Traditional Dialect of Durham

Across Durham the dialect changed from a north Yorkshire-type dialect in the south, on the north bank of the River Tees, to the distinctive Geordie dialect of the south bank of the River Tyne. In the north the letter -r had a throaty sound, called the "Northumberland burr". I’ve represented it by ^R. The similarity to Scots increased in the northern part of the county. The word "out" of south Durham was pronounced "oot", as in Scots, in north Durham.

1.	brudhe^R	brother	1.			1.
2.	siste^R	sister	2.			2.
3.	sun	son	3.			3.
4.	daw-te^R	daughter	4.			4.
5.	fadhdhe^R	father				5.
6.	mudhe^R	mother	1.	Sunda	Sunday	6.
			2.	Munda	Monday	7.
1.	sp^Ring	spring	3.
2.	sume^R	summer	4.	Weddenzda	Wednesday	1.	I is	I am

My other websites:
Languages of the World
New Nutshell
Nutshell

My wife's websites:
Meaning of Life
Bits

Back