Glynneath, Neath Port Talbot

Home , Glynneath, Resolven, Vale of Neath

BBC VOICES RECORDINGS http://sounds.bl.uk

Title:

Shelfmark:

C1190/41/06

Recording date:

2005

Speakers: Gittins, Idris, b. 1940 Glynneath; male; retired miner/factory worker/union shop steward Gittins, Mary Elizabeth, b. 1941 Resolven, Neath Port Talbot; female; retired secretary Thomas, Anne, b. 1952 Glynneath; female Williams, Christina, b. 1956 Glynneath; female; housewife (father driver; mother housewife) Williams, David, b. 1986 Resolven, Neath Port Talbot; male; student (father bus driver; mother housewife)

The interviewees are all members of the same family from the Vale of Neath; Idris is married to Mary; Christina, Mary and Anne are sisters and David, aged 19, is Christina's son.

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 Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru (online) ♣ see Wenglish. The Dialect of the South Wales Valleys (2008)

∆ see New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) ◊ see Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) ♦ see Urban Dictionary (online) ⌂ no previous source (with this sense) identified pleased over the moon; landed♣ tired whacked out; shattered; tired unwell (not discussed) hot boiling; baking; roasting; hot cold freezing; nippy (of extreme cold); cold

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 1 of 3 BBC Voices Recordings annoyed off about it∆1 (“quite off about it”) throw throw; chuck; sling play truant mitch; mitching; skive sleep snooze; shut-eye; kip; have forty winks play a game play hit hard whack; clout; clobber clothes clothes; clobber; rig-out trousers trousers child’s shoe daps; plimsolls mother mummy; mam; mami≠ gmother ma2; grandmother; grandma; granny also supplied mamgu♣ (Welsh for ‘grandmother’) m partner husband; boyfriend; my old man (of own husband); man friend friend friend; mates; pal; butty gfather bampy3; grandfather; pa4; grandpa (pronounced “gramper” locally); grampy◊ also supplied dadcu♣ (Welsh for ‘grandfather’) forgot name thing; what’s-her-name; what-d’ye-call-it; what-d’ye-call-him; whatchacall♦; what-do-you- call-it∆ (pronounced “what-clit” by father) kit of tools tool-box; kit trendy towny; pikey; chav; with-it; snazzy f partner wife; girlfriend; lady friend baby baby; kid rain heavily emptying down5; pouring; bucketing down6; hammer♦7 toilet lav; lavatory; bogs (heard used at work); loo walkway gwli♣ (Welsh); passage; tunnel⌂; alley; alleyway long seat couch; settee; sofa run water stream; brook main room lounge rain lightly drizzling; spotting of rain; spitting rich rolling in money8; loaded left-handed llaw bwt♣ (Welsh for ‘left-handed’); left-handed unattractive plain; gormless9 lack money broke; short of money; skint drunk well-oiled; half-cut; blotto; sloshed; wasted pregnant expecting

1 New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) records ‘off’ in sense of ‘distant/aloof/negative’. 2 Oxford English Dictionary (1898-1905) records ‘ma’ in the sense of ‘mother’. 3 Benjamin Jones’ ‘Gwent English: A Comparative Investigation of Lexical Items’ (see http://centre-for-english-traditional- heritage.org/TraditionToday5/TT5_Jones_Gwent_English.pdf p.28) includes ‘bamper’ in this sense. 4 Oxford English Dictionary (1898-1905) records ‘ma’ in the sense of ‘mother’. 5 John Edwards’ Talk Tidy. The Art of Speaking Welsh (1985) includes ‘it’s emptying down’ in this sense. 6 Macmillan Dictionary (online edition at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/) includes ‘bucket down’ in this sense. 7 Urban Dictionary (online) includes ‘hammering down’ in this sense. 8 Macmillan Dictionary (online edition at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/) includes ‘rolling in money’ in this sense. 9 Collins Dictionary (online edition at http://www.collinsdictionary.com/) records ‘gormless’ in sense of ‘stupid/dull’.

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 2 of 3 BBC Voices Recordings attractive good-looking; pretty insane not sixteen ounces∆10; hit over the head with a faggot spoon11 (used frequently by daughter- in-law); doolally; off his head; loopy; crazy; loony; not the round shilling◊12; mad moody up and down; touchy

Assistance with transcription of Welsh entries provided by Cai Parry Jones British Library Oral History Curator (2017)

10 New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) records ‘not the full pound’ [i.e. 16 ounces] in this sense. 11 jackie@storyloversworld’s ‘“Stupid” sayings (How dumb can someone be?)’ (17th May 2010 – see http://www.story- lovers.com/html//listsstupidsayings.html) records ‘tapped with a faggot spoon’ in this sense. 12 Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) records ‘not the full shilling’ in this sense.

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