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The Intelligibility of the Geordie Dialect Bachelor’S Diploma Thesis

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The Intelligibility of the Geordie Dialect Bachelor’S Diploma Thesis Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Petra Erbanová The Intelligibility of the Geordie Dialect Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: PhDr. Kateřina Tomková, Ph.D. 2011 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Petra Erbanová I would like to thank my supervisor PhDr. Kateřina Tomková, Ph.D. for her kind advice and help throughout the process of writing this thesis. I would also like to thank all my friends who devoted their time to help me make the recordings and fill in the questionnaires. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 2. Theoretical part .....................................................................................................................2 2.1. Historical background ....................................................................................................2 2.2 Term ...............................................................................................................................4 2.3 Geordie nowadays ...........................................................................................................7 2.4 Grammatical differences ..................................................................................................8 2.4.1. Pronominal System ..................................................................................................9 2.4.2. Verbs ..................................................................................................................... 11 2.4.3. Negation ................................................................................................................ 13 2.4.4. Prepositions, Conjunctions, Adverbs ...................................................................... 13 2.5. Sound system ............................................................................................................... 14 2.5.1. Vowels .................................................................................................................. 14 2.5.2. Consonants ............................................................................................................ 18 2.6. Vocabulary ................................................................................................................... 19 2.7. Intonation ..................................................................................................................... 21 3. Practical part ....................................................................................................................... 23 3.1. About the recordings and questionnaires ....................................................................... 23 3.2. The respondents ........................................................................................................... 24 3.3 The recordings .............................................................................................................. 25 3.3.1. Transcription of the 1st recording ........................................................................... 25 3.3.2. Distinctive features in the 1st recording .................................................................. 26 3.3.3. Transcription of the 2nd recoding ............................................................................ 28 3.3.4. Distinctive features in the 2nd recording .................................................................. 28 3.4. The Survey ................................................................................................................... 30 3.4.1. First recording - results .......................................................................................... 31 3.4.2. Second recording - results ...................................................................................... 34 4. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 38 Works cited ............................................................................................................................ 41 Resume ................................................................................................................................... 44 Czech Resume ........................................................................................................................ 45 Apendices ............................................................................................................................... 46 Apendix I. Transcriptions of the recordings ......................................................................... 46 Apendix II. Questionnaire ................................................................................................... 50 Apendix III. Recordings ...................................................................................................... 55 List of Tables Table 1 – Geordie irregular verbs ……………………………………………………...12 20 Table 2 – Distinctive features in the 1st recording……………………………………...27 Table 3 – Distinctive features in the 2nd recording…………………..............................29 Table 4 – Students’ results – 1st recording……………………………………………..31 Table 5 – Students’ results – 2nd recording………………………………………….....35 1. Introduction English language is subject to considerable variations among its native speakers all over the world. Many regions, areas or social classes have developed their own accents and dialects which their speakers use for communication. These variations may sometimes significantly differ from what is called Standard English – in this paper, this term is used to describe the form of British pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary that educated people in Britain use, and that is perceived as the standard form. The area that is believed to have one of the greatest varieties of accents and dialects is, without doubt, the British Isles. During its history, the language of the British Isles developed into many diverse forms due to the influence of different cultures and languages. This paper focuses on the Geordie dialect which is considered to be one of the most distinctive ones in the British Isles. As the paper deals with the term “dialect”, it is vital to explain what a dialect is. It refers to the particular features of grammar and vocabulary employed by language users, and is thus concerned with syntax, morphology, lexicon, as well as pronunciation (Wells 1982: 2) and it can be perceived as a type of language on its own, unlike an “accent” which only refers to varieties of pronunciation (Hughes & Trudgill 1992: 2). Geordie is one of the dialects of Northern England and though many people often mistake it for the speech of the whole of North-East of England, more appropriate claim is that Geordie is spoken in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and its environs South Shields, North Shields and Gateshead – together also called Tyneside. Many features of northern English dialects are comparable; however, in many ways the Geordie dialect differs considerably from other northern English variations. 1 The paper consists of two main parts, the first – theoretical part – starts with outlining the history of the Geordie dialect beginning in the 5th century A.D. It then goes on to explain several theories about how the term “Geordie” came into existence, which is followed by a rather detailed description of Geordie grammatical particularities and pronunciation of vowels and consonants. Last but not least, most commonly used vocabulary and Geordie intonation are explored. The second - practical part - focuses on the perception and intelligibility of the dialect. In the survey, advanced students of English are given questionnaires together with audio recordings and their ability to understand the dialect is analyzed. The students listen to two recordings of two Geordie speakers of different broadness of speech. The questionnaires contain various types of questions which test respondents’ abilities in diverse situations. The intelligibility of the speech of the two Geordie speakers is subsequently compared and evaluated and the most difficult linguistic features of the dialect are spotted. The objective is to find out how advanced students of the English language at the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University in Brno perceive and understand Geordie speakers and what linguistic feature causes the most significant problems as to its intelligibility. 2. Theoretical part 2.1. Historical background The Geordie dialect started to develop after the Romans left Britain in the 5th century and the Anglo-Saxons, originally from what is now Denmark and Germany, started invading Britain. Their first settlements were on the east coast of Britain, specifically in East Anglia, Essex and Sussex. As Britons were not able to protect their 2 land against the raids of the Picts, a Celtic tribe from southern and eastern Scotland, Anglo-Saxons were called to help defend the Tyne valley. In exchange for the service, they were given land. With time, Anglo-Saxons started to colonize Britain and by 556, they were spread over the majority of Britain with 7 kingdoms. By that time, the Saxons had settled in the South of England and the Angles were left to influence the North. Anglo-Saxons introduced their language which was what is now called Old English. It was
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