys; 1:01:08 now on the radio it hasn’t been dubbed [dʊbd] (oh, really) but on TV it has (oh, right) and I
don’t understand [ʊndəstand] why that is really (that’s silly, that, ’cause ‘ho’ is nothing); 1:19:17 like
‘pushing up the daisies’ [pʊʃɪŋ ʌp ðə dɛɪzɪz] that’s a euphemism you’re trying to say something [sʌmθɪŋ]
that’s not necessarily nice)
23
One speaker (Sarah) generally favours [ʌ]; one speaker (Nick) varies between [ʊ > ʌ]; the other two speakers consistently use
[ʊ].
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or there is the one [wɒn] that me and my dad use uh a ‘siesta’; 0:45:45 if you’re using
the same words over and over again and then you hear one [wɒn] on TV and you’re like, “that’s
cool I like that”; 0:55:25 I think you’re you’re really uptight if you just can’t swear once in a while
[wɒns ɪn ə waɪɫ]; 1:01:08 (now on the radio it hasn’t been dubbed) (oh, really) (but on TV it has)
(oh, right) (and I don’t understand why that is really) that’s silly, that, ’cause ‘ho’ is nothing
[nɒθɪŋ]; 1:12:28 there’s, like, one [wʊn] standard RP family (yeah, like last week) and there’s one
[wʊn] scally family (OK) (yeah) and there’s, like, the scally family go to Brighton for their holiday
(yeah) or wherever it was um (Blackpool, wasn’t it?) Blackpool; 1:17:31 you see there’s some
really harsh ones [wɒnz] for ‘moody’ like boys in our year if they were saying moody towards a
woman they’d go, “oh, she must be on”)
FOOT
[ʊ > ɵ]
(0:15:57 this guy this lecturer just stood [stʊd] up and said, “look, [lɵk] we want you to be yourselves”;
0:18:13 if it was with your friends you would [wʊd] but if it was in, like, um like you say you’re off to a
dinner party or something you wouldn’t [wʊdn̟ʔ] say you’re ‘pissed off’; 0:40:43 and we looked [lʊkt] at
some of the younger years’ work and it was full of [fʊl əv] text messaging language and especially with
girls more than with boys; 1:05:43 you see ‘bitching’ means something completely different to me (what
does it mean?) ‘bitching’ means ‘really good’ [ɹɪːli gɵd] um I ’cause (no, ‘bitching’ is when you’re) (it’s
like ‘slagging off’) (slagging off) (slagging off somebody); 1:17:31 you see there’s some really harsh ones
for ‘moody’ like boys in our year if they were saying moody towards a woman [wʊmən] they’d go, “oh, she
must be on”)
NURSE
[əː]
(0:11:28 (Nick does as many accents as he possibly can and then I’m there joining him and then we get into
camp Irish and Swedish and) I’ve learnt [ləːnʔ] actually from you guys for goodness’ sake; 0:40:43 and we
looked at some of the younger years’ work [wəːk] and it was full of text messaging language and especially
with girls [gəːɫz] more than with boys; 0:43:48 like I say ‘dude’ so much I think I s… (yeah) (‘gnarly’)
‘gnarly’ I say as a lot as well (‘gnarly’?) not not a lot of people say ‘gnarly’ (what’s that?) ‘gnarly’s a very
kind of skater surfer [səːfə] term [təːm] in America which means kind of ‘cool’)
um (0:43:14 ’cause me and my boyfriend are with each other quite a lot at school um [eːm] and
it’s, like, we just say if I’m talking to my friends, I go, “oh, where’s the other half?”)
FLEECE
[iː]
(0:07:52 I remember when I was in Easingwold [iːzɪŋwɔːɫd] at the start of Easingwold [iːzɪŋwɔːɫd] I, l…,
used to say, like, ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ and stuff like that but then as soon as you get to college when you’ve
made met loads of different people [piːpɫ̟] from loads of different schools everything changes; 0:39:46 but
they’ve got those, like, T924 [tiːnaɪn] which completes [kɒmpliːts] the word for you on phones now; 0:50:49
you can’t teach [tiːʧ] an old dog new tricks that whole thing it’s harder to change your accent when you’re
our age much much harder)
FACE
[ɛː > ɛɪ]25
(0:04:58 to make [mɛːk] yourself clear you’ve got to, you know, talk with this RP accent that’s recognised
through the B.B.C. and everything like that; 0:08:08 like half of these I’ve got on this piece of paper [pɛːpə]
with I would never use before ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ and or ‘sugar’ is for a swear-word that would be my
swear-word; 0:15:13 she says they love northerners, you know, they’re pulling them in all over the place
[plɛɪs] it’s always the northerners who get the most agents [ɛɪʤənts] at the end; 0:50:49 you can’t teach an
ONE (0:23:43
24
Shorthand for ‘Text on 9 Keys’, US-patented predictive text technology for mobile phones.
One speaker (Sarah) consistently uses [ɛɪ]; one speaker (Nick) varies between [ɛɪ > ɛː]; the other two speakers vary between
[ɛː > ɛɪ].
25
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old dog new tricks that whole thing it’s harder to change [ʧɛɪnʤ] your accent when you’re our age [ɛɪʤ]
much much harder; 1:12:53 if you’re taking [tɛːkɪn] that example the um the posher family were shown in
a very bad light)
always (0:15:13 she says they love northerners, you know, they’re pulling them in all over the place
it’s always [ɔːwɪz] the northerners who get the most agents at the end)
babes (0:38:22 I slang ‘baby’ [bɛɪbi] to “babes” [bɛbz] and so I refer to my friends as, “you all
right, babes?” [juː ɔːɹaɪʔ bɛbz] or something like that)
PALM
[aː > ɑː]26
(0:08:08 like half [haːf] of these I’ve got on this piece of paper with I would never use before ‘dudy’ and
‘cool’ and or ‘sugar’ is for a swear-word that would be my swear-word; 0:16:41 so, you know, I just I d… I
often find it’s it’s not good to have I’d rather [ɹɑːðə] have a Yorkshire accent; 0:19:41 my grandpa
[gɹampaː] says it and my mum’ll say it too if she just she’s not thinking about it, “God, it’s cold out here,
isn’t it?” […] and then for ‘hot’ it’s “hot”; 0:50:49 you can’t [kɑːnʔ] teach an old dog new tricks that
whole thing it’s harder to change your accent when you’re our age much much harder; 0:55:25 I think
you’re you’re really uptight if you just can’t [kaːnʔ] swear once in a while)
father (0:36:29 and then my grandad in Scotland’s called um (o’dad) s…, no, I’ve forgotten his
name now we call him ‘father’ [fava] but it’s my dad called him that when he was little)
THOUGHT
[ɒː > ɔː]
(0:04:58 to make yourself clear you’ve got to, you know, talk [tɒːk] with this RP accent that’s recognised
through the B.B.C. and everything like that; 0:07:12 after a few years of being there she started to pick up
what would be classed at my school as a real ding accent and stuff like this and I thought, [θɔːʔ] “oh no,
don’t do it” (proper charver) yeah, it was like that it’s not a Yorkshire accent (no) it was a proper, you
know, naff one; 0:15:21 if you go doing a um a different accent and you slip out of it they’re going to think
that you’re thick and you need to be yourself at any audition [ɒːdɪʃən] you go to; 0:57:38 my mum started
to call [kɒːɫ] my dad a ‘faggot’ and I got really offended by that she’s going, “yeah, but it’s just a meatball
[miːʔbɒːɫ] and we used to call [kɒːɫ] it” you know I was like, “no, mum, you know, it’s not any more”
(yeah, but it’s different connotations now) and she didn’t realise)
Austin (0:11:41 but it’s, like, you you seem to manage to copy every accent off Austin Powers27
[ɒstɪm paʊəz] (yes) at all ever)
warm (0:20:06 the Yorkshirest thing I say for ‘hot’ is ‘warm’ [waːm] (‘warm’ [waːm]) ‘warm’
[waːm] […] (“it’s warm out here” [ɪts waːm aʊʔ ɪə]))
GOAT
[ɔː > ~ ɔʊ > əʊ > ɵː]28
(0:17:14 and I suppose [səpəʊz] that was round the time when I was still getting my my true accent;
0:39:46 but they’ve got those, [ðɔːz] like, T924 which completes the word for you on phones [fɵːnz] now;
0:44:53 (what does ‘gnarly’ mean?) ‘gnarly’s kind of there’s another I was going to say it means ‘stoked’
[stɔːkt] but you probably don’t know [dʊnʔ nɔː] what stoked [stɔːkt] means either (I use ‘stoked’ [stəʊkt]);
0:57:52 dad works in a factory where it’s all quite open [ɔːpən] and they swear a lot mum’s an insurance
broker [ɪnʃɔːɹəns bɹɔːkə] so [sɔː] it’s all quite, you know, [jə nɔː] got to talk to your clients properly so she
didn’t have a clue; 1:01:08 now on the radio [ɹɛːdiɔː] it hasn’t been dubbed (oh, really) but on TV it has
26
One speaker (Sarah) consistently uses [ɑː]; one speaker (Nick) varies between [ɑː > aː]; the other two speakers consistently
use [aː].
27
Series of US action-comedy films (1997-2002).
28
One speaker (Sarah) consistently uses [əʊ]; one speaker (Nick) varies between [əʊ > ɔː ~ ɵː]; the other two speakers vary
between [ɔː > ɔʊ].
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(oh, right) and I don’t [dɔːnʔ] understand why that is really (that’s silly, that, ’cause ‘ho’ [hɔʊ] is nothing);
1:12:53 if you’re taking that example the um the posher family were shown [ʃɔːn] in a very bad light)
don’t (know), going to (0:09:28 when I’m with my grandparents obviously I don’t know [dənəʊ] I
just switch to a more neutral accent; 0:15:21 if you go doing a um a different accent and you slip
out of it they’re going to [gʊnə] think that you’re thick and you need to be yourself at any audition
you go to; 0:44:53 (what does ‘gnarly’ mean?) ‘gnarly’s kind of there’s another I was going to
[gʊnə] say it means ‘stoked’ but you probably don’t know [dʊnʔ nɔː] what stoked means either (I
use ‘stoked’))
frozen (0:21:34 or if you were ‘cold’ you’d say, “I’m frozen” [am fɹɒzən])
over (1:24:48 people in Barnsley go, “give over” [giː aː] they go, “give over” [giː aː] like ‘give
up’)
<-ow> (0:37:35 no, ‘fellow’ [fɛlə] uh ’cause that’s that’s, “this is my fellow” [ðɪs ɪz mɪ fɛlə] if
you’re introducing him I suppose; 0:39:08 the only way I do it is if I’m putting ‘tomorrow’
[təmɒɹɔː] I put “2morrow” [tuːmɒɹɔː] and that but that’s it)
GOAL
[ɔː > ɔʊ]29
(0:07:52 I remember when I was in Easingwold [iːzɪŋwɔːɫd] at the start of Easingwold [iːzɪŋwɔːɫd] I, l…,
used to say, like, ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ and stuff like that but then as soon as you get to college when you’ve
made met loads of different people from loads of different schools everything changes; 0:50:49 you can’t
teach an old [ɔʊɫd] dog new tricks that whole [hɔʊɫ] thing it’s harder to change your accent when you’re
our age much much harder)
cold (0:19:41 my grandpa says it and my mum’ll say it too if she just she’s not thinking about it,
“God, it’s cold out here, isn’t it?” [gɒː ɪts kɒːd aʊʔ ɪəɹ ɪnːɪʔ] […] and then for ‘hot’ it’s “hot”;
0:21:34 or if you were ‘cold’ [kɔːɫd] you’d say, “I’m frozen”)
GOOSE
[uː]
(0:07:52 I remember when I was in Easingwold at the start of Easingwold I, l…, used to say, like, ‘dudy’
[duːdi] and ‘cool’ [kuːɫ] and stuff like that but then as soon [suːn] as you get to college when you’ve made
met loads of different people from loads of different schools [skuːɫz] everything changes; 0:09:28 when I’m
with my grandparents obviously I don’t know I just switch to a more neutral [njuːʧɹəɫ] accent; 1:23:47 I
mean we use [juːz] ‘kitchen’ and ‘toilet’ but we use [juːz] the ‘green room’ [gɹiːn ɹuːm] ‘red room’ [ɹɛd
ɹuːm] ‘orange room’ [ɒɹɪnʤ ɹuːm] ‘blue room’ [bluː ɹuːm] all that)
stressed to (0:15:21 if you go doing a um a different accent and you slip out of it they’re going to
think that you’re thick and you need to be yourself at any audition you go to [ɛni ɒːdɪʃən jə gɔː tə];
0:20:01 it’s just to hear your grandp… my grandpa speaking I just pick up on these, like, one little
words you’ve got to to understand him [jəv gɒt tə tu ʊndəstand ɪm]; 0:57:08 there’s some swearwords though um (not at all ’cause it’s not necessary to say it some people just slip it in just for the
sake of it) it isn’t but it would be strange not to [nɒʔ tə] (yeah) it’d be strange not to [nɒʔ tə] though
[…] I think there’s some swear-words though that people do have respect for)
PRICE
[aɪ > aː]
(0:01:45 oh, I don’t think it’s very polite [pəlaɪʔ] either you wouldn’t say it in, you know, if you were going
to a dinner party you wouldn’t go, “oh, I feel dead groggy tonight” [tənaɪʔ]; 0:55:25 I think you’re you’re
really uptight [ʊptaɪʔ] if you just can’t swear once in a while [waɪɫ]; 0:57:52 dad works in a factory where
it’s all quite [kwaɪʔ] open and they swear a lot mum’s an insurance broker so it’s all quite, [kwaɪʔ] you
know, got to talk to your clients [klaɪənʔs] properly so she didn’t have a clue; 1:01:26 ’cause you can stop
29
Two speakers (Sarah and Nick) consistently uses [ɔʊ]; the other two speakers vary between [ɔː > ɔʊ].
http://sounds.bl.uk
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BBC Voices Recordings
a child [ʧaːɫd] from, you know, (watching TV) watching that TV channel but you can’t stop a child [ʧaːɫd]
when you’re on the it’s just on a general radio in the morning it was this morning on our bus)
my (0:17:14 and I suppose that was round the time when I was still getting my [ma] my [maɪ] true
accent; 0:20:01 it’s just to hear your grandp… my [ma] grandpa speaking I just pick up on these,
like, one little words you’ve got to to understand him; 0:23:43 or there is the one that me and my
[ma] dad use uh a ‘siesta’; 0:33:33 I would say ‘mum’ to my [ma] mum but if I was talking about
my [mɪ] mum and dad it’d be ‘mam’ and ‘dad’; 0:35:01 she’s very Yorkshire (yeah) though it’s it’s
all very, like, ‘pumped’ and, “Lee pumped in my [ma] jar” I’d like to clear that up actually I didn’t
pump in her jar ever; 0:35:31 (oh, I say I’ve got a ‘nana’) have you do you say ‘nana’ (‘nana’) it’s
it’s my [mə] ‘nana’ and my [mə] ‘nana Ann’; 0:37:35 no, ‘fellow’ uh ’cause that’s that’s, “this is
my fellow” [ðɪs ɪz mɪ fɛlə] if you’re introducing him I suppose)
tired (0:02:48 I don’t think you’d use ‘shattered’ either (no, probably not) you’d just say ‘tired’
[taɪəd])
CHOICE
[ɔɪ > ɒɪ]
(0:06:21 I mean my dad used to be a Geordie but he lost his accent purposefully when he joined [ʤɔɪnd]
the army my mum came from Middlesbrough so she doesn’t really have an accent; 0:40:43 and we looked
at some of the younger years’ work and it was full of text messaging language and especially with girls
more than with boys [bɒɪz]; 1:17:31 you see there’s some really harsh ones for ‘moody’ like boys [bɔɪz] in
our year if they were saying moody towards a woman they’d go, “oh, she must be on”)
MOUTH
[aʊ]
(0:01:22 when you go to their house [haʊs] you pick up certain words; 0:29:28 ‘kegs’ foun… sounds
[saʊndz] so common though (‘kegs’ is) “get your kegs off” it just sounds [saʊndz] horrible; 0:56:36 it
came to such a surprise for me when I came to college from leaving Easingwold where you wasn’t allowed
[əlaʊd] to swear wasn’t allowed [əlaʊd] to even to pretend to swear (yeah) um to going to a teacher who
would be saying it to get a laugh)
our, power (0:07:31 there’s not a major difference we do have Yorkshire accents at our [ɑː] school;
0:11:41 but it’s, like, you you seem to manage to copy every accent off Austin Powers27 [ɒstɪm
paʊəz] (yes) at all ever; 0:47:05 there’s there’s girls at our [aː] college who are like, “ew, ew, oh,
ew” and, like, really American Paris Hilton18 (oh gosh) type of cheerleader language; 0:50:49 you
can’t teach an old dog new tricks that whole thing it’s harder to change your accent when you’re
our age [ɑːɹ ɛɪʤ] much much harder; 1:01:26 ’cause you can stop a child from, you know,
(watching TV) watching that TV channel but you can’t stop a child when you’re on the it’s just on a
general radio in the morning it was this morning on our [aʊə] bus; 1:17:31 you see there’s some
really harsh ones for ‘moody’ like boys in our [aː] year if they were saying moody towards a
woman they’d go, “oh, she must be on”)
NEAR
[ɪə > ɪː]
(0:04:58 to make yourself clear [klɪə] you’ve got to, you know, talk with this RP accent that’s recognised
through the B.B.C. and everything like that; 0:40:43 and we looked at some of the younger years’ [jɪːz]
work and it was full of text messaging language and especially with girls more than with boys; 0:47:05
there’s there’s girls at our college who are like, “ew, ew, oh, ew” and, like, really American Paris Hilton18
(oh gosh) type of cheerleader [ʧɪəliːdə] language)
SQUARE
[ɛː]
(0:08:08 like half of these I’ve got on this piece of paper with I would never use before ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’
and or ‘sugar’ is for a swear-word [swɛːwəːd] that would be my swear-word [swɛːwəːd]; 0:09:28 when I’m
with my grandparents [gɹampɛːɹənts] obviously I don’t know I just switch to a more neutral accent;
1:22:14 that all comes from Cockney slang as well, doesn’t it, (yeah) like a a ‘Jack Flash’ is a ‘slash’ (a
http://sounds.bl.uk
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BBC Voices Recordings
‘slash’, yeah) (oh, I see) and, like, ‘up the apples and pears’ [ʊp ði apɫ̟z əm pɛːz] is ‘going up the stairs’
[gəʊɪn ʊp ðə stɛːz])
START
[aː > ɑː]30
(0:01:45 oh, I don’t think it’s very polite either you wouldn’t say it in, you know, if you were going to a
dinner party [dɪnə paːʔi] you wouldn’t go, “oh, I feel dead groggy tonight”; 0:06:21 I mean my dad used to
be a Geordie but he lost his accent purposefully when he joined the army [ɑːmɪ] my mum came from
Middlesbrough so she doesn’t really have an accent; 0:50:49 you can’t teach an old dog new tricks that
whole thing it’s harder [hɑːdə] to change your accent when you’re our age much much harder [hɑːdə];
1:24:48 people in Barnsley [baːnzli] go, “give over” they go, “give over” like ‘give up’)
NORTH
[ɒː ~ ɔː]
(0:06:21 I mean my dad used to be a Geordie [ʤɔːdiː] but he lost his accent purposefully when he joined
the army my mum came from Middlesbrough so she doesn’t really have an accent; 0:07:12 after a few
years of being there she started to pick up what would be classed at my school as a real ding accent and
stuff like this and I thought, “oh no, don’t do it” (proper charver) yeah, it was like that it’s not a Yorkshire
accent [jɔːkʃəɹ aksənʔ] (no) it was a proper, you know, naff one; 1:01:26 ’cause you can stop a child from,
you know, (watching TV) watching that TV channel but you can’t stop a child when you’re on the it’s just
on a general radio in the morning [mɒːnɪn] it was this morning [mɒːnɪn] on our bus)
for (0:57:08 there’s some swear-words though um (not at all ’cause it’s not necessary to say it
some people just slip it in just for [fə] the sake of it) it isn’t but it would be strange not to (yeah) it’d
be strange not to though […] I think there’s some swear-words though that people do have respect
for [fɒ])
FORCE
[ɔː ~ ɒː]
(0:40:43 and we looked at some of the younger years’ work and it was full of text messaging language and
especially with girls more [mɒː] than with boys; 0:45:30 (it’s kind of, like, a shared language) (yeah) (you
have, isn’t it, depending what group you’re in) ex… extreme sports [ɪkstɹiːm spɔːts] put it into that;
0:50:27 I’d say that you’re more [mɔː] influenced when you’re younger)
CURE
[ɔː]
(0:57:52 dad works in a factory where it’s all quite open and they swear a lot mum’s an insurance broker
[ɪnʃɔːɹəns bɹɔːkə] so it’s all quite, you know, got to talk to your clients properly so she didn’t have a clue)
happY31
[i > ɪ]
(0:01:45 oh, I don’t think it’s very polite either you wouldn’t say it in, you know, if you were going to a
dinner party [dɪnə paːʔi] you wouldn’t go, “oh, I feel dead groggy [dɛd gɹɒgi] tonight”; 0:06:21 I mean my
dad used to be a Geordie [ʤɔːdiː] but he lost his accent purposefully [pəːpəsfəli] when he joined the army
[ɑːmɪ] my mum came from Middlesbrough so she doesn’t really [ɹɪːli] have an accent; 0:40:43 and we
looked at some of the younger years’ work and it was full of text messaging language and especially
[əspɛʃlɪ] with girls more than with boys; 0:44:33 I think a lot of, like, um say, you know, like, townies
[taʊnɪz] use these Americanised words as well because they think they see it on TV they think they’re really
[ɹɪːlɪ] hard and they just want that kind of image (sometimes it just comes natural though); 0:57:52 dad
works in a factory [faktɹɪ] where it’s all quite open and they swear a lot mum’s an insurance broker so it’s
all quite, you know, got to talk to your clients properly [pɹɒplɪ] so she didn’t have a clue)
commA~lettER
[ə]
30
One speaker (Sarah) consistently uses [ɑː]; one speaker (Nick) varies between [ɑː > aː]; the other two speakers consistently
use [aː].
31
One speaker (Stacey) varies between [ɪ > i]; the other three speakers vary between [i > ɪ].
http://sounds.bl.uk
Page 14 of 25
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(0:01:45 oh, I don’t think it’s very polite either [iːðə] you wouldn’t say it in, you know, if you were going to
a dinner party [dɪnə paːʔi] you wouldn’t go, “oh, I feel dead groggy tonight”; 0:35:31 (oh, I say I’ve got a
‘nana’ [nanə]) have you do you say ‘nana’ [nanə] (‘nana’ [nanə]) it’s it’s my ‘nana’ and my ‘nana Ann’
[ɪts mə nanəɹ əm mə nanaɹ an]; 0:43:48 like I say ‘dude’ so much I think I s… (yeah) (‘gnarly’) ‘gnarly’ I
say as a lot as well (‘gnarly’?) not not a lot of people say ‘gnarly’ (what’s that?) ‘gnarly’s a very kind of
skater [skɛːʔə] surfer [səːfə] term in America [əmɛɹɪkə] which means kind of ‘cool’; 0:57:52 dad works in
a factory where it’s all quite open and they swear a lot mum’s an insurance broker [ɪnʃɔːɹəns bɹɔːkə] so
it’s all quite, you know, got to talk to your clients properly so she didn’t have a clue)
father (0:36:29 and then my grandad in Scotland’s called um (o’dad) s…, no, I’ve forgotten his
name now we call him ‘father’ [fava] but it’s my dad called him that when he was little)
horsES
[ɪ]
(0:07:52 I remember when I was in Easingwold at the start of Easingwold I, l…, used to say, like, ‘dudy’
and ‘cool’ and stuff like that but then as soon as you get to college when you’ve made met loads of different
people from loads of different schools everything changes [ʧɛːnʤɪz]; 0:35:36 ’cause my parents allocated,
you know, ‘grandad’ and ‘granny’ went together, like, those names I’ve always thought, “well is that the
way it’s meant to be” oh, it confuses [kəɱfjuːzɪz] me)
startED
[ɪ]
(0:35:36 ’cause my parents allocated, [aləkɛɪtɪd] you know, ‘grandad’ and ‘granny’ went together, like,
those names I’ve always thought, “well is that the way it’s meant to be” oh, it confuses me; 0:57:38 my
mum started [staːʔɪd] to call my dad a ‘faggot’ and I got really offended [əfɛndɪd] by that she’s going,
“yeah, but it’s just a meatball and we used to call it” you know I was like, “no, mum, you know, it’s not
any more” (yeah, but it’s different connotations now) and she didn’t realise)
mornING
[ɪ]
(0:07:52 I remember when I was in Easingwold at the start of Easingwold I, l…, used to say, like, ‘dudy’
and ‘cool’ and stuff like that but then as soon as you get to college when you’ve made met loads of different
people from loads of different schools everything [ɛvɹɪθɪŋ] changes; 0:17:14 and I suppose that was round
the time when I was still getting [gɛdɪŋ] my my true accent; 1:19:17 like ‘pushing up the daisies’ [pʊʃɪŋ ʌp
ðə dɛɪzɪz] that’s a euphemism you’re trying to [tɹaɪnə] say something [sʌmθɪŋ] that’s not necessarily nice)
ZERO RHOTICITY
PLOSIVES
T
frequent word final T-glottaling (e.g. 0:01:45 oh, I don’t [dɔːnʔ] think it’s very polite [pəlaɪʔ] either you
wouldn’t [wʊnʔ] say it [ɪʔ] in, you know, if you were going to a dinner party you wouldn’t [wʊnʔ] go, “oh, I
feel dead groggy tonight” [tənaɪʔ]; 0:07:52 I remember when I was in Easingwold at the start [staːʔ] of
Easingwold I, l…, used to say, like, ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ and stuff like that [ðaʔ] but then as soon as you get
[gɛʔ] to college when you’ve made met [mɛʔ] loads of different [dɪfɹənʔ] people from loads of different
[dɪfɹənʔ] schools everything changes; 0:14:12 it’s like those crosswords in books where you get [gɛʔ] a few
letters to start [staːʔ] you off, isn’t it, [ɪnːɪʔ] and you fill them in and then slowly you get [gɛʔ] all the letters
and you fill in the whole thing; 0:43:14 ’cause me and my boyfriend are with each other quite [kwaɪʔ] a lot
[lɒʔ] at [əʔ] school um and it’s, like, we just say if I’m talking to my friends, I go, “oh, where’s the other
half?”; 0:43:48 like I say ‘dude’ so much I think I s… (yeah) (‘gnarly’) ‘gnarly’ I say as a lot [lɒʔ] as well
(‘gnarly’?) not [nɒʔ] not [nɒʔ] a lot [lɒʔ] of people say ‘gnarly’ (what’s that?) ‘gnarly’s a very kind of
skater surfer term in America which means kind of ‘cool’; 0:55:25 I think you’re you’re really uptight
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[ʊptaɪʔ] if you just can’t [kaːnʔ] swear once in a while; 0:57:38 my mum started to call my dad a ‘faggot’
[fagɪʔ] and I got [gɒʔ] really offended by that [ðaʔ] she’s going, “yeah, but it’s just a meatball [miːʔbɒːɫ]
and we used to call it” [ɪʔ] you know I was like, “no, mum, you know, it’s not [nɒʔ] any more” (yeah, but
it’s different connotations now) and she didn’t [dɪdənʔ] realise)
frequent word medial & syllable initial T-glottaling (e.g. 0:01:22 when you go to their house you pick up
certain [səːʔn̩] words 0:01:45 oh, I don’t think it’s very polite either you wouldn’t say it in, you know, if
you were going to a dinner party [dɪnə paːʔi] you wouldn’t go, “oh, I feel dead groggy tonight”; 0:14:12
it’s like those crosswords in books where you get a few letters [lɛʔəz] to start you off, isn’t it, and you fill
them in and then slowly you get all the letters [lɛʔəz] and you fill in the whole thing; 0:36:29 and then my
grandad in Scotland’s called um (o’dad) s…, no, I’ve forgotten his name now we call him ‘father’ but it’s
my dad called him that when he was little [lɪʔɫ̟]; 0:43:48 like I say ‘dude’ so much I think I s… (yeah)
(‘gnarly’) ‘gnarly’ I say as a lot as well (‘gnarly’?) not not a lot of people say ‘gnarly’ (what’s that?)
‘gnarly’s a very kind of skater [skɛːʔə] surfer term in America which means kind of ‘cool’; 0:47:05 there’s
there’s girls at our college who are like, “ew, ew, oh, ew” and, like, really American Paris Hilton18 [paɹɪs
hɪɫʔn̟] (oh gosh) type of cheerleader language; 0:57:38 my mum started [staːʔɪd] to call my dad a ‘faggot’
and I got really offended by that she’s going, “yeah, but it’s just a meatball and we used to call it” you
know I was like, “no, mum, you know, it’s not any more” (yeah, but it’s different connotations now) and
she didn’t realise; 1:12:28 there’s, like, one standard RP family (yeah, like last week) and there’s one
scally family (OK) (yeah) and there’s, like, the scally family go to Brighton [bɹaɪʔn̟] for their holiday
(yeah) or wherever it was um (Blackpool, wasn’t it?) Blackpool; 1:10:55 it’s like they’re constantly
wanting [wɒnʔɪn] to pick a fight, you know (yeah) ’cause they want to look big and hard (yeah, well me me
Nick and our friend from college called Mike was um we were walking through town); 1:24:22 “thou’s a
calf-head” boy told ‘not very bright’ “can you fettle it?” [kan jə fɛʔɫ̟ ɪʔ] ‘can you fix it?’)
T-voicing (0:16:22 I know that my my good education will be a down factor in that so and people can pick
that [ðad] up from my accent; 0:17:14 and I suppose that was round the time when I was still getting
[gɛdɪŋ] my my true accent; 0:53:53 (like, what do American rappers do when they go, “I’m a badass
motherfucker) exactly you see it’s not it’s not it doesn’t mean what [wɒd] it says (they’re bigging
themselves up but they’re degrading themselves at the same time))
T to R (0:45:30 (it’s kind of, like, a shared language) (yeah) (you have, isn’t it, depending what group
you’re in) ex… extreme sports put it into that [pʊɹ ɪʔ ɪntə ðaʔ])
NASALS
NG
frequent NG-fronting (e.g. 0:04:58 to make yourself clear you’ve got to, you know, talk with this RP
accent that’s recognised through the B.B.C. and everything [ɛvɹɪθɪn] like that; 0:05:43 yeah, it’s ’cause,
like, I was sat in the common room the other day and this uh a girl went, “oh, who’s this?” and we were,
like, all taking [tɛːkɪn] the mick of her ’cause, you know, she was speaking [spiːkɪn] properly and we were
just like, “who’s she think she is?”; 0:40:43 and we looked at some of the younger years’ work and it was
full of text messaging [tɛkst mɛsɪʤɪn] language and especially with girls more than with boys; 1:01:26
’cause you can stop a child from, you know, (watching TV) watching [wɒʧɪn] that TV channel but you
can’t stop a child when you’re on the it’s just on a general radio in the morning [mɒːnɪn] it was this
morning [mɒːnɪn] on our bus; 1:05:43 you see ‘bitching’ [bɪʧɪn] means something completely different to
me (what does it mean?) ‘bitching’ [bɪʧɪn] means ‘really good’ um I ’cause (no, ‘bitching’ [bɪʧɪn] is when
you’re) (it’s like ‘slagging off’) (slagging off) (slagging off somebody))
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<-thing> with NK (0:18:37 I start to take the mick out of myself kind of thing so I use different words like
“Goddammit, I’m so annoyed” or something [sʊmɪŋk] like that, you know)
N
syllabic N with nasal release (0:09:10 sometimes I speak, like, and it comes out naturally and then I
suddenly [sʊdn̩li] think, “why did I say that it sounds horrible it sounds stupid”; 0:18:13 if it was with your
friends you would but if it was in, like, um like you say you’re off to a dinner party or something you
wouldn’t [wʊdn̟ʔ] say you’re ‘pissed off’)
syllabic N with epenthetic schwa (0:16:41 so, you know, I just I d… I often [ɒftən] find it’s it’s not good to
have I’d rather have a Yorkshire accent; 0:19:02 see I don’t really think people say that they’re annoyed
very often [ɒftən] (no) they kind of just keep it to themselves; 0:57:38 my mum started to call my dad a
‘faggot’ and I got really offended by that she’s going, “yeah, but it’s just a meatball and we used to call it”
you know I was like, “no, mum, you know, it’s not any more” (yeah, but it’s different connotations now)
and she didn’t [dɪdənʔ] realise)
FRICATIVES
H
H-dropping
(0:19:41 my grandpa says it and my mum’ll say it too if she just she’s not thinking about it,
“God, it’s cold out here, isn’t it?” [gɒː ɪts kɒːd aʊʔ ɪəɹ ɪnːɪʔ] […] and then for ‘hot’ [hɒt] it’s “hot” [jat];
0:29:28 ‘kegs’ foun… sounds so common though (‘kegs’ is) “get your kegs off” it just sounds horrible
[ɒɹəbɫ̩])
LIQUIDS
R
approximant R (0:06:21 I mean my dad used to be a Geordie but he lost his accent purposefully when he
joined the army my mum came from Middlesbrough [mɪdɫ̩zbɹə] so she doesn’t really [ɹɪːli] have an accent;
0:09:28 when I’m with my grandparents [gɹampɛːɹənts] obviously I don’t know I just switch to a more
neutral [njuːʧɹəɫ] accent; 1:23:47 I mean we use ‘kitchen’ and ‘toilet’ but we use the ‘green room’ [gɹiːn
ɹuːm] ‘red room’ [ɹɛd ɹuːm] ‘orange room’ [ɒɹɪnʤ ɹuːm] ‘blue room’ [bluː ɹuːm] all that)
L
clear onset L (0:06:21 I mean my dad used to be a Geordie but he lost [lɒst] his accent purposefully
[pəːpəsfəli] when he joined the army my mum came from Middlesbrough so she doesn’t really [ɹɪːli] have
an accent; 0:07:52 I remember when I was in Easingwold at the start of Easingwold I, l…, used to say,
like, [laɪk] ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ and stuff like [laɪk] that but then as soon as you get to college [kɒlɪʤ] when
you’ve made met loads [lɔːdz] of different people from loads [lɔːdz] of different schools everything
changes; 0:57:52 dad works in a factory where it’s all quite open and they swear a lot [lɒʔ] mum’s an
insurance broker so it’s all quite, you know, got to talk to your clients [klaɪənʔs] properly [pɹɒplɪ] so she
didn’t have a clue)
dark onset L (0:57:52 dad works in a factory where it’s all quite open and they swear a lot mum’s an
insurance broker so it’s all quite, you know, got to talk to your clients properly so she didn’t have a clue
[kɫuː])
dark coda L (0:07:52 I remember when I was in Easingwold [iːzɪŋwɔːɫd] at the start of Easingwold
[iːzɪŋwɔːɫd] I, l…, used to say, like, ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ [kuːɫ] and stuff like that but then as soon as you get
to college when you’ve made met loads of different people [piːpɫ̟] from loads of different schools [skuːɫz]
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BBC Voices Recordings
everything changes; 0:28:27 you do say ‘togs’ if you’re mucking around though, don’t you, “they’re well
nice togs” [wɛɫ naɪs tɒgz]; 1:01:26 ’cause you can stop a child [ʧaːɫd] from, you know, (watching TV)
watching that TV channel [ʧanəɫ] but you can’t stop a child [ʧaːɫd] when you’re on the it’s just on a
general [ʤɛnɹəɫ] radio in the morning it was this morning on our bus)
syllabic L with lateral release (0:06:21 I mean my dad used to be a Geordie but he lost his accent
purposefully when he joined the army my mum came from Middlesbrough [mɪdɫ̟zbɹə] so she doesn’t really
have an accent)
GLIDES
J
yod dropping with D (0:37:35 no, ‘fellow’ uh ’cause that’s that’s, “this is my fellow” if you’re
introducing [ɪnʧɹəduːsɪn] him I suppose; 1:13:24 we’re doing a play about them at the moment that’s why
I said it “Dubai” [dʊbaɪ] is what I really meant)
yod coalescence (0:09:10 sometimes I speak, like, and it comes out naturally and then I suddenly think,
“why did I say that it sounds horrible it sounds stupid” [sʧuːpɪd]; 0:16:22 I know that my my good
education [ɛʤəkɛɪʃən] will be a down factor in that so and people can pick that up from my accent;
0:58:21 it seems to be, like, these words that we’re coming out with like you’re saying the ‘C-word’ and
‘faggot’ it is because more people come out that they gain it’s not such it’s not hid any more and it’s not
such a big issue [ɪʃuː] as it used to be)
ELISION
prepositions
of reduction (0:07:52 I remember when I was in Easingwold at the start of Easingwold I, l…, used to say,
like, ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ and stuff like that but then as soon as you get to college when you’ve made met
loads of [ə] different people from loads of [ə] different schools everything changes; 0:08:08 like half of [ə]
these I’ve got on this piece of [ə] paper with I would never use before ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ and or ‘sugar’ is
for a swear-word that would be my swear-word)
over reduction (1:24:48 people in Barnsley go, “give over” [giː aː] they go, “give over” [giː aː] like ‘give
up’)
negation
frequent secondary contraction (e.g. 0:01:45 oh, I don’t think it’s very polite either you wouldn’t [wʊnʔ]
say it in, you know, if you were going to a dinner party you wouldn’t [wʊnʔ] go, “oh, I feel dead groggy
tonight”; 0:14:12 it’s like those crosswords in books where you get a few letters to start you off, isn’t it,
[ɪnːɪʔ] and you fill them in and then slowly you get all the letters and you fill in the whole thing; 0:19:41 my
grandpa says it and my mum’ll say it too if she just she’s not thinking about it, “God, it’s cold out here,
isn’t it?” [ɪnːɪʔ] […] and then for ‘hot’ it’s “hot”; 0:35:01 she’s very Yorkshire (yeah) though it’s it’s all
very, like, ‘pumped’ and, “Lee pumped in my jar” I’d like to clear that up actually I didn’t [dɪnʔ] pump in
her jar ever; 0:57:52 dad works in a factory where it’s all quite open and they swear a lot mum’s an
insurance broker so it’s all quite, you know, got to talk to your clients properly so she didn’t [dɪnʔ] have a
clue)
simplification
frequent word final consonant cluster reduction (e.g. 0:09:28 when I’m with my grandparents obviously
I don’t know [dənəʊ] I just switch to a more neutral accent; 0:14:12 it’s like those crosswords in books
where you get a few letters to start you off, isn’t it, [ɪnːɪʔ] and you fill them in and then slowly you get all
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the letters and you fill in the whole thing; 0:19:41 my grandpa says it and my mum’ll say it too if she just
she’s not thinking about it, “God, it’s cold out here, isn’t it?” [ɪnːɪʔ] […] and then for ‘hot’ it’s “hot”;
0:35:36 ’cause my parents allocated, you know, ‘grandad’ and ‘granny’ went together, like, those names
I’ve always thought, “well is that the way it’s meant to be” [ɪz ðaʔ ðə wɛɪ ɪts mɛnə biː] oh, it confuses me;
0:45:30 it’s kind of, like, a shared language (yeah) you have, isn’t it, [ɪzənɪʔ] depending what group you’re
in (ex… extreme sports put it into that); 1:06:32 (‘natter’s a really Yorkshire term) (yeah, having a ‘natter’)
(definitely) (‘chin-wag’ is that a Yorkshire term?) ‘chin-wag’ (‘chin-wag’) that’s a bit southern, isn’t it?
[ɪzənɪʔ]; 1:12:28 (there’s, like, one standard RP family) yeah, like last week (and there’s one scally family)
(OK) yeah (and there’s like the scally family go to Brighton for their holiday) yeah (or wherever it was um)
Blackpool, wasn’t it? [wɒzənɪʔ] (Blackpool); 1:22:14 that all comes from Cockney slang as well, doesn’t it,
[dʊzənɪʔ] (yeah) like a a ‘Jack Flash’ is a ‘slash’ (a ‘slash’, yeah) (oh, I see) and, like, ‘up the apples and
pears’ is ‘going up the stairs’)
word medial consonant cluster reduction (0:04:58 to make yourself clear you’ve got to, you know, talk
with this RP accent that’s recognised [ɹɛkənaɪzd] through the B.B.C. and everything like that; 0:18:37 I
start to take the mick out of myself kind of thing so I use different words like “Goddammit, I’m so
annoyed” or something [sʊmɪŋk] like that, you know; 0:53:53 (like, what do American rappers do when
they go, “I’m a badass motherfucker) exactly [ɛgzakli] you see it’s not it’s not it doesn’t mean what it says
(they’re bigging themselves up but they’re degrading themselves at the same time))
syllable deletion (0:37:35 no, ‘fellow’ uh ’cause that’s that’s, “this is my fellow” if you’re introducing him
I suppose [spɔʊz]; 0:57:52 dad works in a factory [faktɹɪ] where it’s all quite open and they swear a lot
mum’s an insurance broker so it’s all quite, you know, got to talk to your clients properly [pɹɒplɪ] so she
didn’t have a clue; 1:12:28 there’s, like, one standard RP family [famli] (yeah, like last week) and there’s
one scally family (OK) (yeah) and there’s, like, the scally family [famli] go to Brighton for their holiday
(yeah) or wherever it was um (Blackpool, wasn’t it?) Blackpool)
definite article reduction32 (0:05:06 my whole family’s Yorkshire though proper Yorkshire like my dad
was born in Acomb so that’s the type of place where they were all, you know, slagging each other off real
proper Yorkshire so like, “down the pub [daʊn tə pʊb] go on let’s let’s have a bevvy”; 0:43:14 ’cause me
and my boyfriend are with each other quite a lot at school um and it’s, like, we just say if I’m talking to my
friends, I go, “oh, where’s the other half?” [wɛːz ʔʊðə haːf]; 0:46:44 “well come down to the chaps then”
[kʊm daʊn təʔ ʧaps ðɛn] what’s the ‘chaps’ I’ll go to Maccy D’s though)
L-deletion (0:15:13 she says they love northerners, you know, they’re pulling them in all over the place it’s
always [ɔːwɪz] the northerners who get the most agents at the end; 0:19:41 my grandpa says it and my
mum’ll say it too if she just she’s not thinking about it, “God, it’s cold out here, isn’t it?” [gɒː ɪts kɒːd aʊʔ
ɪəɹ ɪnːɪʔ] […] and then for ‘hot’ it’s “hot”)
TH-deletion with them (0:14:12 it’s like those crosswords in books where you get a few letters to start you
off, isn’t it, and you fill them [əm] in and then slowly you get all the letters and you fill in the whole thing;
0:15:13 she says they love northerners, you know, they’re pulling them [əm] in all over the place it’s
always the northerners who get the most agents at the end)
V-deletion (1:24:48 people in Barnsley go, “give over” [giː aː] they go, “give over” [giː aː] like ‘give up’)
LIAISON
frequent linking R (e.g. 0:07:12 after a few years [aftəɹ ə fjuː jɪːz] of being there she started to pick up
what would be classed at my school as a real ding accent and stuff like this and I thought, “oh no, don’t do
32
All tokens consciously ‘performed’.
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it” (proper charver) yeah, it was like that it’s not a Yorkshire accent [jɔːkʃəɹ aksənʔ] (no) it was a proper,
you know, naff one; 0:08:08 like half of these I’ve got on this piece of paper with I would never use before
‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ and or ‘sugar’ is for a swear-word [fəɹ ə swɛːwəːd] that would be my swear-word;
0:19:41 my grandpa says it and my mum’ll say it too if she just she’s not thinking about it, “God, it’s cold
out here, isn’t it?” [gɒː ɪts kɒːd aʊʔ ɪəɹ ɪnːɪʔ] […] and then for ‘hot’ it’s “hot”; 0:45:45 if you’re using the
same words over and over again [ɔːvəɹ ən ɔːvəɹ əgɛn] and then you hear one on TV and you’re like,
“that’s cool I like that”; 0:48:29 I think, like, when you see these kind of programmes it kind of makes you
a bit more prouder and a bit more confident [ə bɪʔ mɒː pɹaʊdəɹ ən ə bɪʔ mɒː kɒɱfɪdənʔ] to go out and
speak in your dialect; 0:50:49 you can’t teach an old dog new tricks that whole thing it’s harder to change
your accent when you’re our age [ɑːɹ ɛɪʤ] much much harder)
zero linking R (0:07:31 there’s not a major difference we do have Yorkshire accents [jɔːkʃə aksənʔs] at
our school; 0:16:22 I know that my my good education will be a down factor in that [ə daʊn faktə ɪn ðaʔ]
so and people can pick that up from my accent; 0:50:27 I’d say that you’re more influenced [mɔː
ɪɱfluːənst] when you’re younger)
intrusive R (0:35:31 (oh, I say I’ve got a ‘nana’) have you do you say ‘nana’ (‘nana’) it’s it’s my ‘nana’
and my ‘nana Ann’ [ɪts mə nanəɹ əm mə nanaɹ an])
EPENTHESIS
(0:19:41 my grandpa says it and my mum’ll say it too if she just she’s not thinking about it,
“God, it’s cold out here, isn’t it?” […] and then for ‘hot’ [hɒt] it’s “hot” [jat])
J-onglide
WEAK-STRONG CONTRAST
vowel reduction
weak definite article + vowel (0:39:08 the only way [ðə ɔːnlɪ wɛɪ] I do it is if I’m putting ‘tomorrow’ I put
“2morrow” and that but that’s it)
vowel strengthening
word initial vowel strengthening (0:39:46 but they’ve got those, like, T924 which completes [kɒmpliːts]
the word for you on phones now; 1:05:43 you see ‘bitching’ means something completely [kɒmpliːʔlɪ]
different to me (what does it mean?) ‘bitching’ means ‘really good’ um I ’cause (no, ‘bitching’ is when
you’re) (it’s like ‘slagging off’) (slagging off) (slagging off somebody))
word final vowel strengthening (0:57:38 my mum started to call my dad a ‘faggot’ [fagɪʔ] and I got really
offended by that she’s going, “yeah, but it’s just a meatball and we used to call it” you know I was like,
“no, mum, you know, it’s not any more” (yeah, but it’s different connotations now) and she didn’t realise)
LEXICALLY SPECIFIC VARIATION
again(st) (0:45:45 if you’re using the same words over and over again [əgɛn] and then you hear one on TV
and you’re like, “that’s cool I like that”; 1:13:07 I think it’s ridiculous that you they they people set people
against [əgɛnst] each other like that)
be(cause) (0:43:14 ’cause [kəs] me and my boyfriend are with each other quite a lot at school um and it’s,
like, we just say if I’m talking to my friends, I go, “oh, where’s the other half?”; 0:58:21 it seems to be,
like, these words that we’re coming out with like you’re saying the ‘C-word’ and ‘faggot’ it is because
[bɪkəz] more people come out that they gain it’s not such it’s not hid any more and it’s not such a big issue
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as it used to be; 1:05:03 that’s going to political correctness now (yeah) because [bɪkəz] we’ve been, you
know, it’s you know, you’re not ‘short’ you’re ‘vertically-challenged’)
either (0:01:45 oh, I don’t think it’s very polite either [iːðə] you wouldn’t say it in, you know, if you were
going to a dinner party you wouldn’t go, “oh, I feel dead groggy tonight”; 0:02:48 I don’t think you’d use
‘shattered’ either [iːðə] (no, probably not) you’d just say ‘tired’)
often (0:16:41 so, you know, I just I d… I often [ɒftən] find it’s it’s not good to have I’d rather have a
Yorkshire accent; 0:19:02 see I don’t really think people say that they’re annoyed very often [ɒftən] (no)
they kind of just keep it to themselves)
says (0:15:13 she says [sɛz] they love northerners, you know, they’re pulling them in all over the place it’s
always the northerners who get the most agents at the end; 0:19:41 my grandpa says [sɛz] it and my
mum’ll say it too if she just she’s not thinking about it, “God, it’s cold out here, isn’t it?” […] and then for
‘hot’ it’s “hot”; 0:53:53 (like, what do American rappers do when they go, “I’m a badass motherfucker)
exactly you see it’s not it’s not it doesn’t mean what it says [sɛz] (they’re bigging themselves up but they’re
degrading themselves at the same time))
GRAMMAR
DETERMINERS
definite article reduction32 (0:05:06 my whole family’s Yorkshire though proper Yorkshire like my dad
was born in Acomb so that’s the type of place where they were all, you know, slagging each other off real
proper Yorkshire so like, “down t’ pub go on let’s let’s have a bevvy”; 0:43:14 ’cause me and my boyfriend
are with each other quite a lot at school um and it’s, like, we just say if I’m talking to my friends, I go, “oh,
where’s t’ other half?”; 0:46:44 “well come down to t’ chaps then” what’s the ‘chaps’ I’ll go to Maccy D’s
though)
the premodification (0:31:34 not I was buying them with the girlfriend tother day)
demonstrative them (1:11:25 I stopped the police as they were going by and I just got them to take him
away somewhere but it was j… it’s so hard to talk to them type of people)
PRONOUNS
me in coordinate subjects (0:23:43 or there is the one that me and my dad use uh a ‘siesta’; 0:25:31 I
wouldn’t use it personally but that’s just, like, we were sat all, like, me and mum and dad sat what’s
thinking, “oh, what’s the Yorkshire word?”; 0:43:14 ’cause me and my boyfriend are with each other quite
a lot at school um and it’s, like, we just say if I’m talking to my friends, I go, “oh, where’s t’ other half?”;
1:10:55 (it’s like they’re constantly wanting to pick a fight, you know) (yeah) (’cause they want to look big
and hard) yeah, well me me Nick and our friend from college called Mike was um we were walking through
town)
singular object us (1:12:14 “give us ten p for a bus?” […] that that type of stuff but that is common as
muck to me (yeah))
2nd person plural (0:11:28 Nick does as many accents as he possibly can and then I’m there joining him
and then we get into camp Irish and Swedish and (I’ve learnt actually from you guys for goodness’ sake))
thou (1:24:22 “thou’s a calf-head” boy told ‘not very bright’ “can you fettle it?” ‘can you fix it?’)
possessive me (0:33:33 I would say ‘mum’ to my mum but if I was talking about me mum and dad it’d be
‘mam’ and ‘dad’; 0:37:35 no, ‘fella’ uh ’cause that’s that’s, “this is me fella” if you’re introducing him I
suppose)
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VERBS
past
regularised past (1:00:59 this will be broadcasted at one o’clock in the morning)
generalisation of simple past (0:58:21 it seems to be, like, these words that we’re coming out with like
you’re saying the ‘C-word’ and ‘faggot’ it is because more people come out that they gain it’s not such it’s
not hid any more and it’s not such a big issue as it used to be)
generalisation of past participle (0:40:30 I love that when when they’re trying to say something but it’s
not writ like that ‘’cause they don’t check it)
be – was generalisation (0:56:36 it came to such a surprise for me when I came to college from leaving
Easingwold where you wasn’t allowed to swear wasn’t allowed to even to pretend to swear (yeah) um to
going to a teacher who would be saying it to get a laugh)
compounds
simple past with progressive meaning (0:05:43 yeah, it’s ’cause, like, I was sat in the common room the
other day and this uh a girl went, “oh, who’s this?” and we were, like, all taking the mick of her ’cause,
you know, she was speaking properly and we were just like, “who’s she think she is?”; 0:25:31 I wouldn’t
use it personally but that’s just, like, we were sat all, like, me and mum and dad sat what’s thinking, “oh,
what’s the Yorkshire word?”)
zero auxiliary be (0:38:22 I slang ‘baby’ to “babes” and so I refer to my friends as, “_ you all right,
babes?” or something like that; 1:10:42 I mean I was on the bus and somebody just said, “oh, what _ you
janning at, crank?” (‘janning’, yeah) and I was like, (what’s ‘janning’?) “I’m not doing anyth…”)
frequent invariant there is~was (e.g. 0:47:05 there’s there’s girls at our college who are like, “ew, ew,
oh, ew” and, like, really American Paris Hilton18 (oh gosh) type of cheerleader language; 0:57:08 there’s
some swear-words though um (not at all ’cause it’s not necessary to say it some people just slip it in just
for the sake of it) it isn’t but it would be strange not to (yeah) it’d be strange not to though […] I think
there’s some swear-words though that people do have respect for; 1:02:21 and now I mean I would say it
in front of my male friends but not in front not if there was girls around; 1:17:31 you see there’s some
really harsh ones for ‘moody’ like boys in our year if they were saying moody towards a woman they’d go,
“oh, she must be on”)
historic present (1:04:38 but then she also gets a bit mixed up with um a ‘reject’ and a ‘retard’ um so I
was eating in the front room the other day and she went, “aren’t you gonna eat in here with us?” I went,
“well there’s no room” she goes, “oh, so you’re just gonna sit in here like a retard?” I went, “mum, you
can’t really say that”)
NEGATION
auxiliary contraction (0:07:31 there’s not a major difference we do have Yorkshire accents at our school;
0:12:51 you’ve been in Yorkshire for, like, all your life so you you’ve, like, not got grandparents in
Scotland)
zero contraction with interrogative (0:45:12 have you not heard ‘stoked’? (have you not?) it’s it’s
because it is really American; 1:07:50 […] is it not Scottish though your ‘babbies’ and your ‘bairns’?)
have with do-support (0:06:21 I mean my dad used to be a Geordie but he lost his accent purposefully
when he joined the army my mum came from Middlesbrough so she doesn’t really have an accent)
PREPOSITIONS
deletion
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preposition deletion (0:05:06 my whole family’s Yorkshire though proper Yorkshire like my dad was born
in Acomb so that’s the type of place where they were all, you know, slagging each other off real proper
Yorkshire so like, “down _ t’ pub go on let’s let’s have a bevvy”)
substitution
off [= from] (0:11:41 but it’s, like, you you seem to manage to copy every accent off Austin Powers27 (yes)
at all ever)
ADJECTIVES
double comparative (0:48:29 I think, like, when you see these kind of programmes it kind of makes you a
bit more prouder and a bit more confident to go out and speak in your dialect)
non-standard superlative (0:20:06 the Yorkshirest thing I say for ‘hot’ is ‘warm’ (‘warm’) ‘warm’ […]
(“it’s warm out here”))
ADVERBS
unmarked manner adverb (0:44:33 (I think a lot of, like, um say, you know, like, townies use these
Americanised words as well because they think they see it on TV they think they’re really hard and they
just want that kind of image) sometimes it just comes natural though)
unmarked degree modifier adverb (0:07:12 after a few years of being there she started to pick up what
would be classed at my school as a real ding accent and stuff like this and I thought, “oh no, don’t do it”
(proper charver) yeah, it was like that it’s not a Yorkshire accent (no) it was a proper, you know, naff one)
DISCOURSE
frequent utterance internal like (e.g. 0:05:43 yeah, it’s ’cause, like, I was sat in the common room the
other day and this uh a girl went, “oh, who’s this?” and we were, like, all taking the mick of her ’cause,
you know, she was speaking properly and we were just like, “who’s she think she is?”; 0:07:52 I remember
when I was in Easingwold at the start of Easingwold I, l…, used to say, like, ‘dudy’ and ‘cool’ and stuff
like that but then as soon as you get to college when you’ve made met loads of different people from
different schools everything changes; 0:12:51 you’ve been in Yorkshire for, like, all your life so you you’ve,
like, not got grandparents in Scotland; 0:48:29 I think, like, when you see these kind of programmes it kind
of makes you a bit more prouder and a bit more confident to go out and speak in your dialect; 1:12:28
there’s, like, one standard RP family (yeah, like last week) and there’s one scally family (OK) (yeah) and
there’s, like, the scally family go to Brighton for their holiday (yeah) or wherever it was um (Blackpool,
wasn’t it?) Blackpool; 1:22:14 that all comes from Cockney slang as well, doesn’t it, (yeah) like a a ‘Jack
Flash’ is a ‘slash’ (a ‘slash’, yeah) (oh, I see) and, like, ‘up the apples and pears’ is ‘going up the stairs’)
intensifier dead (0:01:45 oh, I don’t think it’s very polite either you wouldn’t say it in, you know, if you
were going to a dinner party you wouldn’t go, “oh, I feel dead groggy tonight”)
intensifier proper (0:05:06 my whole family’s Yorkshire though proper Yorkshire like my dad was born in
Acomb so that’s the type of place where they were all, you know, slagging each other off real proper
Yorkshire so like, “down to t’ pub go on let’s let’s have a bevvy”; 0:07:12 after a few years of being there
she started to pick up what would be classed at my school as a real ding accent and stuff like this and I
thought, “oh no, don’t do it” (proper charver) yeah, it was like that it’s not a Yorkshire accent (no) it was
a proper, you know, naff one; 0:44:09 in York I’m there’s there’s kind of grebos moshers townies (yeah,
yeah) I’m in a very kind of skater (punk) punk ’cause I’m in a band um type of scene so I’m very, “hey
dude, that’s really gnarly that’s cool awesome wicked” not like townies who would be, “oh, proper good”
and (yeah) “minted” (yeah) and, “I’ll bang you out”)
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intensifier real (0:07:12 after a few years of being there she started to pick up what would be classed at my
school as a real ding accent and stuff like this and I thought, “oh no, don’t do it” (proper charver) yeah, it
was like that it’s not a Yorkshire accent (no) it was a proper, you know, naff one)
intensifier well (0:03:27 (I’ve got ‘chuffed’ or ‘happy’) (so you’re different again then) (yes, obviously)
(‘over the moon’) yeah, ‘chuffed’s well Yorkshire; 0:28:27 you do say ‘togs’ if you’re mucking around
though, don’t you, “they’re well nice togs”)
frequent quotative like (e.g. 0:05:43 yeah, it’s ’cause, like, I was sat in the common room the other day
and this uh a girl went, “oh, who’s this?” and we were, like, all taking the mick of her ’cause, you know,
she was speaking properly and we were just like, “who’s she think she is?”; 0:45:45 if you’re using the
same words over and over again and then you hear one on TV and you’re like, “that’s cool I like that”;
0:47:05 there’s there’s girls at our college who are like, “ew, ew, oh, ew” and, like, really American Paris
Hilton18 (oh gosh) type of cheerleader language; 0:57:38 my mum started to call my dad a ‘faggot’ and I
got really offended by that she’s going, “yeah, but it’s just a meatball and we used to call it” you know I
was like, “no, mum, you know, it’s not any more” (yeah, but it’s different connotations now) and she didn’t
realise; 1:10:42 I mean I was on the bus and somebody just said, “oh, what you janning at, crank?”
(‘janning’, yeah) and I was like, (what’s ‘janning’?) “I’m not doing anyth…”)
frequent quotative go (e.g. 0:01:45 oh, I don’t think it’s very polite either you wouldn’t say it in, you
know, if you were going to a dinner party you wouldn’t go, “oh, I feel dead groggy tonight”; 0:05:43 yeah,
it’s ’cause, like, I was sat in the common room the other day and this uh a girl went, “oh, who’s this?” and
we were, like, all taking the mick of her ’cause, you know, she was speaking properly and we were just like,
“who’s she think she is?”; 0:43:14 ’cause me and my boyfriend are with each other quite a lot at school
um and it’s, like, we just say if I’m talking to my friends, I go, “oh, where’s t’ other half?”; 0:57:38 my
mum started to call my dad a ‘faggot’ and I got really offended by that she’s going, “yeah, but it’s just a
meatball and we used to call it” you know I was like, “no, mum, you know, it’s not any more” (yeah, but
it’s different connotations now) and she didn’t realise; 1:04:38 but then she also gets a bit mixed up with
um a ‘reject’ and a ‘retard’ um so I was eating in the front room the other day and she went, “aren’t you
gonna eat in here with us?” I went, “well there’s no room” she goes, “oh, so you’re just gonna sit in here
like a retard?” I went, “mum, you can’t really say that”; 1:17:31 you see there’s some really harsh ones
for ‘moody’ like boys in our year if they were saying moody towards a woman they’d go, “oh, she must be
on”; 1:24:48 people in Barnsley go, “gie over” they go, “gie over” like ‘give up’)
emphatic tag (1:01:08 (now on the radio it hasn’t been dubbed (oh, really) but on TV it has (oh, right) and
I don’t understand why that is really) that’s silly, that, ’cause ‘ho’ is nothing; 1:07:37 it depends who I’m
with because when I’m with my dad’s side of the family I get even more Yorkshire slangy (yeah) and if I’m
with my mum’s side of the family I get more (isn’t) less, no, less Yorkshire slangy but ‘bairn’ is very it’s
very pantomime, is ‘bairn’)
form of address babes (0:38:22 I slang ‘baby’ to “babes” and so I refer to my friends as, “you all right,
babes?” or something like that)
form of address crank (1:10:42 I mean I was on the bus and somebody just said, “oh, what you janning
at, crank?” (‘janning’, yeah) and I was like, (what’s ‘janning’?) “I’m not doing anyth…”)
form of address dude (0:43:48 like I say ‘dude’ so much I think I s… (yeah) (‘gnarly’) ‘gnarly’ I say as a
lot as well (‘gnarly’?) not not a lot of people say ‘gnarly’ (what’s that?) ‘gnarly’s a very kind of skater
surfer term in America which means kind of ‘cool’; 0:44:09 in York I’m there’s there’s kind of grebos
moshers townies (yeah, yeah) I’m in a very kind of skater (punk) punk ’cause I’m in a band um type of
scene so I’m very, “hey dude, that’s really gnarly that’s cool awesome wicked” not like townies who would
be, “oh, proper good” and (yeah) “minted” (yeah) and, “I’ll bang you out”)
© Robinson, Herring, Gilbert
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BBC Voices Recordings
Voices of the UK, 2009-2012
A British Library project funded by The Leverhulme Trust
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