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

Title:

Risca, Newport

Shelfmark:

C1190/41/18

Recording date:

14.02.2005

Speakers: Edwards, Vera, b. 1944 Cwmbran, Monmouthshire; female; sales advisor (father steel company maintenance worker; mother housewife) Guy, Pamela, b. 1950 Risca; female; civil servant (father brickmaker; mother hairdresser) Jones, Derek, b. 1940 Aberdare, Glamorganshire; male; teacher Lilly, Gwynfa Magdalen Diana, b. 1953 , Breconshire; female; headteacher (father farmer; mother farmer’s wife) Powell, Granville, b. 1943 Pontypool, Monmouthshire; male; County Council Education Planning Officer (father welder)

The interviewees are all members of The New Harmony Singers group.

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 Survey of English Dialects Basic Material (1962-1971)

≠ see Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru (online) ♣ see Wenglish. The Dialect of the South Valleys (2008) ∆ see New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) ♦ see Urban Dictionary (online) ⌂ no previous source (with this sense) identified pleased chuffed (“I’m chuffed with that”); happy; over the moon tired knackered (“very slang”); shattered; worn-out; fagged out unwell bad (pronounced with exaggeratedly long vowel as if spelt “baad”); under the weather hot hot; boiling; roasting; scorching cold freezing (“God, I’m freezing”); nippy; cold

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 1 of 3 BBC Voices Recordings annoyed annoyed; tamping♣ (“tamping mad”, also used of ‘bouncing’♣ e.g. ball); completely lost it (of somebody else, not of self); got a cob on∆ throw chuck (of e.g. ball) play truant mooching (pronounced “mutching”♣1 locally); skive (“I’m gonna skive off the lessons today”); mitch (suggested by interviewer) sleep fast asleep play a game go out to play hit hard thump clothes (not discussed) trousers flannels (used by mother); trews, slacks (used in past); jeans (modern); trousers (“long trousers/short trousers” worn at school) child’s shoe daps (most common locally, “dap bag”2 used now of shoe bag, also used for corporal punishment at school in past); plimsolls mother mam (“our mam”3 used more frequently than simply ‘mam’); mami≠ (used in contrast to “mam” for grandmother) gmother nan; mamgu♣ (Welsh for ‘grandmother’); ming♣4 (childhood pronunciation of ‘mamgu’ used by own son of/to grandmother); mam5 (considered abbreviation of ‘mamgu’ used in contrast to “mami” for mother) m partner husband; hubby friend butty (of close friend) gfather gransher* forgot name what-a-call-it⌂ (pronounced “worracallit”); whatchacall♦; thungummybob∆; what’s-his- name (“I saw what’s-his-name yesterday down the what-a-call-it” used by colleague in Llanwern) kit of tools chest; tool-chest; tool-box; tool-kit trendy tart; piece (“that piece living down the road”) f partner (not discussed) baby (not discussed) rain heavily tamping down♣6; tipping down♦; raining cats and dogs toilet tŷ bach♣; lav; lavatory walkway gwli♣ (“playing ball in the gwli”); alleyway; alley (“we’re gonna play in the alley”) long seat settee; couch run water brook; stream main room lounge; front room (used in past in contrast to “middle room and kitchen”); sitting-room; parlour (used in past) rain lightly spitting; drizzle rich well off; filthy rich∆ (heard used frequently for “very rich”); rolling in it7 (heard used in past)

1 Robert Lewis’s Wenglish: The Dialect of the South Wales Valleys (2008) records ‘mootch’ in this sense. 2 Sewchet’s blog post ‘New Back-To-School Dap Bags!’ (Sewchet 3 September 2014) includes this phrase (see https://sewchet.com/tag/dap-bag/) in this sense. 3 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘our’ in sense of ‘used familiarly to denote relative/friend’. 4 Robert Lewis’s Wenglish: The Dialect of the South Wales Valleys (2008) includes ‘myngu’ in this sense. 5 Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) records ‘mam’ in sense of ‘mother’. 6 Robert Lewis’s Wenglish: The Dialect of the South Wales Valleys (2008) records ‘tamp’ in sense of ‘to bounce’. 7 Macmillan Dictionary (online edition at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/) includes ‘rolling in it’ in this sense.

http://sounds.bl.uk Page 2 of 3 BBC Voices Recordings left-handed caggy-handed○; llawchwith≠8 (“bachu bwtsiwr llawchwith”≠9 Welsh for “left-handed butcher’s hook” used by father for doing something ‘cack-handed’) unattractive drab; plain lack money broke; not having two halfpennies to rub together10 (heard used in past) drunk tiddly; worse for wear; legless pregnant in the club (associated with English in England); expecting attractive swanky; posh; smart insane not half-wise11; mad moody moody; sulky; like a bear with a sore head; grumpy

© Robinson, Herring, Gilbert Voices of the UK, 2009-2012 A British Library project funded by The Leverhulme Trust

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

8 See also David Parry’s The Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects, Volume 1: The South East (1979, p.233) P/Rdn 1 & P/Bre 2 Wells. 9 Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru (online edition at http://www.welsh-dictionary.ac.uk/) includes ‘bachu bwtsiwr’ in sense of ‘butcher’s hook’. 10 Macmillan Dictionary (online edition at http://www.macmillandictionary.com/) records ‘not have two pennies to rub together’ in this sense. 11 J.RR. Tolkien explains fictional character Sam [Gamgee]’s nickname ‘Bânazir’ means ‘halfwise/simple’ in The Return of the King (1981, p.527).

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