Northumberland Accent from 1905

Standard Northumberland vocabulary and numerals for comparison with other languages


The throaty r was a distinctive Northumberland sound. In the south of the county the Northern English u (pronounced as in "put") was in use for words like "son" or "under", but nearer the Scottish border the Scottish "u" (as in "putt") was used. Unsurprisingly, the Northumberland accent had similarities with the Scots spoken north of the Border, such as "hoos" for "house". Also like Scots and East Anglian (Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex), the "h" sound at the beginning of words was not dropped.

The county of Northumberland was somewhat larger in 1905 than now because it included Tyne And Wear, with its city of Newcastle. The accent of south Northumberland is known as Geordie.

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. brudheR    brother                    
2. sisteR    sister                    
3. sun    son                    
4. doteR    daughter                    
5. fadhdheR    father                    
6. mudheR    mother        1. Sunda    Sunday          
          2. Munda    Monday          
1.           3. Tuesda    Tuesday          
2. sumeR    summer        4. Weddensda    Wednesday          
3.           5. Thorsda    Thursday          
4.           6. Frayda    Friday          
          7. Setterda    Saturday          
1. horse    horse                    
2. dog    dog        1. toon    town          
3. cat    cat        2.             
4. coo    cow        3. street    street          
5. bull    bull        4.             
6. pig    pig        5. bridge    bridge          
7. sheep    sheep        6. hoos    house          
8.           7. garden    garden          
9. moos    mouse        8. choRch    church          
10.           9. sk-yool    school        1. wern    one
11. ghee-us    goose        10.           2. two    two
12. fish    fish                  3. thray    three
                    4. fow-eR    four
1. breed    bread        1. black    black        5. fave    five
2. apple    apple        2. hwate    white        6. six    six
3. nut    nut        3. blew    blue        7. sivven    seven
4. sote    salt        4. green    green        8. eight    eight
5.           5. yalla    yellow        9. nane    nine
6.           6. reed    red        10. ten    ten
7. milk    milk                  11. illiven    eleven
8. buteR    butter        1. t’ say    to see        12. twelve    twelve
9. cheese    cheese        2. t’ heeaR    to hear        13. thorteen    thirteen
10. wetteR    water        3. t’ eat    to eat        20. twenty    twenty
11. wane    wine        4. t’ drink    to drink        30.   
12. bee-eR    beer        5. t’ sing    to sing        100. hun-dred    hundred
                      
1.           1. neeam    name        1. hand    hand
2. sea    sea        2. t’ Rate    to write        2. foot    foot
3.           3. b-yook    book        3. heart    heart
4.           4. t’ speak    to speak        4. blud    blood
5. ahd    old        5. day-a    day        5. heed    head
6. new    new        6. neet    night        6. eye    eye
7. ship    ship        7. week    week        7. ee-aR    ear
8. train    train        8. munth    month        8. tee-uth    tooth
9.           9. ee-aR    year        9. hay-aR    hair
10.           10. ’n    and        10. t’ sleep    to sleep
                      
                    1. sun    sun
                    2. mee-un    moon
                    3. staR    star
                    4. wind    wind
                    5. Ray-an    rain
                    6. snah    snow
                    7. ice    ice
1. cahd    cold        1. het    hot        8. fy-aR    fire
2.           2. big    large        9. stee-an    stone
3. thin    thin        3.           10.   
4.           4. sweet    sweet          
                      
1. mooth    mouth        1. t’ give    to give        1. deef    deaf
2. tung    tongue        2. t’ buy    to buy        2. dip    deep
3. wor-d    word        3. t’ sit    to sit        3. full    full
4.           4. t’ Read    to read        4. yung    young
5. floo-eR    flower        5.           5. good    good
6. s-yep    soap        6. doo-eR    door        6. king    king





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 Northumberland


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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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