Devon Accent from 1905

Standard Devon vocabulary and numerals for comparison with other languages


The Devon accent was typical of the west of England accents, with f and s being voiced to v and z. Being a southern accent, the vowel in "sun" or "tongue" was pronounced like the "u" in "Kentucky" and not the "u" in "full", a feature of northern English accents.

There has never been a standard spelling for English dialects and accents, apart from the International Phonetic Alphabet. An explanation of the alphabet I have used to spell the words is given at the bottom of this page.

1. brodhdher    brother                    
2. zister    sister                    
3. zunn    son                    
4. dahter    daughter                    
5. vahdher    father                    
6. modhdher    mother        1. Zindy    Sunday          
          2.             
1.           3. Toozdy    Tuesday          
2. zummer    summer        4. Wenzdy    Wednesday          
3.           5. Dherzdy    Thursday          
4.           6. Vridy    Friday          
          7.             
1. ’oss    horse                    
2. dugg    dog        1. town    town          
3. cat    cat        2. village    village          
4. cow    cow        3.             
5. bull    bull        4.             
6. pig    pig        5. bridge    bridge          
7. ship    sheep        6. ’ouse    house          
8.           7. gay-a-den    garden          
9. mouse    mouse        8. church    church          
10. burd    bird        9. school    school        1. wann    one
11. goose    goose        10.           2. two    two
12. vish    fish                  3. dree    three
                    4. vor    four
1. brade    bread        1. black    black        5. vive    five
2. abble    apple        2. white    white        6. zix    six
3. nit    nut        3. blue    blue        7. zebbem    seven
4. zal-t    salt        4. green    green        8. eight    eight
5.           5. yalla    yellow        9. nine    nine
6.           6. rid    red        10. tane    ten
7. milk    milk                  11. lebbem    eleven
8. budder    butter        1. t’ zee    to see        12. twulve    twelve
9. chaze    cheese        2. t’ yer    to hear        13. dherteen    thirteen
10. watter    water        3. t’ ate    to eat        20. twenty    twenty
11. wine    wine        4. t’ drink    to drink        30.   
12. bee-er    beer        5. t’ zing    to sing        100. ’unnderd    hundred
                      
1.           1. name    name        1. ’and    hand
2. zay    sea        2. t’ write    to write        2. vut    foot
3.           3. buke    book        3. ’art    heart
4.           4. t’ spake    to speak        4. blid    blood
5. ole    old        5. day    day        5. ’ade    head
6. noo    new        6. night    night        6. eye    eye
7. ship    ship        7. wake    week        7. yer    ear
8. train    train        8. month    month        8. tooth    tooth
9.           9. yer    year        9. ’air    hair
10.           10. ’n    and        10. t’ sleep    to sleep
                      
                    1. zunn    sun
                    2. moon    moon
                    3. star    star
                    4. wind    wind
                    5. rain    rain
                    6. snor    snow
                    7. ice    ice
1. cold    cold        1. ’ot    hot        8. vire    fire
2. liddle    small        2. big    large        9. sto-en    stone
3. dhin    thin        3. dhick    thick        10.   
4. zour    sour        4. zwate    sweet          
                      
1. mouth    mouth        1. t’ gheev    to give        1. deev    deaf
2. tongue    tongue        2. t’ buy    to buy        2. dee-ap    deep
3. word    word        3. t’ zit    to sit        3. vul    full
4.           4. t’ rade    to read        4. young    young
5. vlower    flower        5.           5. gude    good
6. zorp    soap        6. doo-er    door        6. king    king


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SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION
  1. Words displayed here in Standard English were pronounced in a slightly old fashioned version of today's UK Received Pronunciation.

  2. Words displayed with non-standard spellings are approximately phonetic.

  3. "th" is the "th" of "thin"; "dh" is the "th" of "then"

  4. "h" after a vowel lengthens it; a double consonant after a vowel shortens it, e.g. "pahst" vs "passt", the Southern and Northern pronunciations of "past"

  5. In Received Pronunciation the final "r" is usually silent, but in many of the accents it was pronounced.

  6. In the West of England this "r" was pronounced at the top of the mouth and is shown as "-er " as in "mudhdher " (mother with a short vowel)

  7. In the North East of England the final "r" was pronounced further back in the mouth and is shown as "-eR " as in "mudheR " (mother with the "u" sound in "full")

  8. The "-or-" sound of UK Received Pronunciation "fork", "cautious" and "call" is represented by "-or-", with the "r" silent.

  9. The "-er-" sound of UK Received Pronunciation "first", "fur" and "certain" is represented by "-er-", with the "r" silent.


The location of Devon


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I wanted to share with you why I think Christianity is such a great religion. A person who lives to 70 has a life of 613,200 hours. Christianity promises that the next life will be in ideal surroundings with friendly, happy people. There will be perfect health and no crime. Of course you’re free to reject it.

Isn’t it worth, though, spending at least part of one of your 613,200 hours just checking it out. Then if you reject it, at least you’ll have made an informed decision. Is it just possible that your world view could be wrong and Christianity might actually be true? Where would that leave you if you choose to turn down the offer of eternal life?


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